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4.5
This is the second Shark I purchased. They are made to last and are better than other brands.I am updating my review and removing stars as a result my experience with the Hayward TigerShark QC after 1 year.Get in the habit of replacing the crappy wheel and roller bearings at least once per year or twice per year (unless you have some option very convenient option of carting the entire thing in for warranty repair). If you are DIY you might want to invest in this available on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005LTNLDS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - with a torx bit it allows you to access the bearings in 5 minutes, as opposed to 30 knuckle-busting minutes.During the first month of ownership, the power supply died ($250 if you have to buy one yourself).This is a very bad product with very bad warranty options.You will also need a supply of bearings on hand - these junk things break in about 6 months and you never know which one will go next. There are 4 roller bearings, 4 belt bearings, 1 drive bearing, and one idler bearing - $20-25 each. And you can't get Hayward to send you the replacement warranty parts if you send yours back - you are stuck paying out of pocket, or getting it for a 3 week servicing at an authorized repair center if there is one in your city.Bottom line, avoid this planned-obsolescence design like the plague or plan on $100-200 per year.Executive Summary: Buy a Maytronics robotic cleaner and avoid the TigerShark. After a year my TigerShark is headed to CraigsList.I was trying to decide whether to go with the Hayward TigerShark or the Maytronics line of cleaners for some time. I decided to give the TigerShark a try.After 3.5 months the power supply quit (easy to check with a volt/ohm meter suggested by an online video), no output on the pins so no power. The robot was fine, the power supply was dead.Hayward corporate of course does nothing to help you, they just point you to an "authorized repair facility" from their directory. Finding an authorized repair center for the TigerShark was a huge hassle in my area since the closest Hayward repair facilities refuse to work on the robotic cleaners. ONE in my city of 6.5 million people - and this is 45 minutes highway drive each away. Nevertheless, trotting the power supply in and getting a warranty replacement 10 days later (another 45 minute x 2 drive), the TigerShark is back in business. Gotta be an easier way to deal with warranty repairs, Hayward, if you are listening.THEN, almost exactly 1 year from purchase I noticed 8 little ball bearings inside the body of the unit. Not in the debris container but rolling around in the body cavity. Come to find out both the drive bearing pulley assembly and the idler bearing pulley assembly have just "come apart". Talking to other owners on troublefreepool I note that this is a common failure in the TigerShark cleaners and I should expect the other 4 ball bearing pulleys to fail just like this. These pulleys are available here for around $25 each and can be replaced by removing the outer covers (a hassle in itself). So the question is:- Do you haul this 40 pound cleaner into a repair facility an hour away and wait 3 weeks for a fix and drive an hour to get it or- Do you just bite the bullet and buy your own parts out of pocket to fix an in-warranty terrible Hayward's design (a yearly chore apparently). This thing contains 10 ball bearing units at $25/per bearing and only one needs to go out to disable the cleaner.- Do you just go buy a Maytronics cleaner and put the TigerShark up on CraigsList. I will be doing the this.Do you think Hayward would send you or exchange the broken parts for DIY replacement even if you're under warranty? Think again, kemosabe.As I noted before, the cleaner cleans the pool sort of haphazardly. It does indeed pick up stuff that a Polaris pressure-side cleaner never would. But it by no means cleans the entire pool (mine is about 40K gal, Z shaped sorta) in one, two, or 10 passes, it just misses areas and sections in it's random wanderings around the pool. I run it most days and sometimes multiple cycles per day, but there are still areas that it just does not get to. A little brushing to move the dirt around and it might pick most of it up. It does not clean benches or steps at all in my opinion. I suspect my pool with corners and steps is not your average "kidney-shaped bowl" that it might have more success with.I have had a number of pressure side cleaners (Polaris versions, Letro Legends) and when these are working well and their sweeps are working well can do a decent job on debris and leaves, not so much sand and silt. The TigerShark is probably the best and most expensive cleaner I have had yet and it does collect sand and silt (stuff you didn't even know was there), but struggles ingesting all but the most minimal amount of leaves and completely ignores steps and benches. It will eventually pick up smaller leaves up but it takes many passes to do so. I think this is pretty much the norm for robotic cleaners.I have a lot of Hayward equipment (pretty much a Totally Hayward installation) and all their stuff is all above average (even though warranty and support requests are a struggle for DIY owners). And if you have older Hayward equipment that is not in their current production, you can be completely sol for parts or support - don't ask me how I know!Bottom line: this is a reasonably priced robotic cleaner that does a reasonable job, but has an unreasonably high failure rate. I would recommend a Maytronics cleaner instead.