iGarden’s claims of offering 10 hours of operating time in floor-only mode had been correct in my testing; nonetheless, I achieved solely about seven hours of operation within the extra power-intensive full protection mode. That’s nonetheless loads of juice for 2 or three full cleanings earlier than a recharge is required. Formally, iGarden specs the robotic to scrub swimming pools of as much as 1,274 sq. toes in measurement.
I used to be much less enamored with the cleanup course of after operations had been full, and never simply because the robotic should be retrieved with a pole as a substitute of coming to the floor when finished. The filter basket is a lot giant, however it may possibly solely be accessed by way of a comparatively small hatch. It’s robust to get all of the particles out by way of this hatch by hosing it down, notably for the reason that form of the basket features a sort of shelf on the within, the place particles is each arduous to succeed in and arduous to see. A extra open basket design or a bigger hatch can be an enormous assist come cleanup time.
{Photograph}: Chris Null
The fundamental field is designed with a fine-mesh filter on all sides, however this may be enhanced with a reusable second filter, included within the field, that snaps onto the skin of the basket. This filter has a finer mesh rely than the filter on the basket itself, however regardless of that, most customers in all probability received’t want it. I didn’t discover it made a lot of a distinction in my checks, however these going through issues with a number of fine-grained dust and sand might discover it useful.
A Huge Worth Lower
At $1,599, iGarden has aggressively priced this robotic, knocking $1,000 off the worth of final 12 months’s Ok Professional 150 whereas retaining efficiency kind of the identical. That makes this a way more attractive purchase than the Ok collection, and whereas it’s nonetheless a bit on the excessive aspect, it’s now roughly in keeping with quite a few different top-shelf robots available on the market. For those who don’t thoughts getting a bit moist when it comes time to retrieve and clear out the robotic, it needs to be a really sturdy candidate for the job as your robotic pool man.
