What are the pros and cons of the Dolphin Deluxe 4 robotic pool cleaner? This review answers that question, as well as includes observations about the robotic pool cleaner that aren’t clear pros or cons but may matter to some shoppers.
Pros of the Dolphin Deluxe 4
This robotic pool cleaner has a 65′ long cord and hose combination, making it suitable for pools as much as fifty feet long. The power cord floats for easy recovery and almost never tangles.
It has a very good suction rate of over four thousand gallons per hour, so it finishes very quickly unless you have a large, deep pool. It can cover all pool surfaces of large pools in less than three hours.
This robotic pool cleaner works in salt water and conventional pools.
The debris bag is very large. You rarely have to clean it out.
This unit cleans up to the water line.
At 22 pounds, it is rather light for an advanced pool cleaner.
The Dolphin Deluxe 4 runs off its own pump and filter system, so it doesn’t rely on your pool pump. This is a plus if you can’t generate enough power to run the pool cleaner or have other items running off the water flow so it can’t drive the pool cleaner as well. Other benefits of using its own pump and filter system are that it reduces your need to backwash the pool as often and the wear and tear on your main pool pump trying to power the unit. Another plus is that you don’t have to mess with a connection to the pool system for it to run.
The unit comes with a three year warranty. Some sellers offer a full non-prorated product with the Dolphin Deluxe 4.
This type of warranty covers its repair or replacement if it fails during its warranty, and this is better than the industry standard. Shop around, since some suppliers only offer a limited warranty.
Cons of this Dolphin Pool Cleaner
The pool cleaner comes with a microfiltration bag, but it is of mediocre quality, capturing large debris but not all the fine debris you’d expect given the unit’s price tag. Another point of frustration with the debris bag is with regard to its design. It has many small pleats that are challenging to clean out. Fortunately, since the bag is so big, this doesn’t have to be done very often. On a related note, cartridge kits are available for this pool cleaner if you choose to buy it.
Leaves get stuck to its wheels.
The unit doesn’t handle corners well.
Observations
Dolphin charges around $1100 at full price for its deluxe robotic pool cleaner. However, you can often find it on sale for around seven hundred dollars. This price includes a caddy cart, which costs fifty to a hundred and fifty dollars when bought for other brands’ pool cleaners. This is still expensive given the price of robotic pool cleaners, but its performance relative to cheaper models is something to consider.
The instructions are pictorial; they aren’t great, but setting up the unit isn’t hard, either.
For an intelligent pool cleaner, it has a surprisingly simple weekly timer. However, it does engage in pool scanning on its own to do a thorough job of cleaning the pool.
Summary
The Dolphin Deluxe 4 robotic pool cleaner is a great choice for large and deep pools when you want to rarely need to clean out the pool cleaner’s debris bag. It is an essential product if you can’t run any other pool cleaner because the pool pump can’t handle the load.
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