This robotic pool cleaner is almost more than any pool needs. Almost

Price When Reviewed

$3,550.00

Best Prices Today: Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra

The feature-rich Beatbot AquaSense Pro has been a prime vendor within the robotic pool cleaner area since its launch, however Beatbot hasn’t been resting on its laurels. The all-new Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra reviewed right here is, to place it merely, extra, and in each dimension.

Is this much more costly follow-up too a lot of a superb factor? It all depends upon how a lot you’re prepared to shell out to flee the tedium of cleansing your pool your self.

Specifications

The AquaSense 2 Ultra borrows most of its design cues from the AquaSense Pro I reviewed in October 2024 (which continues to be accessible for buy). It’s a cetacean-inspired design, with fats wheels, treads, and two spinning brushes in between. The Ultra can be a lot bigger and has a brand new, black colour scheme.

Weighing 29 kilos, it’s also decidedly heavier than the 24-pound Pro, particularly while you take it straight out of the pool, when the water-filled bot can hit 45 kilos. It’s greater, too, in just about each manner which (spoiler) makes maneuvering it out and in of the pool and onto its charging dock troublesome.

Christopher Null/Foundry

All that heft is available in service of some severe firepower (waterpower?), together with a boasted 27 sensors that embrace ultrasonic, infrared, and AI-powered video to map the pool and actively hunt for particles. It’s the primary pool robotic that, following a normal full-floor sweep, scans for remaining leaves with a digicam the best way you or I’d with our eyes and a internet. Beatbot says the machine can acknowledge 12 varieties of leaves by tree kind, with extra to come back through over-the-air firmware updates.

A 13,400mAh battery powers the unit to as much as 6 hours of operating time on the pool ground and 10 hours on its floor. A contact-based charging dock just like the one which shipped with the Pro is included, so that you don’t have to bodily join a cable to prime up that battery.

Lastly, the Ultra has a dual-band (2.4- and 5GHz) Wi-Fi adapter onboard, so you possibly can management it with Beatbot’s cellular app. But that’s doable solely whereas the robotic is on prime of the water or out of the pool, as Wi-Fi alerts don’t journey far by way of water.

Installation and setup

Christopher Null/Foundry

While most robotic pool cleaners require little or no setup past an preliminary charging, the Beatbot Ultra has just a little work for the consumer to do. The charging stand units up simply, with two legs that snap into place. The extra onerous work is establishing the 2 aspect brushes. These are small horizontal wheels with rubber brushes positioned within the higher entrance corners of the robotic. They’re used primarily when it’s working as a floor skimmer and as bumpers for when the robotic hits the wall of the pool.

These wheels are naked out of the field, so it’s as much as the consumer to wrap the 2 rubber brush strips round them. This is achieved by stretching every strip across the wheel and affixing two loops on both finish of the strip to a protrusion on the wheel. This takes just a little trial and error and a few endurance, however I bought it performed in a matter of minutes.

Christopher Null/Foundry

You’ll additionally discover a retrieval hook within the field (which you shouldn’t want) and a canopy for the robotic, which is useful for storage. This is the primary time I’ve seen this as a part of any robotic pool cleaner bundle.

The app units up rapidly over Wi-Fi, being a matter of two button presses on the robotic and strolling by way of some primary configuration steps within the app.

Using the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra

Much just like the AquaSense Pro, the Ultra may be configured through buttons on the system, through the cellular app, or each. The onboard controls are extra primary, with 4 buttons for cleansing floor-only; ground and partitions; ground, partitions, and floor; or a customized mode configured within the app. To begin the robotic, simply energy it on, decide your mode, set it flat on the pool deck for just a few seconds, after which place it into the pool. It will spin to scan the pool from the floor to get its bearings after which sink to the underside to begin its work.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Ultra’s particular operation depends upon the mode you set, however in the event you’re operating probably the most complete possibility, the robotic will do a full sweep of the ground, clear the partitions, and skim the floor. After a full sweep of the ground, the robotic’s AI particles detection will get to work. This makes use of the front-mounted digicam to actually look across the pool for leaves it may need missed. And it actually does that, scooting round randomly till it catches a glimpse of particles on digicam, then it adjusts its course to roll over it, cease, then roll again and ahead once more to ensure it bought it.

