I’m impressed with this robotic pool cleaner’s runtime, but I need more

Price When Reviewed

$849 (when bought direct from iGarden with coupon code Ok60)

Best Prices Today: iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok60

This is a assessment of two pool robots, one which is essentially the most distinctive cleansing machine I’ve examined so far, and one which’s maddeningly irritating and overly complicated. You’ve most likely already found out the twist: Yes, they’re similar machine, the iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok60.

Specifications

To begin issues off, simply have a look at the factor: With its jet-black chassis and orange-trimmed wheels, the machine seems to be extra like a sports activities automotive than a glorified leaf sweeper. Despite the evocative look, it nonetheless strikes about courtesy of huge wheels and treads that abut a pair of spinning scrubber. It’s a reasonably basic, customary design.

Its largest promoting level is beneath the hood: A reasonably beefy 7500mAh battery powers the 30-pound robotic to an epic operating time of as much as 6 hours, in accordance with iGarden. (My testing achieved a fair higher most working time of about 6.5 hours.) That’s so lengthy that iGarden says it has a Guinness World Record for robotic pool cleansing longevity – although a fast search doesn’t quite bear that out, with Guinness noting a prototype robotic from the identical producer hit the 40-hour mark in 2023.

No matter although, 6 hours is mightily spectacular, and what’s much more notable is that the robotic achieved a feat that no different has completed in my years of testing these gadgets: It cleaned up 100 % of the fabric in my first artificial leaf take a look at, forsaking completely no particles—even on steps, which few robots ever handle to wash correctly.

Even the perfect pool robots have a tendency to depart behind a couple of scraps throughout their run, however the iGarden scooped up every thing on its inaugural run, a monumental first. (Subsequent runs did depart behind two or three tidbits, although that’s nonetheless spectacular.)

Performance

Christopher Null/Foundry

So, what’s the catch? Well, there are fairly a couple of, beginning with the truth that the iGarden Ok60 actually wants these six hours to do all that work. The unit may be set to function for shorter cleansing instances (60-, 90-, or 120 minutes), and even the 120-minute mode wasn’t efficient at selecting up greater than about 70 % of my take a look at particles, leaving giant components of the pool untouched. Even a second 120-minute run didn’t decide up what was left behind, and it was solely after I set the robotic to run on its undisturbed, run-until-the-battery-dies schedule that I used to be in a position to obtain that 100 % pickup efficiency.

That presents customers with a quandary: Would you somewhat have a robotic that picks up about 95 % of particles in two hours, or one which will get 100 % in six hours? I feel it’s a good compromise to pick the previous, as nobody desires to drop a robotic within the pool within the morning, just for it to not end till the tip of the day—particularly in case you’re planning on swimming that day.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Ok60 can be marred by a wildly complicated interface, each on its chassis and in its half-baked cellular app. The app’s management panel is a touchscreen festooned with icons, lots of that are tough to parse. A clock icon appears self-explanatory, however you’ll want to grasp what the three lights subsequent to that icon imply to make use of it correctly. One gentle equals a one-hour cleansing time, two lights is 90 minutes, and three lights is 2 hours. No lights means it runs till the battery dies.

An “AI timer” has the same three-light system, akin to auto-cleaning cycle of each 24-, 48-, or 72 hours, presuming you permit the robotic within the pool after every run. Additional controls are constructed for cleansing mode (floor-only or flooring/wall/waterline) and “turbo mode” (which quickens the robotic significantly). Alas, none of that is intuitive, and even after every week of use I discovered myself referring to the handbook to refresh my reminiscence about what icon was what.

Even turning the robotic on is hard. First, you’ll discover a knob on the underside of the robotic that have to be turned as a kind of grasp energy swap. Then the ability icon on the touchscreen have to be held down for 3 seconds till it begins flashing. At this level you’ll be able to change your working choices through the opposite buttons, after which you will need to push the ability button once more.

Wait too lengthy on any step and the robotic will fall asleep and also you’ll want to begin over. When I tried to run the robotic on its inaugural run, I needed to fish it out of the water with a hook twice as a result of I’d messed one thing up. Frustrating.

The iGarden app

Christopher Null/Foundry

iGarden’s cellular app is one way or the other no higher. While it recreates a lot of the {hardware} expertise, it lacks something in the best way of extras—together with a battery monitor or a log of operations. I additionally discovered that my choices within the app didn’t all the time transition to the robotic, requiring me to double-check the management panel earlier than every run.

I encountered different problematic, if less-severe points as nicely. The iGarden’s filter basket is giant however surprisingly designed, with a number of chambers and a comparatively small entry hatch that collectively make it tough to wash out. You’ll cost the unit through an ordinary plug-in cable, and the charging port is roofed through a thick rubber gasket when it’s within the pool. The downside is that this gasket isn’t 100 % waterproof, and every time I ran the robotic, water received into the charging port, which in flip necessitated trying to empty it by putting the robotic at an angle with the port going through down, usually in a single day.

Even the hook offered to retrieve the robotic is non-standard in measurement. Retreival is doable with a extra typical hook, however not as simple accurately. And for that matter, a robotic this costly ought to have the ability to dock on the waterline when it’s completed operating.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The maybe optimistically named turbo mode helps the robotic get its job completed barely quicker, however it’s additionally rather less efficient. It runs out of battery life after 5 hours whereas amassing a bit much less particles. An even bigger concern is that whereas in turbo mode, the robotic twice beached itself on a excessive step, unable to get again to deeper water and not using a push. It’s unclear if that is an anomaly of turbo mode or simply dangerous luck throughout these take a look at runs.

Should you purchase the iGarden Pool Cleaner Ok60?

The iGarden Ok60 is billed at a heady $1,498 MSRP, however it’s at present on deep low cost (with a coupon) if bought immediately from the producer. You also needs to bear in mind that this robot is listed on Amazon as the model GT60. We checked with the producer and verified that the G60 and the Ok60 are the identical product. Finally, the iGarden mannequin Ok40 and Ok20 are basically the identical robotic, however they provide 4- and a pair of.5-hour most operating instances respectively.

With the low cost utilized, the Ok60’s discounted value places it inside putting distance of some midrange robots, a value that deserves consideration. While it’s an distinctive cleaner (given sufficient time within the water), its quite a few quirks and foibles imply it’s in the end an train in compromise that may require some critical pondering to justify shopping for.