Dolphin Active 10 Pool Cleaner VS Dolphin Active 20 Pool Cleaner

Check mark Highs
Plug-and-Play Design
Energy Efficient
Active Scrubbing Brush
Powerful Vacuum
High-Capacity FIlter
X icon Lows
Cleans Floors Only
No Anti-Tangle Swivel
No Weekly Timer
Only One Cleaning Cycle
Coverage Very Good Good
Filtration Excellent Very Good
Cleaning Very Good Good
Intelligence Very Good Fair
Usability Excellent Excellent
Maintenance Excellent Excellent
Value Very Good Good
Check mark Highs
Climbs to Waterline
2-Year Warranty
Affordable
Excellent Filtration
Moves Laterally
X icon Lows
Complicated Power Supply
Caddy not Included
One Cleaning Cycle Option
Coverage Very Good Good
Filtration Excellent Very Good
Cleaning Very Good Good
Intelligence Very Good Fair
Usability Very Good Fair
Maintenance Very Good Good
Value Excellent Very Good

Head To Head Review Analysis

Sure, it doesn’t have the fancy features or bells and whistles of the more expensive bots in the Active Series, but it does what it’s designed to do extremely well. It accommodates a low-maintenance pool lifestyle with its simple and seamless user experience, and its solid and sturdy design effectively cleans above and beyond other robotic pool cleaners sold at the same price. Plus, its energy efficiency is a huge perk to offset those rising electric bills in the summer months.


It’s affordable and efficient, which isn’t always a combination you find in the robotic pool cleaner market. We questioned whether the value was really all Dolphin had made it out to be. But after putting it to work and challenging it in the water, we think it meets the expectations set out by its designers. It isn’t the Ferrari of robotic pool cleaners, but it is a solid, well-designed machine that is easy to use, simple to care for, and highly effective at its job. It’s the epitome of convenience, making it easier than ever for owners to drop it into the pool and forget about it. If you value saving time and money but won’t compromise on efficiency with a robotic pool cleaner, you can’t go wrong with the Dolphin Active 20.


Dolphin Active 10 Pool Cleaner

Dolphin Active 20 Pool Cleaner

Customer Reviews

4.3 stars 4.3 Based on 15 Reviews
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
2 Stars
1 Stars
How would you rate Dolphin Active 10 Pool Cleaner?*
Rating Stars
4.5 stars 4.5 Based on 29 Reviews
5 Stars
4 Stars
3 Stars
2 Stars
1 Stars
How would you rate Dolphin Active 20 Pool Cleaner?*
Rating Stars
Rating Stars
This is awesome!! Really cleans the pool

Simone Leite -

This is awesome !! Really cleans the pool !

Rating Stars
Five Stars

angelika wyckoff -

it really delievers

Rating Stars
Five Stars

Linnea K. Palmer -

Love it

Rating Stars
Who knew pool cleaning could be so easy?

Noel -

This thing is amazing. No more manually vacuuming the pool. I love it. This little guy does wonderful work in the pool.

Rating Stars
Poolette

Teresa Moran -

Love, love, love it! Just place in the pool and plug it in. When it’s done unplug and lift out. No wear and tear on the filter. Leaves are collected in a cartridge, couldn’t be easier! I’m now spoiled on these little robots!

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Sharon Speiser -

Excellent product. Takes the work out of cleaning the pool.

Rating Stars
Unbelievable Cleaning Ability

Jim Berry -

I can’t believe the debris that was collected in the first 1.5 hours with this device. Then i cleaned the basket and put it to work again. Once again, more debris. I couldn’t see the debris standing on the edge of the deck looking into the pool, but it was there obviously. I give this Active 10 a 5 star because of this and the fact that it is so easy to use. Open box, follow directions, and presto…clean pool!

