How this site works

What is here

52 robotic pool cleaners and skimmers from 8 brands, priced from $170 to $3,999, each with a page of its own, plus 8 computed shortlists, 50 head-to-head comparisons and 8 explainers. Suction-side and pressure-side cleaners are left out on purpose: they run off the pool pump, and they are bought on different grounds. The catalog was last refreshed on 2026-09-29.

Where the specifications come from

Each maker’s own US product page or US store is the source for every figure, and it doubles as the check that the robot is still sold here. Where a product page leaves a figure out, the maker’s own comparison table on a sibling page is read column by column. Dealer and retailer spec tables are never cited. A figure no maker source states is left blank, and the page says so rather than showing a zero.

What is computed rather than looked up

Pool fit. Corded: cable length minus 8 ft for the deep end. Cordless: the published runtime at 13 sq ft of floor and wall a minute, on a 2:1 pool with a 5 ft average depth — a pace taken from Maytronics’ own rating for its 50 ft robots. A floor-only runtime gets a floor-only verdict. A maker claim more than 2 ft (corded) or 10 % (cordless) beyond it is flagged: 11 are today.

Filtration tier. The finest filter in the box, banded at 50, 150 and 250 microns. Optional filters sold separately do not count.

Retrieval. Weight out of the water, and whether the robot parks at the wall or surfaces by itself; 24 floor robots do.

Cost per swim season. Price divided by warranty years. It is labelled a floor everywhere it appears, and it is kept off the cards: warranties differ in what they cover, so it is the least comparable of the four. All four in full.

Why there are no star ratings

A rating would be shown only with a citable source that is not a shop. None of these robots has one, so no stars appear, there is no rating sort, and no review markup is sent to search engines.

Owner sentiment, and where it is missing

The pros and cons on a robot’s page come from its specifications and the arithmetic above. Anything attributed to owners sits in its own section, under its own heading, and only for robots whose owner discussion was actually read. Coverage today is 16 of 52; the other pages say so instead of showing an empty block.

How the lists are ordered

Every shortlist prints the rule it was ordered by, and a list must qualify at least three robots to exist. The default order elsewhere is pool fit, longest first, then price — a figure you can check. Nothing is a paid placement and no manufacturer has any say in what appears or where. Prices are approximate snapshots and will differ from what a shop charges today.

Safety notices

Where a maker or a regulator recalls a robot, the notice is printed on the robot itself, at the top of its page and as a mark on its card wherever it appears, and its structured data stops saying it is available. No robot in the catalog carries one today.

Who “we” is

A small independent project, not a publication: no editorial staff, no reviewer, no test pool. Where this site makes a recommendation it states the checkable basis for it rather than an opinion from an implied expert. Corrections: chelsea@hagadornwebdev.com.