Dolphin Active 30i Pool Cleaner VS Dolphin DX3 Pool Cleaner
$1,499.00
 Highs |
|---|
| 2-Year Full Warranty |
| Excellent Filtration System |
| Underwater Mobility |
| Comes with a Caddy |
| Multiple Cleaning Cycles |
 Lows |
|---|
| MyDolphin App Lacks |
| Frustrating Manual Navigation |
| Coverage | 
Good |
| Filtration | 
Excellent |
| Cleaning |
Good |
| Intelligence | 
Fair |
| Usability |
Good |
| Bluetooth Usability | 
Poor |
| Maintenance |
Very Good |
| Value |
Good |
$799.00
| Highs |
|---|
| Plug-and-Play |
| Cleans Floors and Walls |
| Powerful Vacuum |
| Effective Scrubbing |
| Powers Over Drains |
| Lows |
|---|
| Long Standard Cleaning Cycle |
| Filter Bag |
| Can't Climb Tile |
| High Maintenance |
| Coverage |
Good |
| Filtration |
Good |
| Cleaning |
Good |
| Intelligence |
Poor |
| Usability |
Fair |
| Maintenance |
Fair |
| Value |
Poor |
Head To Head Review Analysis
The filtration system is in a class of its own, and regular maintenance is quick and painless. We were impressed with just how much it cleaned from the pool, and we appreciate how much time it frees up. While it works hard, you can enjoy your pool or take care of whatever other chores are undone. Plus, the Active 30i comes with a two-year full warranty, so in the unlikely event you encounter issues with it, it’s fully covered for 24 months. If you’re in the market for a smart robotic pool cleaner with a few bells and whistles that’ll make pool ownership more fun, the Dolphin Active 30i is a top contender.
The DX3 is a hardworking and durable little robot. Dolphin cleaners are renowned for their long-lasting parts and clever engineering, and a two-year warranty is an added boost of confidence. If you want a robotic pool cleaner that will do the heavy lifting for you without much maintenance in return, the DX3 is it. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more cost-efficient option to take care of all the work you used to have to do.
Dolphin Active 30i Pool Cleaner
Dolphin DX3 Pool Cleaner
Customer Reviews
Based on 8 Reviews
How would you rate Dolphin Active 30i Pool Cleaner?*
Based on 50 Reviews
How would you rate Dolphin DX3 Pool Cleaner?*
Awesome clean time
I just opened my pool here in the northern Mid-west. We close pools during winter and the algae growth can sometimes get really bad. Sediments and leaves settle on the pool bottom. Well welcome the Dolphin ! I shocked my pool… then set the Dolphin in the water and never vacuumed my pool. RESULTS.. clean bottom and all debris , sediment and algae gone. Of course there was rising of the filters every few hours but this saved me several hours of initial clean time just to get the pool start-up. Now I can kick back and enjoy the pool. Or do other yard work that the Dolphin cant help me with. My wife says pool has never looked cleaner.
5 Stars
Love it ! Has made owning our pool so much easier and more time to enjoy it than clean it!
Impressed
I was attending a pool care class and the couple next to me laughed when the instructor asked if they cleaned their pool. They said we don’t. Our dolphin does all the work. And that’s how I ended up with a robotic pool vaccum. This thing is low maintenance and fast. First day I ran the dolphin for 3 cleaning cycles and it looked great. Now I’ll run it once a week before the weekend. Cleaning and care is quite easy so far. Filter pops out and drops dirt easily. Lot of earlier reviews complain about the cord- I can only think maytronics updated the design because I have no tangle. No issues with steps or floor drains but I do occasionally pull the pool brush out to get the corners. I’m curious on the fatigue wear of the power cable because of pulling at it to remove it from the water. But that’s what the video shows. Time will tell but this little thing is incredible.
Average
Pros-easy to clean, does respond to smart-phone command(would be much easier to allow all options on the power control) ,fast, climbs well, cons:the cord started to tangle from the beginning, despite all my efforts I was not able to remove filters(1,2,3 4-number one detaches on the top after being pushed in and that is where it ends) for cleaning, pick up is very poor against my previous Aquabot Turbo-picks small debris (unless floor is uneven -if so all the sand particles remain) but leaves for example -no,runs over them, lifts them up and leaves them behind it after that-they simply settle down again.
