iGarden Pool Cleaner K Pro 150 review: Almost too much of a good thing

Price When Reviewed

$2,599.00 (apply code RCKP150 at iGarden.com to scale back value to $1,819.00)

Best Prices Today: iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok Pro 150

“Set it and forget it” is one thing of a shifting goal on the earth of robotic pool cleaners. While just a few fashions have distinctive battery life—a bit greater than six hours being about the most effective I’ve seen—many die after simply a few hours within the water, requiring fast retrieval and recharging.

Even a six-hour runtime gained’t get you very far. That’s simply three two-hour scrubbings—not even per week of operating time in the event you clear each different day.

The iGarden Ok Pro 150 modifications all that, and the underwater battery race is formally on: With a operating time that simply stretches past 10 hours, you’ll not discover one other robotic with this type of lifespan in the marketplace. And only a few with a price ticket this excessive. (I’m you, Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra).

Specifications

The battery is the centerpiece right here: The Ok Pro 150 accommodates an enormous 14,100mAh (14.1Ah) cell that dwarfs the rest you’ll discover in the marketplace. Even iGarden’s long-lived K60, which we not too long ago reviewed, tops out at 7,500mAh (which is sweet for 6.5 hours of operation).

Christopher Null/Foundry

While the Ok Pro 150’s bodily design is similar because the Ok60—with massive wheels, skinny treads, and a race car-inspired industrial design—it’s the brand new paint job that may actually flip heads. It instantly drew consideration from guests who noticed it both in or out of the pool throughout my testing. The brilliant crimson shade scheme is in contrast to the rest within the enterprise, which is dominated by blue or black shade schemes If nothing else, it is going to be fascinating to see if different producers begin experimenting with extra thrilling colours going ahead.

At 24 kilos, the Ok Pro 150 isn’t overly huge or heavy, and it options the identical touchscreen management panel because the Ok60. It additionally works in the identical style with the iGarden Robotics app whereas it’s inside Bluetooth vary (i.e. solely when it’s not within the pool). Charging is courtesy of a small energy brick that attaches to a front-mounted charging port (extra on this later), and retrieval have to be carried out with a hook (included) and pole.

The Ok Pro 150’s particles basket is massive however, as with the Ok60, awkwardly formed. This makes cleanup extra tedious than with different robots, although solely barely extra so.

Installation and setup

Christopher Null/Foundry

Aside from unboxing, preliminary charging (which may take as much as 9 hours), and a easy onboarding with the iGarden app, there’s nothing a lot to arrange. You’ll must learn the guide completely, nonetheless: As with the Ok60, the Ok Pro 150’s management panel is arcane and much from intuitive, and also you’ll wish to have these directions helpful in your preliminary runs (after which most likely for a while after).

Note that as obtuse because the management panel is, the app interface isn’t actually any higher, and for the reason that app doesn’t supply any actual extras (even the battery meter could be very primary, providing simply three broad ranges of remaining cost: low, medium, and excessive) there’s not a lot to be gained from utilizing it.

Using the iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok Pro 150

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Ok Pro 150 has such a giant battery that I actually wanted to plan properly to check it correctly, in order that I used to be awake for each the beginning and end of every run. For my first check, I charged the robotic in a single day and dropped it into the pool within the morning, placing it on its highest-coverage mode that cleans ground, partitions, and waterline (my customary working mode).

The bot ran for a full 10 hours—even longer than the 8.5 hours iGarden claims for this mode. iGarden specifies a 15-hour “maximum” operating time, however that is just for floor-only runs, which use much less energy. When I examined the robotic in floor-only mode, I nearly bought there, reaching an uninterrupted operating time simply shy of 14 hours.

The robotic is, in fact, probably not designed for use in such a approach, as a result of it’s efficient at cleansing the pool far more shortly than operating for half the day. (It’s additionally a significantly better general cleaner than the Ok60 was in my exams.) I subsequent got down to discover how lengthy it took for the Ok Pro 150 to successfully clear the pool. With an artificial leaf check, the robotic picked up 90 p.c of the testing particles inside 90 minutes, 98 p.c inside 3 hours, and it absolutely cleaned the pool after about 6 hours (together with some robust particles caught within the nook that I didn’t suppose it could ever get). The hours past that have been simply gravy.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Instead of operating the robotic till the battery dies every time, the smarter transfer is to make use of the “AI Timer” characteristic, although that is maybe probably the most frivolous utilization of the time period “AI” I’ve encountered. A greater title for this characteristic would merely be “Timer,” because it merely allows you to specify computerized, repeating runs each 24-, 48-, or 72 hours after your preliminary operating cycle. With this characteristic activated, you must be capable to get 5 2-hour cleansing runs out of the robotic. With 48-hour repeat runs, that’s a stable 10 days of operation earlier than it is advisable to recharge it (assuming the filter basket doesn’t get full earlier than then).

While the management panel is busy, the one different perform of notice on it’s the Turbo Mode characteristic, which principally simply units the robotic to maneuver sooner within the water, which can probably pace up the cleansing cycle. The distinction in pace isn’t huge, however utilizing Turbo Mode will take a giant chunk out of battery life, anyplace from 10- to 40 p.c, relying on the cleansing mode used. Most customers ought to most likely keep on with Standard.

Christopher Null/Foundry

My solely different actual criticism with the Ok Pro 150 is expounded to its misguided energy port. Just like with the Ok60, the fats rubber plug over the port didn’t maintain water from moving into it, and after each run I might discover a important quantity of fluid trapped inside. As with the Ok60, I ultimately stopped making an attempt to dry out the port after every run and simply charged it with the water remaining inside, with no in poor health results famous.

And lastly, it’s value noting that the Ok Pro 150 has no waterline retrieval mechanism: It should all the time be fetched with the included hook.

Should you purchase the iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok Pro 150?

You knew there can be a catch with this evaluation, and it’s a giant one. The iGarden Ok Pro 150 carries an inventory value of a cool $3,000. Even after the 25-percent off coupon presently obtainable on iGarden’s web site, that is nonetheless a $2250 pool robotic, which is outlandishly costly and even pricier than my extra full-featured favorites just like the Polaris Freedom Plus and Beatbot Aquasense Pro.

That makes for an especially troublesome calculus that revolves primarily round comfort. Being in a position to drop the robotic into the pool on Monday morning and never take into consideration cleansing it once more till two Fridays later is a game-changer, and there are occasions when my pool is certainly that soiled because of wind and rain. Most of the time, nonetheless, I’m blissful to drop in a robotic on demand and retrieve it when the job is full—particularly if it’s ready for me on the waterline on the finish. For me, the large battery within the Ok Pro 150 is overkill, however your mileage might properly range.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the best robotic pool cleaners.