Ultimate POOL VACUUM Review 2025

Can a $350 robot keep your pool just as clean as one that costs $2300? Today I’ve got 11 new robotic pool cleaners from companies like Dolphin, Aiper, Beatbot, Wybot, Seauto and more. I’m going to test their pool coverage, debris pickup abilities, fine particle filtering, ease of use, and warranty support to help you get the best robot for your money. As always, there are no sponsored reviews on this channel.

Pool Coverage

Starting with pool coverage, the first robot we’ll be testing is the $349 Seauto SAT20. In full coverage mode the SAT20 cleaned for 3 hours and 13 minutes in a fairly controlled pattern, but you can see that it only cleaned two of the four pool walls, with spotty coverage at best before switching to floor mode, where it did a very thorough job and overall it covered 95% of the pool floor, but only 40% of the pool walls, and was not able to propel itself high enough to get onto the ledge in the deep end.

After that for $369 is the Airrobo PC10, which cleaned for a total of 1 hour and 57 minutes, but really struggled with my pool’s shape and continually got stuck in the corners during wall cleaning, and then switched to floor cleaning mode where it got stuck in the deep end for the rest of the cleaning session, and overall the Airrobo only covered 60% of the pool floor, and 20% of the pool walls.

Next for $529 is the Dolphin Niya Sonar 30, the 2025 upgraded model of the Seauto Crab, which Dolphin then licenses and supports in exchange for a pretty hefty price hike. The Niya Sonar 30 cleaned for 2 hours and 42 minutes and while the coverage map looks pretty good, the Niya actually never cleaned the closest wall before switching to floor mode where it had excellent coverage and it ended up with 100% coverage of the pool floor, and 75% coverage of the pool walls, moving it into 1^st place so far.

After that for $559 is the first battery powered robot from Poolmate, the Hydro 3S. The Poolmate had the longest cleaning time yet at 3 hours and 43 minutes and it was a little different in that it had a more waterline focused wall cleaning, but it unfortunately got stuck in the first corner and then struggled with the slope going to the deep end of the pool. But I think if it would have kept at its routine for a bit longer it would have made it around the entire perimeter. However, it eventually ran out of batteries with 90% coverage of the pool floor, but only 50% coverage of the pool walls.

Next was my overall pick from last year’s video, the $669 Aiper Scuba S1, which has a few big upgrades for 2025 that we’ll talk about later. But just like last year the Aiper had an impressive cleaning time of 4 hours and 7 minutes, really only missing a small patch of wall by the hot tub, and the far side of the bottom two stairs giving it 95% coverage of the pool floor and 90% coverage of the pool walls, putting it in first place taking the top spot from the Dolphin Niya.

After that is the $799 Wybot S2, which also did very well in last year’s video. However, this is just the S2 that is designed to be removed from the pool after each usage instead of the S2 Pro that I tested last year. I found that after five months of regular usage the original S2 Pro stopped being able to return to its self-charging dock and being in the water 24/7 caused the plastic and rubber pieces to degrade faster than they should have. During testing the Wybot S2’s full coverage mode takes a unique approach in that it cleans in a hybrid wall and floor mode for the entire duration of its 2 hours and 17 minutes cleaning session, and it did a very decent job covering 95% of the pool floor, but only 70% of the pool walls.

Next for $999 is the first robotic pool cleaner from the brand Fanttik, which is called the Aero X, and it’s a completely unique design with a forward mounted scrubbing brush, and a tethered floating communication antenna that allows you to control it via a remote for manual cleaning. In its auto cleaning mode the Aero X cleaned for just 47 minutes and looked like it was doing smart path planning, but it ended up only covering the back wall and the bottom of the ledge before switching to floor mode where it separated the pool into two sections to clean, but still missed a few areas for a total of 90% coverage of the pool floor and 45% coverage of the pool walls.

After that for $1099 is the Beatbot AquaSense 2, which I had heard got some significant upgrades from the original AquaSense that struggled in my testing last year. Unfortunately, it had basically the same issue where it meticulously mapped the shape of my pool, and then continually missed the same areas and in its 2 hours and 48 minutes cleaning session it missed a large section of the pool floor for a total of 85% coverage of the pool floor and 85% coverage of the pool walls, which was still enough to put it in 3^rd place so far.

