Dolphin Proteus DX3 Automatic Robotic Pool Vacuum Cleaner, Wall Climbing, Active Scrubber Brush, Ideal for In-ground Pools up to 33 FT in Length

I have an in-ground saltwater pool that was poured in 2012. I've been using a Pentair Kreepy Krauly Platinum since then. I'll be honest - I was skeptical that this cleaner was going to meet my expectations. I thought there was a decent chance I'd have to send it back within 30 days based on some of the reviews. It has done an excellent job. The pool is about 25,000 gallons. It is kidney shaped. The cleaner makes it to all the walls and scrubs the water line. I probably had to run in about 3 times initially to get everything off the bottom of the pool. Now just running it once for 2 hours results in a clean pool. We have not done a good job of brushing our walls the last several years. The walls and the pool water have not looked this good in years. I'm really happy with this purchase. I've only had it for about a month now. Hopefully it lasts several years. Good luck.

Great investment overall. I just bought a second one of these, the first lasted me just over 3 years. It required no maintenance over that time and worked perfectly until it didn't. At a little over $200 per year its a better value over my previous pool cleaner, which required parts every 3 months. Saving that headache alone was worth it. I had the option to get my first one repaired but there is only 1 repair shop in my area (about 3.5 million people in the city) and the wait was over 2 months so I opted to buy new. I highly recommend this pool cleaner, but I'd recommend researching repair shops that handle the model first so you can plan for the inevitable as an alternative option.

I purchased the Proteus DX4 robotic vacuum for one week ago. I have probably ran it ten times. Today I observed the performance for the entire 2 hours. The pool is 30’ X 18’ and kidney shaped. The circumference of the pool is 85’. I ran the DX4 for the default 2 hours. The pools pump is a variable speed and was running at about 1/3 maximum speed. I started the cleaning at the remote end of the pool in the shallow area. I have started the DX4 in different areas and get similar results. The DX4 climbed the wall 15 times in 6 areas which covered 25 feet or 30% of the pool circumference for water edge scrubbing. This seems disappointing, especially only scrubbing in six areas, 30% of the pool. The DX4 spent over 1/6th of the time around the main drain cover. It would back up and continue running over the drain cover. The main drain is shut off and not used in this pool. The main drain cover meets the new standards to prevent personal injury when the suction is turned on. The DX4 seems to prefer using the center of the length of the pool and only branching right or left in the six areas identified for water edge cleaning. Numerous times while climbing from the deep end (about 6’ deep) it would seemingly stall and abort the climb to the shallow end. I also observed it frequently moving forward and backward repeatedly only covering about a foot in either direction.Attached is a picture showing the six areas where water edge scrubbing was observed. The areas where there are no black buckets indicates there were no attempts for water edge cleaning or cleaning the pool floor.From my perspective the coverage for my pool was poor. I purchased the DX4 for the Water Edge Scrubbing and the Swivel in the power cord. Neither feature met my expectations. I expected the DX4 to cover the entire pool in the 2 hour cycle. I contacted Maytronics about my concerns last week, and the rep suggested I clean the impeller. The pool is screened and was manually cleaned before using the DX4, so I was confident there were no obstructions and the DX4 was clean after disassembling and inspection. I have also completely unplugged the unit, thinking the unit might reset, but the coverage characteristics are similar on the next run. Maytronics is willing to run diagnostics since the DX4 is within warranty period, only one week old, but I have to pay for shipping which seems ridicules.I contacted Maytronics support and their recommendations were (1) turn off the pool pump during the 2 hour cleaning period (2) The also felt the issue with continuous cleaning of the main drain was also tied to the pool pump (note the drain has a plug in it) (3) Be prepared to manually clean areas of the pool (4) DX4 will not clean steps because the water is too shallow (it has cleaned this area on a subsequent test run)I also ex[plained that I also tested a Maytronics Active Solo, which did not exhibit any of these issues and that it did an excellent job of cleaning the pool.I am a retired engineer. I have no experience in robotics.

I just began using this cleaner today, so I'll update this review after a year, or at least after I've used it for a while. I purchased the Proteus DX3 because my old Polaris Sport 8050 (for which I paid $1,000) died after only four years. When I took it in to my pool store to be fixed, I learned that the warranty is only two years and that four years is actually longer than the average lifespan. The only way to fix it is to replace the entire motor module, which costs about as much as a new Proteus. The store employee actually told me that Dolphin pool cleaners are supposed to be more reliable, and so...First impression: (1) this machine weighs less than the Polaris and pulls out of the pool MUCH more easily, in part because the water drains out of it much more quickly. That's a welcome improvement, because the one thing I really hated about the Polaris was getting it out of the pool. (2) I like this filter basket better. You pull it out of the machine and then undo a snap on the bottom to let the debris fall out. Hose it off and put it back in - very easy! Without going into needless detail, this process was more cumbersome with the polaris basket. After one use, my extremely subjective impression is that the Dolphin cleans about as well as the Polaris did, for about half the price. Win!You do need to buy a caddy for the machine (at least I did - it protects the scrub brush from getting bent out of shape). And at $100, it's absurdly overpriced. (I also purchased it on Amazon, and you can read my review of it.) Whatever...I'll update this review after further use, but so far I'm pleased. I rated it four stars, rather than five, because I have no idea how long it will last. If this ends up lasting 5+ years, I'll come back and give it another star!Update #1: after about a month of use or so, my impression is that the Polaris is a better, more efficient cleaner. It has two scrubbers instead of one. The Dolphin seems to stop a lot and "think" about what it's doing next. The polaris also has a larger filter basket. That said, at the end of the day, as far as I can tell, my pool is just as clean with the Dolphin, even if it takes longer. At half the price, I would definitely buy it over the Polaris robot.Update #2: having now used the Dolphin to open the pool (I cover it during the winter), I can affirm that the Polaris was definitely a better cleaner. Last year when I used it to open the pool, the layer of dirt on the filter basket was MUCH thicker. For whatever reason, it just did a better job of "vacuuming" the pool. Now, having said that, the Dolphin did get my pool clean - it just took a day or so longer. I had to keep running it, pull it out to clean the filter basket, repeat, etc. Even so, given that this is (again) HALF the cost of the Polaris, I'm still pleased.