Love my Dolphin
I love our Dolphin Active 30i for pool cleaning and am often amazed at how much it picks up. I like the handy access to the filters which are easy to clean. The caddy that was included makes moving it from storage to pool a breeze. My only complaints are that it always seems to avoid the same spots no matter where it enters the pool and that it does not scrub the tile all the way around the pool at the water line. (Possible user error??) That being said, I am very happy to have our Dolphin and use it several times a week. It is much easier to use than the vacuum/hose system and overall does a great job; I highly recommend this Dolphin to others.
1 year first time owner
It’s a great product but recently died on me. I tested everything seems like the controller is putting out wrong voltage after 30 seconds. I am upset that it only lasted a year for what I spent on it. Active 30i
Needs a swivel
Does an excellent job with cleaning. Filters are easy to empty and clean. The cord-tangling issue, however, is a critical flaw in this “Premium” robot.
Manual cleaning is much easier
I bought this two years ago. The first year it did a good job. After that I have leaves that it goes over and doesn’t pick up. The cleaner is so random that it gets close to the debris on the bottom and suddenly changes directions. I’ve tried to use the manual drive from my phone but it’s not easily directed to where you want to move it. I could manually clean my pool in a half hour and looks perfect. I thought this would save time but after running it twice or even three times there are so many missed areas.
AMAZING PRODUCT!!!!
I have been using this for my 16x24 pool and it does an amazing job. Cleans and scrubs the floor and walls. I had a ton of landscaping recently done in the backyard which littered the pool with leaves and dirt. The Dolphin cleaned EVERYTHING in one 3 hour cycle. If you are considering spending twice the money I doubt you will get better results because this cleaner already gets to everything.
Best purchase I made for our pool
Bought this in Oct. Best purchase I made for our pool. Big oak tree that provides great shade in the summer also provides millions of leaves in fall and winter. I let the dolphin do the work and it picks up every leave. Pool stays sparkling clean.
Great investment!!!
I bought this pool cleaner from my local dealer. But wanted to review in case someone was doing research as I was when I found the Dolphin dx3. It works great!!! Gets sand and small particles as well as leaves. I have no complaints at all. It is not cheap but worth the expense to me. Saves me from getting out all the vac hose and have to top off pool after vacuuming to waste. This cleaner has a internal bag and does not use any of your pools equipment. It does require some assistance in and out of the pool. Highly recommend.
Busy little robot
Robot has been working for only one week so this is just my initial review. out of the box set up was super easy, you select the frequency you want the robot to work (every day, every 2nd day or twice a week)and drop it in the water. Cycle is 3 hours and it seem to cover the entire pool. It will climb on the wall but wont clean the water line (this feature come with the next model which was out of my budget). The swivel feature is great! the cord wont twist and turn when the robot is cleaning so you dont need to untangle it. Overall quality seems to be very good (high quality plastics for both the robot and the control panel). Brushes are big and the sticky wheels help it get a good grip in the water. This is my 2nd pool cleaning robot and it seems to be much better than the smart pool nitro I had before (which died after 2 years). Overall at this point I am very happy with the purchase.
Best pool cleaner EVER!!!!
We own this pool cleaner(but we purchased it from a dealer, not Amazon). We used to have the Polaris 360 which needed its own pump and all it really seemed to do was kick debris around. We tried our neughbor’s Dolphin DX3 after he told us about it and it was love at first sight!!! I could not believe how efficiently this machine cleaned our pool. Within 3 hours, the pool is clean as a whistle and free of debris!!! I could not believe it! It’s awesome to say the least. It does climb walls. It will climb up the side of the pool all the way up to the tiles until it hits the brick coping. It has trouble climbing up on our steps. I’ve not seen it make it onto the steps yet so I just use the large pool scrubber brush to push anything on the steps onto the bottom of the pool and the DX3 picks it all up for me. Worth every penny.
Very Piece of Pool Equipment!
This is the second year that we've owned a pool. We bought a house with an in ground pool and waited 'till out kids got old enough to enjoy the pool. Last year we bought a new liner, pump, filter, vacuum and switched the pool to salt water. For someone that know little about pools but has had family members or friend that have owned pools you remember the big hoses in the old'n days that you had to swim around. This pool had a booster pump ie the vacuum. The guy that sold and installed all of ou
the best!
Love this one. I purchased 3 until I Found this one. Does everything it is supposed to do. The best one out there.