Rating Stars
I wished I had purchased this when I bought my pool

Brad -

t’s fast: Clean pool in 1.5 hours, way faster than running the pool vacuum all night. It’s quiet: It runs on a low-voltage motor, not powered by a suction line hooked up to your pump that has to run on high speed. Cheaper to operate: Again, low-voltage motor, versus running a 12 AMP pool pump motor. Efficient: The Active 10 moves by using a dual belt track (like a tank). It learns the size of your pool; and moves in a patter that gets your pool clean in it’s 1.5 hour cycle. If you pool is rea

ally dirty (beginning of season or after a storm. Pull it out then you just pull it up and clean the filter basket, put it back in, and repeat the cycle at the push of a single button. Compact: I can grab the handle with one hand, and the 30 foot of line (about the diameter of common electrical extension cord), and carry it from my garage to the pool. Much easier than dragging a heave vacuum “Shark” and 4? of 2? hose line (which will get you soaked when you put it away. More Sanitary: The debris is sucked up and stored in the easy-to-remove/clean filter basket, not sucked into my sand filter which I will now have to back flush. Saves Chemicals: I have to back-flush a lot less often, which means I’m not losing salt (for my salt water generator), and I’m not having to add fresh fill water, which will require me to have to adjust pH and alkalinity. Just more enjoyable: Because of all the things above, and my water stays cleaner and in balance with less effort, now I get to enjoy my pool instead of having to always mess with my pool. Bottom line: It cost a couple of hundred dollars more than the traditional pool vacuum and hose, but it’s worth every penny and will save you hours and hours of hassles, and will pay for itself in savings on electricity and lost chemicals. Had I someone given me this testimonial before I bought my pool, I would have done this from the start. If you are like me and did the traditional set up, oh well, UPGRADE NOW…you’ll be thanking me as BEST ADVICE EVER

Rating Stars
Powerful

David Ferguson -

This has been the best labor reducer I’ve owned. It cleans the bottom fantastically and even picks up acorns in the early fall before the pool is shut down for the winter

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Chris Ross -

very good product. saves me time by doing it by hand. little expensive but worth it. plug it in put in pool and go about rest of day. love it

Rating Stars
Love this Pool Cleaner!

Michael S  -

Unit does a great job of cleaning pool floor! Just place on pool and turn on and walk away! In a hour or 2 pool is clean.

Rating Stars
EXCEPTIONAL Love it

RuthAnn Halvorson  -

The Dolphin Active 10 is exceptional. It does far better than I ever expected. Plug it in, turn it on and watch it go! It does a great job.

Rating Stars
Although it is convenient and easy to empty the basket

Nancy S -

Although it is convenient and easy to empty the basket, I thought it would do a much better job picking up dirt. I find it just brushes the dirt off the bottom but doesn't actually pick it up. I does do a great job picking up leaves. I have to vaccum the pool each morning because of dirt on the bottom of the pool and never had to with my old Pool Rover Jr. I do like it but thought that for the amount of money I spent on it I thought my pool would be spotless after each vaccum.

Rating Stars
Poor purchase

Jeanna Yono -

I loved this product but it only last one season. After looking at reviews there are MANY who complain of the same problem. It will only go a few inches then stops! Have tried everything they told me to do and still no luck. Totally not worth the $400 dollars!

Rating Stars
Only worked for 2 seasons

Joyce A. Darrigo -

Garbage. Bought end of season in 2015. Used in 2016 and 2017 in PA which each pool season is about 4 months. So I paid $600 for a pool sweeper that lasted 8 months. Maytronics says send it back (we have to pay to return) they will fix at our cost and ship back. Really 8 months. I am so upset as we use our pool as my husband has Parkinson’s and the pool helps his legs. I cannot believe Maytronics will not stand behind their product

Rating Stars
"Bubbles"

Margee C -

This is what we call her. She saves me time & energy. I put her in once a week and depending which filters are needed she does all the work. I just have to empty her, hose the filters off and then put her away until she is needed. Easy-peasy! Done!!!

Rating Stars
It's great

Connie C. -

It's great

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Laura R. -

I don’t know why we haven’t purchased it sooner! I does a fantastic job! Highly recommended!

Rating Stars
Dolphin pool cleaner

Matt -

Great machine. Just turn it on and let it go. I vacuum once a week and brush once a week. Enjoy the pool much more since I have more free time. Worth every penny.