Next, also for $1099 is Dreame’s first attempt at a robotic pool cleaner, the Z1 Pro. Like the Beatbot the Dreame meticulously mapped the pool floor but still missed a large section in the deep end before switching to wall mode where it started out strong and then looked like it got confused and gave up, and after 1 hour and 45 minutes the Dreame Z1 Pro covered 95% of the pool floor, but only around 50% of the pool walls.

Then for $1199 is a robot from a new brand called Degrii, and this is their Zima Lite model. Like the Wybot the Zima Lite stayed in a hybrid wall and floor mode for its entire 2 hours and 4 minutes cleaning session, and it appeared to be basically random, but it worked out well and the Zima Lite covered 100% of the pool floor and 90% of the pool walls, which is enough to put it in first place just 5% ahead of the Aiper Scuba S1 for total coverage.

And last, the most expensive robot by a very significant margin is the $2299 Aiper Scuba X1 Pro Max which is an all-in-one wall, floor, and surface skimmer. In what Aiper calls “Hero Mode” it did a controlled clean of the wall and floor for around 65 minutes covering 95% of the pool floor and 75% of the pool walls before moving itself to the surface and emptying its water ballast so it could skim the top of the pool for another 3 hours.

That means, that just like last year there was almost no correlation between price and pool coverage and the two robots with the best overall coverage, the Degrii Zima Lite and Aiper Scuba S1 used a more random approach to cleaning rather than a mapped approach like the Dreame, Beatbot, and Aiper X1.

But just climbing a wall or driving over an area doesn’t mean it will get sufficiently cleaned, so next I tested the cleaning performance of each robot for wall cleaning and then separately for loose leaves and sticks as well as sand and small pebbles.

Wall Cleaning

Starting with wall cleaning, I smeared a mixture of food coloring and almond flour on the wall and measured how effectively each robot cleaned and how far up the wall they were able to reach. The worst performer was the Seauto SAT20 which is very surprising since wall cleaning has always been a strength of Seauto robots, but it only managed to clean about half an inch above the water line. The second worst performer was the Aiper X1, which could also only clean about half an inch above the water line, probably due to its huge overall size.

The Wybot S2, Aiper Scuba S1, and Poolmate Hydro 3S were all able to clean about 1 inch above the waterline.

The Beatbot AquaSense 2 and Degrii Zima Lite were able to clean about 1 and a quarter inches.

The Dreame Z1 Pro and Dolphin Niya Sonar 30 were able to clean 1 and ¾ inches.

And the best wall cleaning came from the Fanttik Aero X, and the Airrobo PC10 which both effectively cleaned about 2 inches above the water line.

Leaf Pickup

Next looking at leaves and neutrally buoyant debris, I grouped the robots into four different categories for below average, average, above average, and outstanding.

The Seauto SAT20 and Degrii Zima fell into the below average group because the Seauto SAT20 drives in both directions, but can only pick up leaves from a single side, so it ends up pushing the leaves out of the way and then pulling them in from the back, and the Degrii Zima Lite just seemed like it had almost no suction and left leaves and debris on the ground after passing directly over them.

In the average group the Airrobo PC10, Dolphin Niya Sonar 30, Aiper Scuba S1, and Fanttik Aero X all had the same issue where they effectively picked up leaves but would stir up surrounding leaves sending them into the water column where they wouldn’t be picked up.

The Beatbot AquaSense struggled because it continually switched its suction motor on and off, preventing it from picking up leaves that it passed over while navigating and mapping, and the Dreame was mostly fine, but seemed to have much less suction than the rest of the robots, resulting in leaves being pushed to the side.

Both the Poolmate Hydro 3S and Wybot S2 had above average leaf pickup, with the Wybot not only avoiding stirring up the leaves, but also pulling in leaves through the front, back, and even sides of the unit, and the Poolmate leaving a completely clean path behind it with zero leaves sent into the water column.

But the best performance was from the Aiper X1 whose high suction and controlled movements let it easily vacuum up not only the leaves on the ground but also pull in any leaves that started to float as it passed by.