Great pool cleaner.
It is great and it really does a good job.
Five Stars
Great in ground pool cleaner, does a great job on the walls and water line too.
Works as expected
Unit does a very good job at cleaning the newly refinished pool. Pool is a pebble finish with a touch of glass, therefor it is a little rough but the Dolphin does a good job. Time will tell if parts wear out.
Wow
Before I bought this I owned and use a Smart Pool Nitro. I thought it did a good job, but after breaking down time and again decided to give up on the Nitro. When I received the Dolphin cleaner I was surprised by how heavy it was. But once in the water and it cleans the pool like it was new. This is a great product and I am hoping to have many free years or a good looking pool.
My cute cleaner!
I just received it now. Looks beautiful and has best function what I need. Swibler is a quite important device to avoide cable twist. Another merit is a voltage of power supply. It's 110~250 free voltage which is no need a voltage trance device. Only I wonder that a digital swich on power supply for power on/off. It seems be week, and impossible to repair by myself if it's breakdown.
Five Stars
Works well
This cleaner works like a MONSTER
Despite the warning on the box regarding the warranty this cleaner works like a MONSTER! No issues does the whole pool not a problem. Just be sure to keep the bag clean and you won't have any problems. I had a Polarus and thing constantly went in circles or just cleaned same areas. I dropped this in the pool and NO playing with adjustments, off it went.
Five Stars
Works great and super easy to clean and maintain!
Five Stars
I love it, best money spent if you have a pool
Pool Cleaner
I really like the Dolphin Robotic Pool Cleaner because it does all the work that I use to have to do. I save water by not vacuuming to waste. It works great, and it doesn't use that much electricity. It evens cleans the side of the walls. I use to have a Polaris cleaner that used more electricity and didn't clean the pool as well as the Dolphin Robotic Cleaner. It's relatively easy to clean, and store. I wish that I had known about this cleaner years ago when I had my Polaris that I didn't like at all. I'm a happy camper.
Best working pool cleaner
Best thing I ever bought
5 Stars
Love this thing....saves so much time. We even swim while its doing its job
5 Stars
Good
Dolphin Maytronics DX3.
This is one great little machine for the area I live in lots of dust and leaves. Only one filter to clean and it collects large debris as well as all of the dust and dirt. This is much better for me than the new models which have a couple of different filters.
Best pool robot ever....
i bought this Maytronics 99996333-DX3 Dolphin Robotic Pool Cleaner 5 years ago and has been UNDERWATER since then. No failure, non stop. Only had to replace the timing track once. I think i have been very lucky and the product with no doubts is good.
Price
Great robot at a great price. This is my second one
It really works!!
t even gets up the fine particles that regular vacuuming misses. The only drawback is having to clean out the filter bag after each use. My wife loves that she has gotten back an hour plus of her time every Saturday morning during pool season.
Great little robot
3-YEAR UPDATE: STILL GOING STRONG AND STILL WORKS GREAT! This is my first pool-cleaning robot that I have owned, and I wish I had ordered one a long time ago. The robot is ready to go right out of the box and contains no-nonsense instructions. My pool is now ALWAYS CLEAN and ready to use. The run cycle is exactly three hours but usually does the entire pool in less than two hours, and the robot easily climbs the high walls of our 24K-plus gallon pool. It's actually fun to watch as it negotiates steps, and when it gets stuck for a few seconds on our steps - it does a wheelie and then ALWAYS seems to be thinking and learning the engineered intricacies and design of our pool. Cleaning the filter bag with the outdoor hose is simple, and storage is easy.
Best vacuum ever!
The Maytronics Dolphin series is the best, I've just begun using my second one, the DX3. It's easy to use, has great suction and cleans the pool every time. Maytronics also provides great customer service: I ordered my DX3 from PoolSupplyMall (never use that company, they're horrible) & it arrived in only it's shelf box, it was not placed in a shipping box, and it would not operate. PoolSupplyMall refused to refund, instead instructing me to send the DX3 to Maytronics for service. I called Maytronics and they provided fantastic customer service: a return label, a new DX3 provided immediately and sent in a shipping box, and a perfect vacuum. I'm a loyal fan and user of the Maytronics Dolphin series of vacuums.