Rating Stars
Fantastic

Staci  -

The Dolphin Active 20 is great! Picks up almost anything and cleans and scrubs the bottom and sides amazingly clean!

Rating Stars
Great cleaner

Michael Rosenberg  -

I finally got rid of my aqua crap, this is my first week using it, it’s so easy to clean. Pool looks great

Rating Stars
Unbelievable

Debra E Armstrong  -

I had the MX8 for almost 4 years and was initially happy with it but it kept getting jammed with larger leaves. I went today to look at alternatives and bought this one. I am ecstatic!! The time and speed of it, the ease it picks up larger debris. Well worth every penny!!!

Rating Stars
Great unit.

jandk.s28 -

I waited till i had this unit for an entire pool season before i wrote a review. I found it worked extremely well. It climbed my pool walls and bench seats with ease. Never ever getting stuck. No issues (except for winding up that power cord but that’s minor). My pool hasn’t looked this good ever. I don’t know if it’s because i used this every other day but i never had an algae issue all season and we had some extremely hot weather this summer up here in Southern Ontario. Wish i had bought it years ago.

Rating Stars
Buy this if you are sick of cleaning your pool every two days!!

Spencer -

Best time saving expense I’ve ever made.

Rating Stars
Making me lazy

Chris -

This thing is a beast

Rating Stars
Excellent pool cleaner

Sabino R. Alviggi  -

This product does what it is designed to do. It work great as long a it is kept clean.

Rating Stars
Love my pool boy! I named him Marco

Brenda -

Starting my third season, I’ve had a pool for years but never had such a clean pool!

Rating Stars
Awesome Cleaner

Bob Lewis -

I own a Viking fiberglass pool with toe ledges, seating ledges, and stairs. This robot cleans it all! I was very hesitant to buy one due to not knowing if it would climb over the toe ledges on the walls and continue on cleaning the wall to the water line. It does it perfectly. Everything about this unit is well made and convienet to use. I couldn’t be without one now. Thanks for such a great quality product!

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Felix Skalski  -

Had the Dolphin active 20 for two seasons. Had issues with unit not cleaning shallow end of pool. Took it back to exchange unit. Second unit did the same thing! Just would not clean shallow end..

Rating Stars
Starting my second season

Steve Johnson  -

Last year was so much easier to keep my pool clean with my active 20. Just opened the pool this year and it is hard at work getting the pool ready for this year. Very happy with this product and can highly recommend it.

Rating Stars
Dolphin 20

Nancy Andrews  -

I love my Dolphin 20 it makes cleaning the pool so much easier and faster. I put it in the pool and forget about it until I’m ready to get in the pool. The filter is so easy to clean also. I would recommend this product to everyone!

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Frank Noonan  -

Best money spent and wish I had purchased this sooner. Made pool maintenace enjoyable.

Rating Stars
Love my Dolphin Active 20!

Tom Grider -

I absolutely love this thing! Easy to use, easy to clean, does a great job of cleaning my pool. The hours it has saved me from connecting hoses and manually vacuuming my 28k gallon pool is priceless! I drop Flipper (as I affectionately call it) in the pool in the morning and go enjoy my coffee. After about 2 hrs I’m ready to swim, although I’ve been in the pool while it does its thing. I’m always amazed at the amount of fine sand/dirt it removes. One suggestion for future models would be a swivel where the power cord is attached to the machine to make rolling the cord easier. Bottom line…can’t imagine being without it!

Rating Stars
5 Stars

Tom  -

I have owned my active20 for 1 season.what a time saver and my pool looks great

Rating Stars
Amazing debris pickup

Kurt -

I’ve had my Active 20 for a year now. With two minor exceptions, it has been very positive. It cleans up my worms and leaves easily but where it really shines is the dust-like debris that the pleated filters capture. It is amazing the amount of funk that washes out of them. The two minor items are that the cord twists, and I remove and untangle it after each use so it’s not accumulating twists from multiple uses. Howeve, I believe this has been addressed with a a swivel cord on 2018 models. Ours does also occasionally timeout on the long bench we have on one end of the pool. It happens about 20% of runs. But I’m often around and just push it back k in if it happens. I do tend to run back to back 2 hour sessions to get a really full/solid coverage of our 18 x38 pool. Overall it has been great!

