layout for a more efficient clean.

Active Brushing
The Premium has brushes located on the front and back. However, the front brush actively scrubs surfaces at twice the rate of the robot’s speed, so it is able to dislodge and remove stuck-on grime.

Scrubs Walls, Floors, and Waterlines
Thanks to the Premium’s PowerStream mobility, it’s capable of climbing all the way up to the waterline of the pool. More than that, it actually scrubs those surfaces, too.

Anti-Swivel Cable
Say goodbye to tangles. The anti-swivel cable is a patented device that prevents the 60-foot cord from developing pesky tangles that are a nuisance to remove.

First Impressions
The Premium arrives securely packaged. Once it’s out of the box, all you have to do is remove any packing material. Beyond that, there’s no assembly required.

At 16.5 pounds, it’s fairly lightweight. That may be a bit heavy for some pool owners to feel comfortable lugging it around, but it also comes with a caddy. This makes it far easier to store and transport the Premium.

The Premium has a sleek, modern design. The outer plastic shell is durable, and the grips on the dual tracks are heavy duty. Plus, the color scheme is primarily white with hints of bright blue. With an already white exterior, the Premium won’t show signs of aging from chlorine exposure.

When it comes to getting the Premium up and running, it’s as simple as plugging in the power supply. The multi-function power supply is pretty easy to figure out, even with a sparse user guide. Once you plug it in, you can select one of two cleaning modes, and even schedule a weekly timer to run once a week, twice a week, or three times a week. The Premium is capable of connecting to the MyDolphin app via Bluetooth so you can manually drive the robotic pool cleaner. We were able to connect it pretty quickly and without much hassle.

Unpacking and plugging in the Premium took only about 10 minutes. Once it was settled at the bottom of the pool, we started a standard two-hour cleaning job.

The Premium’s Mobility
PowerStream at Work
Once the Premium started moving, we noticed it had remarkable dexterity underwater. It could turn on a dime, pivoting to reroute its cleaning job with ease. Even when the Premium approached the large drain covers on the pool’s floor, it powered over them without having to halt or reroute.

When it came to climbing walls, the Premium never fell backward. The powerful grips on the tracks clung to surfaces, even once it popped above the water to the slippery tile coping of the waterline. The pool we tested the Premium in had both coves and right angles where the floor met the walls, and in both situations the Premium was able to propel itself up and over the surface.

Many robotic pool cleaners we test are hit-or-miss with actually reaching the waterline, even if it’s a listed feature. The Premium, however, reached the waterline with every cleaning pass-through. It clung to the slippery surfaces and propelled itself sideways to scrub and maneuver over for the next strip of cleaning.

The Premium wasn’t immune to underwater obstacles. It handled the curves of the pool’s flooring and even managed to clean a particularly deep cove, but it did struggle on the underwater steps. It climbed the bottom three steps before sinking back down to the floor and moving on. The Premium did climb up and onto the shallow tanning ledge, although it struggled at first. It roamed over the tanning ledge for a few minutes before sinking back down to the bottom to resume its cleaning job.

Cleaning Power
Disappearing Debris
Our test pool had plenty of visible debris littering the bottom of the pool, enough to really put the Dolphin Premium to the test. As it traversed the floor, it sucked up leaves, small twigs, and even the hazy bits of settled silt that darkened the bottom.

Scrubbing Action
The Premium obviously had skills as underwater vacuum, but how much did it actually scrub and clean the pool’s surfaces?

Once it reached the waterline, we could see the front brush actively scrubbing. It spun rapidly, twice the speed of the cleaner itself, in fact. The brush scrubbed away small algae colonies, as well as recent hard water buildup. This scrubbing power transferred to the pool’s floor, too. After its two-hour cleaning job, the Premium left the appearance of the pool floor brighter and lighter than it was to begin with.

Inside the Filters
The Premium has an excellent filtration system. After its cleaning job, we pulled the top-loading canister out to find it about three-quarters full of large debris. It also had a substantial buildup of sludge lining the interior of the basket, indicative of all of the smaller particles it was able to capture.

We used the fine filter basket for our test clean, but the Premium also comes with an ultra-fine filter option. This will come in handy if and when you decide to give your pool an even deeper clean. But even with the fine filter at work, the water clarity of our pool was far less murky after one cleaning.

Is the Premium User Friendly?
Easy Maintenance
The filters are about as easy to clean as any other robotic pool cleaner out there. The top-loading functionality makes accessing the filter basket a breeze, and all that’s left to do is dump the debris and rinse the filter lining.

Cord tangling is one of the biggest headaches for pool owners, but the Premium is fitted with Dolphin’s patented anti-tangle swivel. Although it may still develop some kinks that you’ll need to keep an eye on, the swivel is leaps and bounds better than no swivel at all. Trust us – you don’t want to untangle 60 feet of cord in the hot summer sun.

The Premium comes with a caddy, which is a huge perk. With other models, the caddy costs at least an extra $150. Use the caddy to transport the Premium to and from the pool shed, and easily wrap the long cord around the built-in hook. It certainly makes owning and maintaining the Premium easier.

Bluetooth Technology
If we had to describe the Premium’s Bluetooth functionality with one word, it would be “meh.”

We had no trouble connecting the Premium to the MyDolphin app, but it was a hassle to actually use the manual navigation. The commands lag, and it takes time to get a feel for how the robotic pool cleaner responds to commands via the app. If being able to spot clean with that kind of control is important to you, you can certainly take the time to learn the nuances of manual navigation. But we can see it being a nuisance to many pool owners, and just as easy to do a quick, automated cleaning job.

What Sets the Premium Apart
Excellent Mobility
The PowerStream mobility is no joke. The Premium can move with grace and ease underwater, climbing and shimmying into hard-to-reach spots.

Hardcore Cleaning
All of the Premium’s biggest features – the scrubbing brushes, the climbing ability, the suction power, the filtration – work together for one amazing cleaning job.

Easy Maintenance
Cleaning the filtration system will leave you headache-free, and transporting the Premium is a breeze with the caddy. Plus, no knots!

Two-Year Warranty
The Premium comes with a manufacturer’s two-year warranty from Maytronics. Shop around, though, as some certified online dealers may have additional warranty perks available.

What You Should Keep in Mind
Bluetooth Isn’t for Everyone
We love the idea of the Premium’s Bluetooth capability that lets you manually drive it. However, it’s finnicky. You can certainly complete a spot cleaning, but you’ll first have to spend time learning how to use the manual control on the MyDolphin app. It’s not the most user-friendly experience, and not every pool cleaner will use this functionality (even though you’re paying for it).

Not Immune to Underwater Obstacles
Like pretty much all robotic pool cleaners, the Premium won’t conquer every single underwater feature. In our test pool in particular, it struggled on the underwater steps and tanning ledge. Each pool is different, so you’ll have to see where you’ll need to help the Premium with some manual brushing from time to time.

The Final Verdict
Ultimately, you can’t go wrong buying the Dolphin Premium robotic pool cleaner for your pool. It costs more than other bread-and-butter cleaners, but it maintains that workhorse-like efficiency that we love from Dolphin’s mid-line robotic pool cleaners. On top of its cleaning ability and durability, it’s smart, and it can climb and filter like a much more expensive machine.

As a pool owner, you may be just as happy with a robotic pool cleaner that doesn’t boast smart technology or as impressive climbing ability. But if those are priorities for you, the Dolphin Premium will likely exceed your expectations