water was minimal. There was no real assembly required.

The power supply is very easy to figure out, too. Just plug it into one of your outdoor outlets and attach the DX6’s power cord. You can start and schedule cleanings from the power supply itself. With three different cleaning modes, we thought it might be tedious to figure out how to set a schedule and select our cleaning job with the minimalistic interface. Instead, it was very straightforward. We perused the owner’s guide and had a job set with just a few buttons.

The remote control, however, isn’t easy to figure out. Ours didn’t come with a guide, so we fumbled with it for a while before making anything happen. You can schedule and start cleanings from the remote, and you can even manually drive the DX6 to any hard-to-reach-spots. But honestly, the remote control was bulky and unintuitive. We preferred sticking with the power supply to control the DX6.

It’s Dexterous Underwater
One of the real pleasures of testing robotic pool cleaners is finding the ones that actually climb walls. Fortunately, the DX6 is one of those.

It stuck to the walls as it climbed to the water’s surface without falling backwards once. What’s more, it actually reached the waterline with each cleaning pass. The DX6 also maneuvered itself into some of the harder-to-reach corners of the pool, particularly in the deep end. It makes sense, as the robot has a dynamic dual drive motor. This enables the DX6 to power over and around obstacles, as well as shimmy into the nooks and crannies other robots have trouble with.

The DX6 did have some trouble once it encountered the underwater steps and bench. It lingered on the steps and fell back a few times, but it still managed to clean the surfaces and climb to the top one, even cleaning the waterline above it. The underwater bench was trickier for it, and the DX6 fell off several times before completing the job.

It Actually Scrubs
Many of the robotic pool cleaners we test act mostly as a vacuum, traveling over the surfaces of the pool and sucking up whatever debris is loose enough. The DX6, however, very actively and obviously scrubbed the pool’s surfaces.

We watched it traverse the bottom of the pool and pick up larger debris. But it also left behind a brighter strip of pool flooring than it started with. There was one spot of the pool near the deep end that had a grayish-black spot that even using a manual brush couldn’t get up. But after the DX6 scrubbed over it, it all but disappeared.

We saw its scrubbing action firsthand when it rose to the waterline of the pool as well. The brush spins rapidly, and the pliable bristles polished the pebble sheen finish of the waterline. The shallow end of the pool had some dark sludge floating at the waterline, but the DX6 scrubbed those away, too.

It Covers Every Surface
Dolphin engineers developed what they call Clever Clean technology, which is a scanning software that ensures every inch of the pool’s surface is covered during a cleaning job. Unintelligent robotic pool cleaners will wander aimlessly during cleaning jobs, lingering in areas that don’t need attention and overlooking the dirtiest spots. But we saw the DX6 methodically traverse every surface area of the pool. Granted, it did linger and struggle a bit on some of the more difficult obstacles like steps and the underwater bench, but it still cleaned them in the end.

It Filters Like a Champ
Without a decent filtration system, the best-designed robotic pool cleaners are worthless.

We were impressed with the bottom load filtration system on the DX6. It’s a large, durable bag that you unload by unlocking a plate on the underbelly of the robot. The filter bag wraps around a wire frame, and you have to shimmy it off to release it. The bag was substantially full of debris, as well as sludge and algae that we didn’t realize was lurking in the water. The bag was also tinged a gray-brown color from capturing fine particles like dirt and silt. We didn’t anticipate it to purify the water to this extent, as most bag filtration systems focus more on larger debris.

Although it filters well, dealing with the bag is a pain. Rinsing it clean takes a lot of water and time, and its flimsy nature makes it hard to focus on particularly dirty areas while holding it with one hand and hosing down with the other. You can throw it in the washing machine from time to time, or even soak it in a bleach solution to give it a really deep clean.

The DX6 comes with the option for cartridge filters at an additional cost. So, if you like the ease of rinsing cartridges clean and love the satisfying “snap” sound as it locks back into place, maybe consider spending a little extra for those.

What Sets the DX6 Apart
After watching the DX6 in action, there are a few features that send it above and beyond its competitors.

Proof of Cleaning
- We saw with our own eyes how well it scrubbed our test pool clean. It made the water clarity even brighter, and the scrubbing brushes released a ton of multi-sized debris into the filter bag.

3-Year Warranty
- Since most robotic pool cleaners coming with a one-year warranty, 36 months is a huge perk. It’s also a vote of confidence from Dolphin engineers for their product. The limited warranty comes with purchase from certified retailers, and it’s not limited to the number of cycles or hours of use.

Cleaning Job Options
- The DX6 has three different cleaning modes and three different cycle times to choose from. Whether you need a quick, two-hour cleaning, or an enhanced, four-hour cleaning, it can do it.

Set-It-and-Leave-It
- Besides cleaning the filter bag, the DX6 doesn’t require much from its pool owner at all. Drop it in, select your cleaning job, and walk away. You can spend the hours it cleans catching a tan poolside or taking care of yard work.

No Cord Tangling
- The anti-tangle swivel on the DX6 is one of Dolphin’s shining inventions. The swivel prevents the 60-foot cord from tangling in on itself as it traverses the pool. It’s one of the most-desired features on robotic pool cleaners today.

Room for Improvement
The remote control seems unnecessary. Since you can already set a weekly schedule and select your cleaning jobs from the power supply, that leaves the remote with only the manual navigation capability to set it apart. However, manually driving the DX6 from the remote control is tedious and frustrating, as the commands tend to lag.

The DX6 also struggled a bit on the stairs and underwater bench of our test pool. Granted, few robotic pool cleaners tackle those perfectly, and the ones that do will cost an arm and a leg more. But it still spent a good deal of time and energy on these trouble areas.

The filter bag is unpleasant to deal with. Getting it on and off of its wire frame feels clumsy, and the canvas-like material gets grimy even after rinsing with each cycle. We’d suggest upgrading to the filter cartridges, as they’re much more low maintenance.

All in All…
The Dolphin DX6 robotic pool cleaner is a good investment for any pool owner.

Sure, it’s not perfect. But we wouldn’t consider its small flaws to negate its cost. Its dexterity underwater is impressive, and the way it actively scrubs and releases tough debris is worth our applause. Even though the filter bag can be frustrating to handle and clean, we can’t argue that it does its job incredibly well.

If you’re ready to hand in your handheld pool brush for a machine that’ll do that hard work for you, the DX6 is a worthy option