Indespensible
Given that other reviewers have gone over the specs of this little device, I will stick to how it's worked for me so far. I have an in ground pool roughly 30 ft long and 12 feet wide with a tapered area midway and steps at one end. The package arrived on time, and I immediately unboxed and read the directions; I had no problems with either. Once in the pool, it sank to the bottom, and I plugged in "Robbie" as my kids call it, and hit the power button. After a second or two, it went on its first trip around a rather dirty pool that was just opened for the summer. The default is a 3 hour cycle unless you select one of the other options. After three hours, the pool was TONS cleaner. I ran it again. All I can say is that as a result of those two cleanings of a really dirty (leaves, bugs, dirt, etc) pool, I became thoroughly impressed. Since that day, I have left it in the water for days at a time, and run it almost every morning.....it picks up everything. It can frequently be heard as it runs up the walls of the pool, gets to the surface, and then sinks back down to the bottom....usually making my dog very nervous. So, it does walls. The only issue I have is that it doesnt do my steps well. As a work around, I usually brush any debris off the steps onto the bottom of the pool and then start Robbie up. Again, I was skeptical of using a pool robot , but I have to say, this little thing saves me time, keeps the pool crystal clean, and is easy to use. I recommend it.
This thing is pretty cool!
So... I hated cleaning the pool and having folks over meant at least an hour of my life gone. ...hooking up the the old hose, attaching it to the vacuum pole, feeding the hose into the water, blah blah blah. After a lot of research and finding one in my pricing sweet-spot well under $1000, I bought this unit. I have never owned a robotic pool cleaner before. The Dolphin has been running great for about 6 months now and I actually don't mind impromptu get-togethers because my pool is always clean
Amazing!!
One of the reasons I purchased the Maytonics Dolphin Robot was due to the positive feedback regarding this cleaning machine. We recently bought a home with a pool and didn't want to pay a pool company to come out each week to sweep the pool. The pool people showed us how to hook up the hoses to the filtration system, adjust the pump system, and then spend hours manually sweeping. Lots of hours needed for this type process for sure. So we bought and received our Dolphin Robot about 3 months ago - you just put the robot in pool and after about 3 hours, everything is sparkling clear. Attaching a picture of our pool which the robot just cleaned after a week of debris. Amazing!!
My DX-3
This the best use of my money yet. Money well spent. Has saved me hours of manual labor on my pool. Easy to clean, easier to operate. Would recommend to anyone.
5 Stars
Love it
Excellent
This will be our third year of owning the Dolphin DX3. After building our pool we talked about duying a Dolphin but decided not to spend the money. Never owning a pool before we did not know how much work was involved in vacuuming the pool. We decided to buy the DX3 after talking with our pool installer and finding out that is the one his wife owned and swore by. We should have bought one from the start. You just drop it in the pool, turn it on and let it do it’s thing. 2 hours later the pool is spotless. I would recomend it to anyone who owns a pool or is in the planning stages of having a pool installed.
The BEST!
We have owned the DX3 for just over a year and it’s been flawless! For me, It’s a weekly maintenance sweeper. I’d never let my pool get trashed, therefore we have a perfectly clean pool year round. It’s very easy to launch and cleanup of the replaceable diaper is a breeze.! I highly recommend this product and model! We hope to have many more years of great product performance.
Heart my Dolphin
One thing to say…could not have a pool w/o my Dolphin!
DX3 review
It has worked great year round for the last 6 years. I am only replacing the climbing wheels because they finally wore out!
Great little worker!
We purchased our Dolphin Deluxe 3 in July 2009. We couldn’t live without it. We have had zero repairs or problems. We did have to restitch the cloth diaper, as we call it, but nothing else. We recommend it to everyone who has an in ground pool.
Good product
Fast delivery and product corresponding to spec. My only concern is that I have a 40 cm step in the pool and the cleaner cannot climb it all the time. So while the deeper part of the pool is perfect the other one is not great... But if you have a pool without step, it will do a great job.
Four Stars
I really do like it, works well
The cleaner does a really good job. I'm very happy with the product
The cleaner does a really good job. I'm very happy with the product. I had some sand in my pool when I opened it, so it took a several cleanings to get that out. But it did and I'm happy with the product
Four Stars
I should've bought it 10 years ago
It does a pretty good cleaning job
I have to clean out the bag about every other day, but we have 3 kids and 3 dogs that use the pool daily. It does a pretty good cleaning job, and goes up to the waterline, but doesnt seem to clean every inch of the waterline. For the sale price I got the Dolphin, it is a great deal. Besides cleaning out the catchment bag, it is a nice hands free device, that saves me a lot of time on pool maintenance. Pump vacuums don't even compare in ease of use, to this machine.
