Aquabot Viva – Robotic Pool Cleaner Review

I’ve come to the end of the road. There are no more Aquabot products for me to review, until they come out with the next generation of products. The Viva is the king of them all. The most expensive residential pool cleaning solution they offer. It is also so packed full of features you will have to have it. The Bravo bills itself as the most advanced option from Aquabot, but that is only mostly the case. It lacked remote control functions, and a few brush types besides. The Viva essentially combines all of the features of their entire product line into one behemoth of a pool cleaner, and I cannot wait to tell you all about it.

Aquabot Viva Design and Build Quality

With a price this high you expect this thing to be built like a brick house, and i am happy to say this is the case. The fit is phenomenal, you will be hard pressed to find the seams on this thing. Aquabot really have out done themselves here, and while all of their products are of high quality, they really pulled out all the stops here. There is no rattle, and I full expect this beast to drive right all the way into the apocalypse. Just don’t be tempted to sit on it and pilot yourself around via the remote control. Aesthetically though it is horrendous. It looks like one of those toy cars you buy for a child to ride around in, all primary colors. Not a huge issue, I realize, but still, I’m surprised this is the design they went with.

Overall unmatched build quality across the entire Aquabot line. The look of the thing might say play mobil, but the quality on offer says Rolex.

Aquabot Viva Features and Specs

It is likely easier to talk about what is not included with this build, but I’ll at least try to go over the features is brief. This is an in ground pool cleaner, with an 80′ cable, so expect to see use in the largest of pools. It can clean the floors, the walls and while it lacks the power washing feature that is standard in older models it replacing them with a patented PVA brush system  that cleans as deeply for less power. You will surprised at the power consumption of this beast, but I’ll go over that in a moment. The Viva includes the most powerful filter that Aquabot has ever fitted to a robotic pool cleaner, with an impressive 91.5 gallons per minute of suction. this machine can fully clean a pool in under an hour.

The main selling point to the Bravo derivatives is their brain. They have a brand spanking new algorithm that can optimize a pool cleaning route in one cycle, allowing it to focus on problem areas. It knows when your pool is clean too, automatically shutting itself down when it is done. You can still set it for cycles if you like, but it is not usually required. Size wise we are looking at a 17 x 18 x 18.5 inch build, weighing a little under 20 pounds. The handle here makes getting it out of the pool easy, even at that wight.

Now to the part I love. Like the T4RC the Viva can be remotely controlled, 4 direction. So if you want to target a specific location in the pool you can activate the manual control options on the remote and guide your new cleaning buddy to the problem area. This is not a feature of many bots, and I am always excited when I see it.

Overall an astoundingly impressive build, it has all the features you need and a few others that you will want. The only downside comes in the price, which I have yet to get to. Even taking that into account I am sure you will be as impressed with the Viva as I am.

Aquabot Viva Ease of Use

There are two kinds of robotic pool cleaners. The kind I review and the other, more complicated kind. I am not a fan of a pool cleaner that requires setting up to an external pump. Pump tech is pretty advanced, and when even the cheapest of self-contained units have no trouble processing 70 gallons a minute there is little reason to branch out into more complicated, less integrated designs. the Viva is a plug and play device. All you have to do is plug it into the mains and drop it in your pool, done. The addition of the remote control does make it slightly more complicated, but all that means is you have to learn to use a remote control. A bottom loading filter bag system does come with the danger of dropping debris back into the pool when it is overloaded, but the Viva is a riff on the Bravo, and as such comes with a protection system design to prevent exactly that. Add in the handle and we have not only one  of the most advanced designs on the market, but also on of the easiest to use. Perhaps that is why they colored it to look like a toy. Child’s play.

Aquabot Viva Pricing

We went into this review knowing that is was the most expensive option available from Aquabot, so don’t be surprised by the $1800-$2000 price tag here. My go to argument, a robotic pool cleaner paying for itself with freed up time, still applies here, but I will have to extend my timescale and say it will have paid for itself in a little over a year. Considering what you get for this price though, it is very nearly a bargain.

The other pricing factor to take into account is the cost to run the device. The price per kilowatt-hour varies depending on where you are, and sometimes the time of year too. With an extremely low power consumption of 140W though expect this figure to be 5 cents per cycle. It might not sound like much, but it adds up, and being aware of it is how we control our finances. on to the warranty, and this is a bit of a mixed bag. with so expensive a product I really expected to see a full 2 years coverage plus additional limited coverage. Instead we have a mere 1 years coverage and 3 years limited coverage. I am not impressed with their limited coverage terms, and I have said as such in the past, but I am even less enthused this time, as this is supposed to be their flagship. I hope to see the policy change at some point, but for now I guess we have what we have.

I love this product, even at this price. The only downside to it is the warranty.

Aquabot Viva Conclusion

This thing does everything, and it does it better than all the rest. I may be a big proponent of the 4WD series, but even I have to admit when they’re beat. If you have the cash the Viva is the one to get.

Pros:

• Automatic, requires no supervision.
• Excellent Price point, few can match it.
• Short 1 hour cycle
• Very light, makes removing it from a pool easier.
• Works on tile bottomed pools
• It has a handle, ease of use is through the roof here.

Cons:

• The most pricey model they have