Rating Stars
Love my Dolphin

Tammy Lehman -

This is our 4th summer and we absolutely love the pool cleaner. I cannot believe anyone has a pool without one of these. Pool always looks amazing, only complaint is I wish it would climb the stairs, maybe some day.

Rating Stars
My Pool Has Never Been So Clean!!!

Robert Ferguson -

I’ve spent 18 years fiddling ariund with every pool vaccum on the market. However, since I purchased the Maytronics Active 20 my pool has never been so clean! After the winter my pool is still algea free today, April 19, 2018. Buy a Maytronics Pool Vaccum, you will not regret it and you’ll love cleaning your pool!

Rating Stars
Its ok for the price point.

Guy S -

It cleans about 80% of my 18×36 rectangular pool within a 3 hour cycle but tends to leave obvious chunks of junk on the bottom of the pool. I tend to question this” Smart sensor” technology that they claim is built into the unit. Wonder if its just a blinking light to make you think its a sensor.

Rating Stars
BOUGHT MINE THIS SPRING

Lianne R  -

and I am super glad I did. I have an inground pool and since my husband passed away pool cleaning by myself was a challenge and I hated to keep calling someone to come and help me set things up. Now that I have Miss May (my pet name for my active 20) she and I have no problem keeping the pool sparkling…and it has been a pretty hot Summer. Girl power !

Rating Stars
Awesome

Scott -

This cleaner makes cleaning so easy. It does a great job. My only negative comment would be the cord. It tangles constantly. I followed the recommendations of laying it out in the sun. But it tangles again after a few minutes of use.

Rating Stars
Not great at steps and decks

Lowell -

Only have had for a month and satisfied with coverage except inability to clean steps and two decks. One step is too high for robot to remain fully submergered but other steps and decks are plenty deep enough.

Rating Stars
Programming Issues

Robert Murray -

Overall, Dolphin A series Active 20 does a great job cleaning pool; however, it cannot be programmed for weekly cleaning schedule as indicated and retailer cannot provide a reason for this apparent failure. Sometimes the unit cannot be turned off unless it is unplugged from the power source. Sometimes it just keeps cleaning forever and never gets to the end of a cleaning cycle and again, cannot be turned off utilizing the on/off button. Had a considerable amount of difficulty in getting the unit registered and am still not sure all the required information was received by Maytronics. Everything we had was sent but confirming e-mail indicated not all was received. Very frustrating!

Rating Stars
Unsatisfied with the Active20 and tech support suggestion did not help.

Andrew Crouter -

I have a freeform pool and this bot does not reach everywhere. Tech suggestion was to start the bot in different areas or send back to manufacturer (not for refund mind you, but for troubleshooting). While starting the bot in different places might be an option, it did not work, and am so frustrated I spent 1K+ on a bot that might need to run multiple cycles to get 100% coverage (which doesn’t work). Kinda feel duped. I wish maytronics had more control over their authorized dealers and worked with them closer to resolve troubleshooting and returns. Tip – if there is a brick and mortar store in your area, buy from there and ask about the return policy! You might have better luck trying to return the unit or even get credit for a different one. What I really wanted to do was return the Active20 and trade up for the Active30 because the mobile app supposedly allows you to locate the bot where you want after it has geomapped your pool. Since i didn’t buy from a brick and mortar store, that doesn’t seem to be an option. 100% satisfied seems to be a marketing ploy at best, and any issues need to be resolved with your retailer unless you want to ship the unit back.

Rating Stars
Very disappointed

Kevin -

Had this vacuum for over 2 seasons and am very disappointed in it’s performance. As mentioned in previous reviews the cord tangles way too often and way to easily. The dolphin gets hung up on the drain just about every cycle. The dolphin floats and flips over quite a bit stirring debris up versus staying on the floor of the pool and suck it up. I have witnessed the dolphin roll right over dirt/debris and not so much as leave tracks in it, dirt/debris still there undisturbed. I have reached out to maytronics and received no feedback or acknowledgement of complaints. I would not recommend this product to anyone.