iGarden’s claims of offering 10 hours of working time in floor-only mode have 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 wash 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 have been full, and never simply because the robotic have to be retrieved with a pole as a substitute of coming to the floor when completed. The filter basket is lots massive, however it could actually solely be accessed via a comparatively small hatch. It’s robust to get all of the particles out via this hatch by hosing it down, significantly for the reason that form of the basket features a form of shelf on the within, the place particles is each laborious to achieve and laborious 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 exams, however these dealing with issues with plenty of fine-grained grime and sand could discover it useful.
A Large Value Lower
At $1,599, iGarden has aggressively priced this robotic, knocking $1,000 off the value of final yr’s Ok Professional 150 whereas maintaining efficiency roughly the identical. That makes this a way more attractive purchase than the Ok collection, and whereas it’s nonetheless a bit on the excessive facet, it’s now roughly consistent with plenty of different top-shelf robots in the marketplace. In case you don’t thoughts getting just a little 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.
