First of all, I read several negative reviews about this model, and was slightly deterred, but thankfully the overwhelming positive response steered me in the right direction. Given that many of the negative reviews are several years old, I assume there may have been production issues, or potentially user errors. Either way, here is my review. I live in Arizona, like many of the other reviewers, and I regularly have an overwhelming amount of rocks, dirt, sand and tree/plant detritus that settles at the bottom of the pool. After spending an inordinate amount of time brushing the pool, and only seeing a minor reduction in debris, I quickly decided this was not worth my time, which is very valuable, just like everyone elses. Also, I'm not a huge fan of excessive sun exposure leading to skin cancer, so that's another positive. Additionally, I was paying a pool cleaning service and they were doing a terrible job at managing the water chemistry and keeping things clean. After firing them, I took up managing the pool to save some money. This made me quickly realize that certain tasks in the realm of pool maintenance are best automated in the interest of saving time and overall efficiency. Scrubbing the bottom of the pool is one of those things, hands-down. In its debut run, totaling two hours, this handy little robot did what I was unable to do in two weeks, and about 1000% better. After only running for one cycle, I retrieved the unit and took out the filters to examine what was captured. I was frankly amazed with what was inside; probably a solid few pounds of sand, dirt and other types of debris that had settled at the bottom of the pool, most of which I have not even seen. I was beyond pleased. One of the other concerns prior to its initial cycle was whether or not the stock filters would be capable of gathering the fine dust particles that exist out here in the desert. From my experience, the stock filters do a phenomenal job, and I have yet to find a reason to get the fine filters. That's just my experience. Removing and cleaning the filters is a breeze. You pop them out, detach the filter panels, spray them down in an area where you don't mind some water and dirt getting, and you're done. If you are elderly or otherwise physically incapacitated, this unit may be a little difficult to wrangle from the water or carry around. If you are otherwise physically capable and not elderly, you should have no problem carting this around by hand. It really doesn't weigh much, and frankly, I don't see the purpose in having it on a caddy. I kept the plastic bag it was wrapped in from the original packaging to put it back inside of after use, and that seems to work really well. Like any other appliance you would like to have last for a while, you should take care of it, and leave it in a place where it is unlikely to be harmed by the elements. That means not leaving it in direct sunlight, or in areas where nature will be able to take advantage of it. If you have a shed or a garage, that will work just fine. Lastly, I have a free-form pool with some interesting twists and turns in the design with several variable depths and steps. This unit did happen to struggle at random locations, but it was nothing serious to note, and it was able to correct itself without stalling at any one location. This will get nicks and scrapes as it attempts to navigate your pool, so I wouldn't get too hung up on it looking perfect. It's not a Maserati that you're driving to a dinner party, it's a robot designed to suck debris off the bottom of your pool. Set your expectations accordingly. Overall, extremely pleased. In my opinion, the unit has already paid for itself in its first run. I am excited to bust this out in the future and watch it do all the hard work while I sit back in the shade and sip on a beer.
