Dolphin Nautilus Robotic Pool Cleaner

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4.3 out of 5 stars

Pros

• Quiet running
• Extremely lightweight
• Easy to remove filters

Cons

• No Handle
• Doesn’t do sharp angles good.

Our Verdict

• Perfect for any in-ground pools
• Fit’s any pool owner’s budget
• Maintenance is a breeze

 

Technical Specs

• 60 ft. floating power cord
• 360° Rotation of the cord
• Filters particles down to 2 microns
• Filters 4,230 gallons per hour

Our Review

The days of having to spend countless hours each week on maintaining your pool are gone. Even more pleasing is the fact that you no longer need to hire a pool boy, or girl, to do the work for you. I know; those are some of the funniest stories to tell. However, with the Dolphin Nautilus Robotic Pool Cleaner doing the work for you, you won’t have to worry about not having stories to tell; you can talk about how much more time you get to spend in your pool.

Design

On the outside, the Nautilus is a pretty robotic vacuum. Sitting in your pool, you’ll love the way it looks as it crawls around your pool. The best thing is that you won’t hear it while it is working. This allows you to enjoy your pool, even while it’s doing its job. However, the design of the outside isn’t near as impressive as the features on the inside.

 

Lightweight

The Dolphin Nautilus Robotic Pool Cleaner weighs in at a reasonable 18 pounds. Compared to most other robotic vacuums on the market, this is extremely lightweight. The drawback, however, is that the Nautilus doesn’t have a handle to assist in putting it in and out of the pool.

Instead, it has a grip molded on each side of the bot. Once the vacuum is at the water’s edge, you have to use both hands to take it out. This does cause you to have to bend further; more than one person has fallen in while trying to do this. Unfortunately, no videos were found as proof of the latter.

Uses Filter Screens

Most robotic vacuums will incorporate a bag system into their filtering process. While this design isn’t bad, it does lead to replacing the filter bags often; especially for pools that generally collect lots of bigger debris. The filter system on the Dolphin Nautilus Robotic Pool Cleaner, however, is different.

Instead of the bags, which can also make cleaning the filter difficult, the Nautilus uses a cartridge system. Don’t worry; it still has the same effectiveness as the bags, able to filter down to 2 microns. However, these cartridges will last a long time before replacement is necessary. Also, they make cleaning the filter system a breeze.

To clean the filter on the Nautilus, all one has to do is flip it upside down, flip the knobs that hold the filters in place and pull them out. Once out, simply take a garden hose to them and watch the debris rinse off. The difference between this system and the bags, with regards to cleaning, is that the bags are extremely harder to get clean.

Rollers instead of Wheels

Most automatic pool vacuums use wheels to move around. This usually prevents them from having the ability to scale walls. The Nautilus, on the other hand, has a front and rear roller system. These rollers span the entire width of the device and serve multiple purposes.

First, they easily move the robot throughout the entire pool. Even walls and the waterline is no match for the Nautilus as it will easily scale any surface. While steps are an issue for most robotic vacuums, the Nautilus seems to handle them relatively well.

Secondly, the rollers are designed using a series of brushes and wheels. Not like the wheels we had mentioned before. Instead, these wheels are in-line with the rollers; they give the Nautilus it’s maneuverability. The brushes, on the other hand, work not only to propel the robot but to scrub while moving. This helps work up any algae or debris that may be stuck on the bottom.

Furthermore, these brushes are great for cleaning the waterline. Most pools have tile designs around the waterline; most robotic vacuums can’t clean these effectively. The brushes on the Nautilus work into the grout line and remove debris from these hard-to-clean areas.

Each rotor is driven by a dual-drive motor that operates independently from the other. These motors, using DC current, use 87% less energy than other vacuums. Plus, with each rotor having its own motor, more power is put to the pool’s surface, giving the vacuum a tighter grip as it scales the walls.

Superb Navigation

What has become so stellar about the Dolphin Robotic vacuums is their ability to sense your pool’s shape and map the best route possible; the Nautilus isn’t any different. In fact, with the Nautilus, is only takes about 9 hours of run time, or 3 cleaning cycles, for the bot to learn your pool entirely.

This doesn’t mean you have to run the vacuum for 9 hours before you have a clean pool. Instead, as the Nautilus crawls around your pool, it’s remembering the layout and adjusting its route. This maximizes its efficiency leading to a cleaner pool in less time.

Ready to go out of the box

What has become so nice about the Dolphin series of pool robots is how simple they are to get running. Gone are the times where you would have to spend hours assembling the device while praying you got everything where it needed to be. Instead, now you simply take the device out of the box, plug it in, and put it in the pool.

The Nautilus is completely ready to go right out of the box. In fact, the filters are already installed and ready to go as well. All that is required of you is to plug in the power source to a GFCI plug. Easy, right?

Price

This is the part that often turns people away from buying a robotic vacuum. The Nautilus, however, is on the lower end of the price spectrum. The kicker is, though, when you begin to add up your current cost of cleaning your pool. If you do so yourself, you’ve not only got the extra energy costs from using your pool’s pump, or even having to run a booster pump to get enough suction. These usually cost hundreds of dollars a year, themselves, to run the vacuum system on.

Then you’ve got your time and energy, as well as the time spent away from enjoying your pool. By investing in a robotic pool vacuum, like the Nautilus, you can spend 10 minutes putting the vacuum in and out of the pool and get back to enjoying your pool.

The Nautilus may not be the “Cadillacs” of robotic pool vacuums, but it is definitely a work horse. With this robotic vacuum on your payroll, you won’t have to worry about not having a clean pool. In fact, this vacuum will give you a cleaner pool than you could ever do yourself. It’s not about the price; it’s about getting back to the pool and the reason you got the pool in the first place.