No this is not a lesser known entry into the wonderful Genesis dolphin-em-up series Ecco, this Dolphin Quest is a nice mid range entry into the robotic pool cleaning market from Maytronic. Maytronic have a product for everyone, and this one seems aimed at the mid range consumer who doesn’t want too many bells and whistles. During my research I have found that Maytronic tend to release their products in mini-waves, usually three at a time. With each product having slightly more features than the last. Not the case here, as the Quest ends with it I’m afraid.
The Quest is by no means a bad robot, but it is something of a step backwards when compared to the Supreme series of robotic pool cleaners. It reminds of the DX series of bots, though the deign of this bot is a bit of a step up. Price wise this is similar to the M200, but this bot comes with slightly better performance.
So let’s dig deep, find out what they got right, what they got wrong and see if this is the right bot for you.
Maytronics Dolphin Quest Design and Build Quality
Overall, a high quality build, and it looks great. Looking great should not be high on your list of priorities, but it can be useful when sorting out similar machines.
Maytronics Dolphin Quest Features and Specs
This is a lower mid range machine, and as a result what we are looking at here is simply the core Dolphin features. It is an in ground pool cleaning robot, with a 50 foot cord. The cable is a swivel cable, and is tangle resistant. Tangling cables is the number one reason a pool cleaning robot stops working, so it is nice to see some thought going into this. The cleaning prowess on display here is impressive, as the Quest comes with additional brushes at the base, making light work of even algae build up. It will climb a pool wall all the way to the top, even from an 90 degree incline, so there is no additional cleaning required by the end user, unlike some robotic pool cleaners I could mention.
The dimensions of this bot are 23 x 20 x 14 inches, but there are few things sticking out from it, making it nicely compact. Our cycle time is 2.5 hours, making it one of the fastest entry level machines out there. It is half again as fast as the equivalent DX machine, and is slightly cheaper too. There is no remote control options here, and so setting the weekly timer requires a button switch on the bottom of the bot itself, but I feel the lack of options make it easier to use. The pump is the standard Maytronic Dolphin high powered pump, and can filter 4,233 gallons of pool water per hour. The use of a filter mesh system, over a bag system, is a nice touch, but it is bottom loaded, something I have been critical of in the past.
Overall there is a lot here to like. It might not be as advanced as other models on the market, but what it lacks in features it makes up for in simplicity, and sometimes that is exactly what you are looking for.
Maytronics Dolphin Quest Ease of Use
There are two kinds of robotic pool cleaner on the market. One kind requires extensive set up, the other does not. Guess which kind I recommend? Yup, the easy option. There are robotic pool cleaners that lack an internal pump, meaning you have to connect them to an external system. In this day and age, with mini pumps as powerful as they are, I find such a system ludicrous. The Quest is an all in one solution, all you have to do is plug it in and drop it in the pool. Then go enjoy yourself for two and a half hours. You do have the option of a weekly timer, but setting that is just a matter of flipping a switch on the bot itself.
There are two downsides to this design. The most glaring is the lack of a handle. I cannot believe in this day and age that folks are releasing robotic pool cleaners without a handle, but here we are. It makes getting it out of the pool much more difficult than it needs to be. The other issue I have is the bottom loading filter mesh. Having to flip the whole machine over to change a filter is an unnecessary hassle, and one that has been remedied in other models. Ridiculous to see it here.
If you can get over those two issues, this is still one of the easiest to use models on the market, and a build that impressed me.
Maytronics Dolphin Quest Pricing, Value, & Discounts
Here is the deciding point. If the price is wrong it is literally a deal breaker. Well I am glad to report that the price range I have seen for this model is the $600-800 range. More expensive than lower mid range machines from the like of Aquabot, but I think the ability to climb the wall trumps the $200+ range. I always make the point that buying a robotic pool cleaner is an investment in time. If you find yourself spending your free time cleaning a pool, then you will benefit from even the meanest robotic pool cleaning robot. I think it is easy to argue that no matter what you buy, it will have paid you back in time within a year.
The other major price factor to take into account is the running cost. Now, unlike Aquabot Maytronics has not seen fit to release the actual power draw information of their bots. Without that it is impossible to work out the exact cost to run the machine. Take a look at the price per kilowatt hour in your area and factor in about 200W. I expect that in most cases you will be looking at around 10c per cycle, though Maytronic estimate closer to 15c per cycle.
I love reading through warranties, lucky for you right? And I had a lot of fun breaking down the full coverage and limited warranty from Aquabot. With the Dolphin range I cannot do that, as Maytronic do not have the information public. I have contacted them about this, and requested the full warranty information. I will be updating all of my dolphin articles when they reply, but as it stands this is a fairly heft black mark on them. The information I do have says the Quest has a 24 month bumper to bumper warranty.
Maytronics Dolphin Quest Conclusion
This is an interesting one. If you can find it on the lower end of the price range, $600 or so, then I would recommend it. It does everything you want a robotic pool cleaner to do, and it does it well. If you cannot find it in that price range then look elsewhere. The little things will get to you after a while, the bottom loading bag, lack of a handle etc. A good effort from Maytronic if not a great one.
Pros:
- Automatic, requires no supervision.
- Anti tangle cable
- Cleans walls
- Weekly timer function
- Well priced on the lower end
- I love the simplicity
Cons:
- Bottom loading filter
- Lack of a handle
- Warranty info is light on the ground.
