Recommended Robotic Cordless Pool Vacuums

The Aiper Scuba S1 was my top pick in 2024, and in 2025 it had the same great cleaning coverage, good warranty support, and low overall weight when removing it from the pool. The addition of the fine filter floss inner basket makes it an even better cleaner for desert environments that are constantly dealing with fine silt. I think it’s reasonably priced at $630 and if you don’t need the fine filter basket you can still buy the 2024 model for $499, which is an even better deal.

At $559 the Poolmate Hydro 3S was also a surprisingly good cleaner, with a 150-micron fine filter basket that opens at both ends for cleaning and extremely good suction, and the only reason it didn’t take the top spot from the Aiper S1 was that it struggled a bit with the sloped floor of my pool which caused it to have lower than average wall coverage, but for a flat bottom pool, I think the Hydro 3S would be hard to beat.

The Aiper X1 Pro Max had good pool coverage, the top cleaning score, and the ability to rise to the surface to skim the pool after a cleaning, but it’s extremely expensive at $2300, extremely heavy at 72 pounds full, and 40 pounds empty, and my gut tells me that if you need a pool cleaner and skimmer you’d be better off getting the Aiper S1 and Aiper’s dedicated robotic skimmer, the Surfer S2.