------- older review belowWhen it worked, it worked pretty well. Very fiddly to clean out unfortunately - more complicated than changing the oil in your car.Seemed to vacuum up find material very well but struggles with leaves - the larger the more trouble.Quit dead in 3.5 months. Hayward warranty is 90 days. Expensive mistake.I used it to clean my poolWe bought this robot last summer. We are so fond of it that we call him Robby. We built our home in the country next to a tree line. We also built our pool in the same time frame. The combination of trees, construction debris, and a brand new well emptied into our new pool all contributed to a very dirty pool. We couldn’t get it clean... we tried all sorts of suggestions/chemicals from the pool store. We couldn’t vacuum to waste since we are on a well and water is limited. Our pool was just dull and grayish. It should have been turquoise! We finally decided we needed a robot and picked this one based on a friend’s recommendation. I was intimidated because of the reviews. I read the directions several times! And guess what... Robby worked beautifully! It’s really true that it learns your pool. Each day we saw him climb more of our pool. We also saw our pool transform into the beauty it was supposed to be. I ran our robot double time for the first few days. I would clean the filter in between uses. After that, we used him once a day. Our pool was gorgeous... crystal clear and clean!! We packed Robby away for the winter with hopes he’d still would work this year. We opened our pool this year in the midst of that treeline blooming. Robby was sent to work immediately, and he works just as perfect this year as he did last year. Thank goodness! That treeline makes a dirty mess in our pool daily! But each day, Robby cleans it up! We had him work doubletime again this year. After the storms he cleans up all the leaves at the bottom! He gets the icky bugs and worms that die and fall to the bottom. He gets all the leaf bits and tree junk that sinks to the bottom. He gets the corners, edges, and walls. I bought replacent flusters for him, but I’m still using the old ones. I’m waiting for the trees to finish up their spring blooming... no need to muck up new filters if the old ones are still good! We have had many mighty storms here and crazy, windy days... Robby has been a huge lifesaver. His cord was twisty when I first brought him out this year, but I just laid the cord out straight on the patio and let the sun warm it up... per the instructions. After a week of this, the cord was back to the way it was when we got it. Robby’s performance was never affected by the cord twisting tho. We also bought the cart... I use it for storing Robby in our garage after he’s cleaned our pool for the day. I highly recommend the cart. I can’t give this robot enough gold stars!! I have a 20x40 rectangular inground pool with a deep end. My corners are rounded. Also, I use the jet setting on my hose nozzle to clean the filters.Cleans pool very well. Only issue is with cord twisting up. Instructions says switch handle every time before use but this does not help. we unplug from controller and straighten cord each time.Honestly, 10 years later I was surprised there was not better technology in the market. But this machine had saved me countless hours of work over the years, so I went with what was tried and true.A few minor repairs over the years, all done on my own. You don't need to be a mechanic to work on it, very simple mechanism. The motor would only turn in 1 direction after all this time, so no complaints here. Hoping for 10 more!These do the best at wall and tile scrubbing, most do not do the tile edge. I do a terrible job taking care of mine and beat it up for years. Finally when the power supp0ly died after 10 years, we just treated ourselves to a new one. Not sure why these do not show up in the review sites but they rock compared to anything in the market.Product never worked. Had to pay $215 to ship it back to sender. 2 months later Im still fighting with Amazon to honor the refund they committed to already. Seller agreed for refund. Horrible experience all around.This robot works great just bought it and really pleased with its performance.Fonctionne très bien. La piscine est propre et on peut maintenant en profiter pleinement.My hubby bought it for a customer and it’s working great. And customer is happy.Very good robot. Fast delivery, fair price