Dolphin works great
The easy way to use and it does good job cleaning pool
Dolphin DX3 Pool Cleaner...A word of warning
We have had this pool cleaner for a couple of months. It has been very efficient at cleaning the pool. It does a very thorough job compared to our old machine. The only negative is the bag that collects all the debris. This has to be cleaned out regularly, if not every use....and it's a dirty job, hence the 4 stars. That said, I would definitely recommend the unit, but here's the word of warning....we took the risk of buying this here on Amazon, to save about $120. The box arrives stating clearly that the machine (since not sold by a 'dealer') carries NO WARRANTY...It was heavy to return...obviously brand new in the box etc etc so we decided to keep it. Last week a sudden torrential thunderstorm flooded the power supply unit and rendered it useless ( though it clearly states on the unit 'suitable for outdoor use'). Mmmmm, I guess I should have kept a closer eye on the weather report..... SO the moral of my tale is be aware you will have no recompense if you buy here and something goes wrong!
Does a good job
Does a good job. I would purchase it again but the filter door needs a little work to be perfect.
Power supply problem
First season review: Simple to operate - plug and drop in the pool, go drink your beer. It does a good job of cleaning our bean shaped 15 000 gallon fiberglass pool. Takes about 2 hours to complete the cycle. It does climb our walls and cleans it, despite what the manual say. Somewhat awkward to remove and clean the bag, but thats the sacrifice we are willing to make. Very good buy so far. Will update my review after second season. Ok, second season is in its peak and we have first serious problem: Power supply was flooded with heavy rein and stopped working. Will try to contact manufacturer. Rating goes down for unreliable power supply. I fixed power supply by opening it up (a lot of work) and drying it out with my wife's hair dryer. It works. Very good electronic components... Season 3: Still goes strong. Some missed spots noted more and more often, but nothing too bad. Back to four stars!
Have had it for less than a month but so far, so good.
The DX3 arrived when expected and was very easy to set up. It employs a fine weave rectangular bag to catch debris and is fine enough to hold green algae that is swept up. It will climb the vertical pool walls of our in ground vinyl pool but will not climb the steps. So far it seems to clean well given our hot and humid weather. The vinyl lining is not as smooth or even as a concrete surface would be so it will miss picking up algae from those small irregularities in the floor of the pool. You still need to brush down the pool by hand in order to get it as clean as you want it but this cleaner is doing a good job so far, of getting the bulk of the debris and algae sucked up. The filter bag is easily removable and can be rinsed out with pressure from a hose. If you have a lot of algae, after rinsing it out with a hose, you may want to rinse it again in a bucket of clean water with a capful of bleach to keep from reintroducing algae spores to your cleaned pool.
Most of the time it runs very well and seems to do a good job over a 3 hour period
The robot claims to climb walls but I have seen very little of it. Just today the robot stopped inexplicably. I turned it on and off several times but to no avail. Cleaned the debris bag (not much in it) and it started again. Most of the time it runs very well and seems to do a good job over a 3 hour period. The cord doesn't get tangled, which is a big improvement over my old Aquabot.
Works, but really needs attention
As the happy owner of many Polaris sweeps previously, I have been lulled into believing all pool sweeps are near zero effort. Not so. This electric robotic cleaner requires daily removal, daily cleaning, proper storage, and it is far , far less effective on larger debris removal such as leaves.
Power cord
The cleaner does a good job, but the power cord with swivel is a very poor design. I don’t care how many times you straighten it out and lay it in the sun, it still gets all wound up.
2 Stars
The cord twists and tangles very soon after you turn it on, even when you unwind and straighten it out. This caused it to pull the power supply box into the pool and now it will not work. Also, the power box does not work properly very long. We began having trouble with ours early on after purchasing. It would not run for the amount of time we set it for. Many times it would stop running after only 20-30 minutes when the timer was set for 3 hours. Also, we frequently had to unplug everything and replugin order for the box to even work at all. This began just a few months after we bought it. We have had it 2 years, and recently is when the cord tangled and caused it to pull thepower box intothe pool.