The iGarden’s claim of providing 10 hours of runtime in floor-only mode was accurate in my tests; however, I only got about seven hours of operation in the highest power consumption mode. That’s still plenty of juice for two or three full cleanses before a recharge is needed. Officially, iGarden specifies the robot to clean pools up to 1,274 square feet in size.
I wasn’t too happy with the cleanup process after the activity was done, and not just because the robot has to be returned to the pole instead of coming to the surface when it’s done. The filter basket is very large, but can be accessed through a small hatch. It is difficult to remove all the dirt through this shed by covering it down, especially since the shape of the basket includes a kind of shelf inside, where the dirt is difficult to reach and difficult to see. A more open basket design or a larger hatch will be a great help when cleaning.
Photo: Chris Null
The basic box is designed with a fine mesh filter all around, but this can be enhanced with a second reusable filter, included in the box, which slides out of the basket. This filter has a better mesh count than the filter in the basket itself, but despite that, most users probably won’t need it. I didn’t find it made much of a difference in my testing, but those who are having trouble with a lot of dirt and sand may find it helpful.
Big Discounts
At $1,599, iGarden has priced this robot aggressively, knocking $1,000 off the price of last year’s K Pro 150 while keeping performance more or less the same. That makes this a more attractive purchase than the K series, and while it’s still on the higher side, it’s now on par with a number of top-shelf robots on the market. If you don’t mind getting a little wet when it comes time to retrieve and clean the robot, it should be a very strong candidate for the job as your robot pool boy.
