Pool robots
How much robot does a flat-floored pool actually need?
These two are at opposite ends of the pool robot shelf, and the gap between them is not only runtime. One maps the pool and climbs the walls; the other is explicit about the floor it is for and the floors it is not.
| Compared on | Rover X10 | PR1 |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime | Up to 6 hours from 15 000 mAh | 120 minutes |
| Charge time | Not published | 150 minutes |
| Surfaces covered | Stated 7-in-1 including steps and flat areas | Pool floors up to 100 m², flat and crease-free only |
| Where it explicitly will not work | Not published | Rounded floor-to-wall transitions, stated |
| Filter fineness | 180 µm plus a 3 µm ultra-fine layer | 180 µm |
| Debris capacity | 5 l | 2.2 l |
| Navigation | Underwater laser distance sensor building a real-time 3D map | Not published as a navigation system — one-click start |
| Retrieval at the end of a cycle | Not published as a parking routine | Self-parks at the pool edge; hook supplied |
| Weight | Not published | Not published |
A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.
The MOVA is the machine for a pool with walls, steps and corners worth cleaning. It runs three times as long, carries more than twice the debris, adds an ultra-fine filter layer for the fine material a standard basket passes, and is the only robot in this catalogue to publish a mapping system rather than a driving pattern. It does not say how it ends a cycle or how long it takes to recharge.
The MEDION is the honest small robot. It states the area it covers, it publishes a charge time — which no other robot here does — and it says outright that it is not for pools with rounded floor-to-wall transitions. That single negative sentence is worth more at purchase than several paragraphs of capability claims, because it is the thing that would otherwise be discovered after delivery.
It decides what the machine picks up rather than pushes around. A 180 micrometre basket catches leaves, insects and grit; a finer layer catches the suspended material that makes water look dull. Where a listing publishes no figure at all, the comparison cannot be made.
Because the pair together decide how much of a day the robot is available. A two-hour run followed by a two-and-a-half-hour charge is a different proposition from a two-hour run and an overnight charge, and only one of these listings lets you work that out.
On a liner pool with a rounded transition at the floor, a floor-only robot may not even reach the edges. On a flat-floored above-ground pool, wall cleaning is a convenience. The listing that tells you which kind of pool it is built for is doing the useful work.
7-in-1, 6 h, laser mapping, 5 l with 180 µm and 3 µm
The most heavily equipped robot on this shelf: a laser distance sensor building a 3D map underwater, four turbine motors, six hours of runtime from a 15 000 mAh battery, and a two-layer 5-litre filter.
Best for: A large or complicated pool where mapped coverage genuinely saves passes
Floor only, 120 min, 180 µm, 2.2 l basket
The cheapest robot on this shelf and the most explicit about its limits: floors only, flat floors only, and the maker states in writing that it is not for curved floor-to-wall transitions.
Best for: A flat-floored above-ground pool where the walls are brushed by hand
Any amount written into the prose below was read once, the day that sentence was composed, and nothing has updated it since. The figure a shop is asking today loads next to the product itself, and that is the only live one on this page.
