Ultenic S1 Pool Skimmer review: A rare combo of cheap & effective

Price When Reviewed

$199.99

Best Prices Today: Ultenic S1 Pool Skimmer

As a class, pool skimmers aren’t the best at cleansing your pool, however they’re higher than simply letting floor particles sink to the underside. What makes them probably extra compelling is after they’re cheap, and the Ultenic S1 Pool Skimmer is as low cost as they arrive.

And a lot to my shock, it really works in addition to (or higher than) anything in its class that I’ve tried.

Specifications

The Ultenic S1 measures 8 x 15 x 19 inches (HxWxL) as soon as it’s assembled, and it weighs simply 6 kilos. Like many trendy pool skimmers, it encompasses a photo voltaic panel on high (this one places out 9 watts) that retains its 5200mAh battery charged. If the climate isn’t cooperating, you possibly can cost it manually with the included customized USB cable (energy adapter included). The unit presents a 6-liter particles basket, and as its sole bonus function, it comes with a slim distant management that permits you to drive the robotic across the floor of the pool on demand.

The filter basket features a small chamber that can be utilized to carry a chlorine pill, shelling out chemical substances because it strikes across the pool. This will be eliminated when you don’t want it.

The machine doesn’t have any wi-fi capabilities other than its distant management, and it doesn’t connect with a cellular app.

Installation and setup

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Ultenic S1 is available in a jumble of items, and contemplating how easy the product is, it’s remarkably complicated to arrange. You’ll want to connect numerous elements to the core machine, together with two propellors, information wheels, anti-stranding bars, and the filter basket, which is available in two components. Assembly is way from intuitive and even after learning the quick-start information, I struggled for longer than I care to confess to determine how the information wheels clipped into place. The longer, printed guide is, fortuitously, extra thorough and explanatory, however the course of nonetheless took longer than I anticipated to finish, about 5 minutes.

I absolutely charged the machine because the guide urged by way of wall energy prematurely of its preliminary deployment. At this level I observed the facility port on the underside of the machine has no cowl to forestall water ingress, although I finally didn’t discover any unwell results of water moving into this a part of the machine throughout a number of days of testing.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Lastly, a skimmer blocking system—a slim piece of froth rubber—is included within the field do you have to discover your robotic getting caught within the wall-skimmer consumption. I didn’t encounter an issue with this, so I didn’t use it.

Using the Ultenic S1 Pool Skimmer

A bodily swap on the entrance of the S1 is all it takes to energy up the robotic; and in reality, it’s the solely onboard management. It’s clear that, very like Ultenic’s Pooleco 10 floor-cleaning robot, there’s not loads of intelligence constructed into the machine.

There’s no actual rhyme or cause to the way it strikes, alternately pushing straight forward or opting to show. When it involves a wall, the S1 simply plows proper into it, and the information wheels in entrance of the robotic will not be smooth or padded in any approach. Over time I can think about this would possibly have an effect in your pool’s waterline tiles, probably resulting in cracks or looseness. The machine simply feels flimsy, nearly like a toy.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Ultenic guarantees 15 hours of working time on a full cost, and whereas that’s troublesome to correctly check on condition that solar energy is continually recharging the battery—and there’s no battery degree meter—I did observe that the Ultenic S1 would generally run all day, even in comparatively cloudy climate, stopping just for occasional breaks after which beginning again up once more as soon as it had sufficient juice. The machine can all the time be charged by way of cable in a single day, however I often didn’t trouble and let the unit decide up the place it left off every morning as soon as the battery had sufficient cost to work with.

The distant management works properly, and whereas it’s all the time troublesome to manage one thing that has momentum on water, I used to be simply capable of navigate the skimmer across the pool to select up particles on demand. Another button can be utilized to instruct the S1 to “dock” in opposition to the facet of the pool with a single press, however I discovered it simpler to easily drive it to the wall.

Christopher Null/Foundry

I had low expectations for the Ultenic S1, however a lot to my shock it was simpler than I guessed it will be; in reality, it was higher at cleansing than many different way more costly skimmers I’ve examined. Despite an consumption that measures nearly 14 inches throughout and no actual sense of route, the unit devoured up greater than 50 % of the check materials in my check run, after about 5 hours of uninterrupted operation.

While many of the remaining particles sank to the underside of the pool, which could not sound like an excellent outcome, it’s as a result of particles received’t float eternally. The backside line is that that’s the perfect rating I’ve seen from a skimmer so far.

Christopher Null/Foundry

My idea for explaining the Ultenic S1’s surprising effectiveness is that its very mild weight creates much less bow wake because it strikes throughout the water. This, in flip, causes fewer leaves to be pushed out to the edges, escaping the skimmer’s “mouth,” as you’ll see with bigger skimmers. The front-mounted paddlewheel, in the meantime, is efficient at pulling in particles—it even captured small branches.

The particles basket’s complicated two-part design, alternatively, makes cleansing a little bit tougher than different skimmers; however when you’ve executed the disassembly and reassembly a number of instances, the trouble eases.

Should you purchase the Ultenic S1 Pool Skimmer?

I’m nonetheless not satisfied most pool homeowners want a robotic skimmer in any respect, however in instances of great wind and rain, it may be useful to have one thing to enrich the wall skimmer if the pool will get a heavy dusting of leaves.

The worth is, after all, what makes this product worthwhile: At lower than $200, the Ultenic S1 is an exceptionally low-risk funding to have available in case of emergency.

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