and durability.

In the Water
We chose a 50-foot test pool to observe the Active 30 at work. With a significant algae buildup on the waterline and enough sunken leaves to dress a small tree, the robot had its work cut out for it. We watched it work for its initial two-hour cleaning cycle to see how it stood its ground against classic pool-cleaning obstacles.

Scrubbing Power
One of the first things that became apparent while watching the Active 30 work was its scrubbing power.

Old school robotic pool cleaners act as a mere vacuum, gliding over debris that needs a little friction to release its grip from the surface. Even some modern robots with a scrubbing brush only get the job done in name, not reality. Instead, the Active 30’s dual scrubbing brushes obviously did work on the pool’s surface.

We watched it roam across the floor of the pool and pick up larger debris, but we were particularly impressed when it reached the waterline. There was an obvious film of green algae building up, and the scrubbing brushes quickly scrubbed it away from the surface of the tile and sucked it into the filtration system. And unlike the lower level Active 10, the Active 30 has two scrubbing brushes – one on either end of the robot. So it releases even more bacteria and algae from its stronghold on the surface of the pool.

Mobility
Many of the robotic pool cleaners we review claim to be able to climb walls and navigate tricky spots, but it’s often a gray area. Sometimes they’ll come near the waterline and fall backward, or they overlook the tanning ledge and underwater steps. However, we were impressed with the Active 30’s ability to climb and get into impossible places.

Dolphin engineers have a patent pending on something they call the PowerStream Mobility System. You’ll notice the bright blue jet exhausts on the shell of the Active 30. These create a multi-directional water flow that navigates the robot in any direction and ensures a constant grip on vertical surfaces. It can even move the Active 30 laterally so it can shimmy into tight spots. We’d also be remiss if we didn’t give kudos to the treaded grips on the two tracks. These help the Active 30 cling tightly to the surface in conjunction with the PowerStream Mobility System.

We did notice it took the Active 30 a while to fully cover the underwater steps of our test pool. Every time it climbed it looked as though it wanted to fall backward. In the end it did complete the steps, but it just took a little longer than we anticipated.

Thoroughness
There’s nothing more annoying as a pool owner than watching your thousand-dollar robotic cleaner completely miss the same pile of leaves day after day. Dolphin heard the cries of frustrated owners everywhere and came up with their patented CleverClean technology to make sure that never happens again.

This advanced scanning software keeps track of where the robotic pool cleaner has and hasn’t been. With this information, it ensures the Active 30 doesn’t overlook any areas. While we can’t ensure it reached every single inch of the pool, we did watch it closely throughout the entire two-hour cleaning. We can’t pinpoint any spots the Active 30 missed, so we’re giving it the green light on thoroughness.

The Filter Test
Time to get down to brass tacks here. How effectively did the Active 30 actually clean our test pool? The answer is always in the filtration system.

We opened the top flap of the robotic pool cleaner and the handle of the filter caddy popped up. When we pulled it out, the caddy had a thin film of green algae around the rim and lining the bottom of it. It was delightfully gross, because it meant that nasty stuff wasn’t getting cozy in the pool anymore.

The caddy itself was full of the larger debris we had noticed before starting the cleaning: leaves, some pebbles, grass clippings, and a few dead bugs. The filters lining the caddy must have really worked hard, though. They were darkened with dirt and whatever other small particles were floating in the water or scrubbed from the sides. When we pulled back some of the tiny flaps of the filter panels, we could see even more grime trapped in the folds. Between how dirty the filters were, the amount of debris caught, and the evidence of captured algae, we can honestly say the filtration system of the Active 30 goes above and beyond.

One of the perks of the Active 30 is that it comes with a standard fine filter basket, as well as an ultra-fine basket. This frees up pool owners to determine what kind of cleaning their pool needs and act accordingly. We used the standard filter for our initial cleaning since we were more concerned with the larger, more visible debris. But after seeing how well it did in the first cleaning, we decided to test the ultra-fine filter on a quick-clean cycle, which is one hour.

The ultra-fine filters came out of the cleaning tinged with gray and brown from smaller particles of dirt, silt, algae, and bacteria. While it wasn’t as substantial as the first run, it still captured a remarkable amount of fine debris. It’s apparent the Active 30 has the capacity to not just clean water – it can purify it, too.

Also Noteworthy
Caddy Included
At 16.5 pounds, the Active 30 won’t put a strain on your back, but it isn’t a bag of feathers, either. Fortunately, this higher end model of robotic pool cleaner comes with a matching caddy included with purchase. This makes lugging the robot from the pool shed to the water easier, and storage is neater with the cord-wrapping feature.

Bluetooth Navigation
The Active 30 comes equipped with Bluetooth navigation via the MyDolphin app. This includes scheduling cleanings and manually navigating the Active 30 to do precise cleanings. We like this feature, but it’s not the biggest perk this model has to offer. The app itself is a little slow and not always intuitive, and we had some trouble with the Bluetooth connection cutting out. We wouldn’t consider it a deal-breaker, though. You can still schedule cleanings via the power supply.

Swivel Cord
We are forever indebted to Dolphin engineers for developing their tangle-free swivel. A 60-foot cord is not your friend when you have to untangle dozens of knots from it in the blazing sun just so your pool cleaner can run. Thankfully, the Active 30 comes with the patented swivel that prevents cord tangling and in turn makes our lives easier.

Energy Efficient
The Active 30 is estimated to cost only 5 cents a minute to run. Compared to the energy-sucking vacuums from the old days that would run all night and run up your energy bill, this is a huge plus. As pool owners, we find this as somewhat of a comfort – knowing in time the cleaner will pay for itself in energy efficiency.

What We Love About the Active 30
Two-year limited warranty
- 24 months of warranty with no stipulations on number of cycles or hours used.
Amazing filtration system
- It grabbed debris of varying sizes, quantity, and substance. We haven’t seen better.
Hands-off cleaning
- Push a button and the Active 30 does all the hard work. There’s no interference needed during cleaning jobs.
Ability to deep clean
- Trust us, we saw what all was in the filter. The scrubbing brushes aren’t messing around.
Swivel cord
- It makes life as a pool owner easier and less tedious.

What We Don’t Love About the Active 30
The MyDolphin App
- It sometimes lags and disconnects from Bluetooth.
Lingers on Steps
- We watched the Active 30 take a long time to navigate cleaning steps compared to the rest of the pool.

Ultimately…
The pros of the Active 30 outweigh its negligible negatives. We love the ease of owning and operating this robotic pool cleaner. It’s a true plug-and-play design, doing all of the heavy lifting so you can spend more time enjoying pool ownership. It does an outstanding job of cleaning, and its filtration system can challenge any other on the market today. Dolphin even made the most tedious maintenance tasks simple with the filters and caddy.

While buying the Active 30 is not a small investment to make, we do think it’s a smart one. Between Dolphin’s two-year warranty and reputation for durability, the Active 30 will be doing the hard work for you for years to come