The excellent news is that the Ultra is an distinctive cleaner. The unit specifies battery lifetime of 4.5 hours, though as famous above, I simply bought 6 hours with it within the water, and my pool was utterly freed from particles after simply 3 hours (I evaluated it with each natural and artificial check materials). I additionally examined its AI detection mode by including further check leaves after the 3-hour mark, scattering them across the pool to see if the robotic may discover them. Of the 10 further check leaves I added, the robotic picked up all however one earlier than its battery died—and I witnessed it simply miss selecting that leaf up when it veered a bit too far to 1 aspect of it.

Christopher Null/Foundry

While the robotic is superb on the ground, it’s not overly efficient on the floor, as was the case with the AquaSense Pro. The robotic’s design and its slim profile (in comparison with standalone skimmers) means floating particles was typically pushed out of the best way by the bow wave of water in entrance of the robotic reasonably than being sucked into its mouth.

The new aspect brushes on this mannequin are supposed to assist stop particles from escaping to the edges, however they weren’t efficient at overcoming the facility of the wave the bot pushed in entrance of it. In truth, my testing of the skimmer function confirmed that it solely captured about 40 p.c of the check particles, with the remainder being left behind or sinking to the underside of the pool. That was about the identical consequence I bought with the AquaSense Pro.

The app enables you to fine-tune nearly all the things about how the Ultra runs, specifying 0, 1, or 2 cleanings every of ground, partitions, and floor (20 doable mixtures in all), or you possibly can decide from a fast AI-only mode (a search-and-destroy as described above), a MultiZone Mode designed for swimming pools with a number of massive stepped areas, or an eco mode that cleans the ground each two days. Each of those are configurable within the app, after which selectable by urgent the customized mode button on the robotic’s management panel.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Every mode affords the choice to dispense a water clarifier throughout the cleansing course of, however I don’t use this sort of resolution in my pool and didn’t check it; clarifier resolution is just not included with the system.

Upon completion of a run, the Ultra returns to the floor and docks in opposition to the wall of the pool, the place it should float for about 15 minutes. If you don’t retrieve it inside that window, the robotic will then float freely whereas remaining on the floor of the pool for simpler retrieval. (The Park button on the app will name it again to the wall, offered there’s adequate battery energy.) This waterline retrieval possibility is among the greatest options of each the Ultra and the Pro.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Debris is saved in a two-piece basket just like the one on the Pro. It’s comparatively straightforward to wash, although having to wash two totally different chambers provides a small quantity of trouble to the method. The greater challenge is the robotic’s almost 30-pound weight, which is significantly extra when it’s filled with water. This, mixed with its gargantuan measurement, means it’s troublesome to maneuver into and out of the pool, and I discovered it nearly not possible to keep away from getting my decrease physique moist whereas retrieving it.

After every run, the Beatbot app pushes a cellular notification after which logs the realm cleaned and the size of the run. Floor-cleaning runs additionally embrace a map of the pool that’s generated as a part of the log. The map isn’t all that helpful (and it’s in a special orientation every time) however it does at the least offer you some concept of the robotic’s stage of intelligence. For what it’s value, the map it generated largely appears to be like like my precise pool.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Lastly, an on-demand distant management is included within the app, although this will solely be used when the robotic is on the floor, the place it’s in Wi-Fi vary. You may discover this efficient when there are just a few wayward leaves you wish to decide up and the robotic is already skimming; however given this robotic’s restricted debris-skimming talents, I discovered it simpler to attend for the leaves to sink or to only seize a internet as a substitute.

Should you purchase the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra?

With an MSRP of $3,550 ($2,779 at Amazon on the time of this overview), the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra is well the costliest pool robotic I’ve examined. Fortunately, Beatbot’s spectacular three-year whole-unit substitute guarantee takes a number of the threat out of a purchase order. But to be trustworthy, it’s most likely extra robotic than most swimming pools want. It’s positively greater than I want, and I’ve a reasonably large pool to wash.

And whereas it’s straightforward to fixate on that dear backside line, don’t underestimate this machine’s vital weight and bulk. Owners of extra petite swimming pools may discover the Ultra simply too massive to wrestle with—although it should do an excellent job of retaining the pool glowing clear.

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