Sand, Silt, and Rocks

For heavier more dense debris like sand, silt, and small rocks the worst performance by far was from the Degrii Zima Lite, which passed directly over the sand pile multiple times without picking up any of it, and the Beatbot had a similarly bad performance making a direct pass over the pile with its suction motors on, but leaving the vast majority of it on the pool floor.

The Dolphin Niya Sonar 30 and Aiper Scuba S1 had similarly average performances where they were able to collect sand and debris, but only from a narrow channel directly under the robot.

The Airrobo PC10, Wybot S2, Seauto SAT20, and Aiper X1 were all above average, effectively cleaning the entire pile after multiple passes.

The Fanttik Aero X and Dreame Z1 Pro were almost perfect with tons of suction and a wide cleaning path, but the best performance and the only 10/10 score on this test was from the Poolmate Hydro 3S which not only left a completely clean path, but also sucked in surrounding debris, and managed to avoid sending silt into the water column due to its finer mesh filter.

Fine Particle Filtration

Which brings me to the next important section which is their ability to filter fine particles like silt and possibly even some larger algae. I used a microscope to examine the mesh filter baskets of each robot and the Beatbot AquaSense 2, Fanttik Aero X, and Poolmate Hydro 3S all have extra small 150-micron filter mesh, which is surprising since the smaller mesh can decrease suction, and the Fanttik and especially the Poolmate had some of the best suction performance in the sand and silt tests. 

The majority of the other robots used 180-micron filter mesh, and the Seauto SAT20 and Dolphin Niya Sonar 30 have much larger 250-micron filter baskets, which means they aren’t able to clean up fine silt.

However, despite using 180-micron filter baskets, the best filtering performance came from the Aiper S1 and X1 and the Wybot S2 due to their use of secondary filters. In the case of the Wybot there is a fine filter cartridge that slots in after the basket but before the motor outlet, while the 2025 updated Aiper Scuba S1 now comes with an entire inner filter floss basket that can be removed for increased suction or inserted to capture fine particles, and similarly the X1 Pro Max has the option of using either the ultra-fine filter floss or the 180-micron mesh by switching out the panels on the filter basket.

Total Cleaning Scores

So, for pure cleaning ability looking at pool coverage, wall cleaning, debris pickup, and filtering ability, the top three robots were the Aiper X1 Pro Max in 1^st, the Wybot S2 in 2^nd and the Poolmate Hydro 3S in 3^rd place, but there’s still a lot more to consider starting with convenience and ease of use.

Weight Testing

Because these robots are designed to be taken out of the pool after each use, their weight when being lifted out of the pool is an important consideration.

I measured each robot’s maximum weight and the time to drain down to their empty weight and found that the heaviest robot by far was the Aiper X1 Pro Max with a peak weight of 72lbs, draining down to 40lbs empty weight in 6 seconds.

The Dreame Z1 Pro had a max weight of 58lbs and drained to and empty weight of 26lbs after 6 seconds when pulling it directly from the bottom of the pool, but when using its docking mode that automatically happens at the end of a cleaning, or can be triggered using the included light based remote, the max weight was only 53lbs and running the motors helped it drain down to its empty weight in just 3 seconds.

The Degrii Zima light had a max weight of 55lbs and drained to a 27lbs empty weight in 7 seconds, the Poolmate Hydro 3S was 47lbs and drained to 21lbs in 5 seconds, the Fanttik Aero X was 45lbs and drained to 24lbs in 6 seconds, the Airrobo PC10 had a max weight of 41lbs and drained to 24lbs in 4 seconds, the Wybot S2 and Aiper Scuba S1 both had a peak weight of 40lbs and drained to 21lbs in 6 seconds

The Beatbot AquaSense 2 had a peak weight of 39lbs and drained to 26lbs in 4 seconds when pulling directly from the bottom of the pool, but confusingly when using its automatic docking procedure that happens at the end of each cleaning it had a higher peak weight of 43lbs and took one second longer to drain with the motors on.

The Dolphin Niya Sonar 30 had a peak weight of just 35lbs and drained to an empty weight of 21lbs in 3 seconds, and the Seauto SAT20 was the lightest robot at just 30lbs peak weight, draining all the way down to 13lbs in just 3 seconds thanks to this flap on the back that lets the water drain directly out of the side of the filter basket making it by far the easiest to take out of the pool.

Filter Basket Cleaning

Speaking of filter baskets, the other thing that needs to happen regularly with these pool cleaners is emptying and rinsing their filter baskets, and as far as ease of cleaning not all filter baskets are created equal. The best designs by far are the baskets that can open at both ends like the Aiper X1 Pro Max, Dreame Z1 Pro, and Poolmate Hydro 3S. It just makes the cleaning process so much easier and faster.

Open top designs like the Beatbot AquaSense 2 are also fairly easy to clean, but for some reason it did feel harder to clear debris out of the fine mesh on the Beatbot AquaSense 2’s filter basket. The rest of the baskets were more or less the same in terms of cleaning and just require a little more time, tilting and sprayer work, to get clean.

One last thing in terms of ease of use, the Beatbot AquaSense 2 and Aiper X1 Pro Max both have charging stands so you don’t have to mess with plugs and sealed charging ports, and the Dreame Z1 Pro has a magnetic charging contact that’s also easy to use, while the rest of the robots have sealed charging ports that need to be opened and dried before plugging them in in order to prevent corrosion.

Warranty and Support

Last, the most common comments on my previous pool vacuum videos are about tech support and warranty replacement for each pool cleaner company, and specifically for these robots that are constantly exposed to harsh conditions like direct sunlight, and chlorinated water, I think warranty and support are very valid concerns.

So first, here are the warranty periods where you can see the least expensive Seauto and Airrobo cleaners only have 1-year warranty, and the most expensive Aiper X1 Pro Max has a 3-year warranty.

The next concern is whether you can actually get support so I looked up and called each company’s support line with a made up warranty claim. Based on some previous comments I was expecting to be wildly disappointed, but to my surprise the only brand whose phone number didn’t connect me with a helpful support rep was Fanttik which just went straight to voicemail. 

I was disappointed to find out that the Dolphin Niya, which is actually manufactured by Seauto and sold at a significant markup is not eligible for their normal phone support, and I was passed off to email only warranty support, which makes the markup a bit harder to stomach.

I also think the support number for Poolmate Hydro 3S might just be one guy’s cell phone, but he was very knowledgeable and helpful and walked me through troubleshooting steps for my made up problem.

But the rest of the numbers, even Seauto who has had issues with warranty support in the past, connected me to live call centers who provided me with troubleshooting steps, and eventually opened up warranty cases for repair and replacement, and overall, I have to say I was both surprised and satisfied with the level of support.

User Replaceable Parts

However, one thing that all the brands could do better is increase the availability of user replaceable parts, and of all the robots in this video the only one I could easily find replacement parts for was the Poolmate Hydro 3S, and even then, all I could find was the filter basket. And that is especially disappointing for the Wybot since I’ve found that their secondary filter mesh breaks down after just a couple months and requires frequent replacement, but you can’t buy the replacements anywhere which is a huge oversight.

Conclusions & Recommendations

So, all things considered, what are the best pool cleaning robots of 2025?

The Aiper Scuba S1 Pro 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 Wybot S2 also had one of the best overall cleaning scores, and the S2 was also one of my top recommended cleaners of 2024, but I’m really disappointed by the lack of replacement filters, and my gut instinct about the self-docking station for the S2 Pro turned out to be correct and my S2 Pro lost its ability to return to the dock in less than 5 months, so I would only recommend the standard S2 version without the docking station.

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 S1 and Aiper’s dedicated robotic skimmer, the Surfer S2.

As always, there are no sponsored reviews on this channel, but I do have links to all of the pool cleaners below, and if this video was helpful for you I would appreciate if you would use those links since as an Amazon Affiliate I do earn a small commission on the sale at no cost to you.

I’d also like to thank my awesome patrons over at Patreon for their continued support of my channel, and if you’re interested in supporting my unsponsored reviews, please check out the links below. If you enjoyed this video, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and as always, thanks for watching The Hook Up.