Pool robots are very useful machines that take over the tough work of manually scrubbing your pool with a brush attached to a pole. With one that actually works excellently well, you’ll never have to deal with dirty pools with anyone.
The Polaris P825 is a robotic pool cleaner for medium to large residential in-ground pools and promises to automate pool cleaning. In this Polaris P825 robotic pool cleaner review, we reveal if it’s truly as exciting as it sounds or if it’s another glorified crap. Stick around for a few minutes and get revealing answers to any questions you may have about this pool robot.
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1-minute Polaris P825 review
The Polaris P825 is a robot designed to automatically clean residential in-ground pools using a single front scrubber, an energy-efficient motor, powerful suction force and an integrated filtration system.
It has the ability to scrub off dirt particles from pool surfaces and effectively trap them in a Push N’ Go garbage basket without losing suction, thanks to the Patented Cyclonic Vacuum Technology.
This pool robot will get every part of your pool, including all corners and edges of the floors, the pool walls and up to the waterline. It comes with a caddy for easy mobility and a 2-year warranty from its manufacturers.
- Cleans floors, walls and up to the waterline.
- Cleans all type of pool surfaces
- Push N’ Go mesh filter canister
- Pool caddy included
- A 2-year warranty
- Heavy unit
- No remote control
- No programmable weekly timer
- No anti-tangle swivel technology
- AUTO POOL CLEANER: The Polaris P825 Robotic Cleaner deftly navigates all pool surfaces, climbs walls, and scrubs to the tile line for thorough cleaning.
Last update on 2023-12-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Polaris P825 Full Review
Does your private residential pool give you nightmares because it gets full with all sorts of dirt, both large floating debris and small particles that sink to the bottom? Do you worry about manually cleaning your pool every weekend with a skimmer pole and pool brush? Or maybe you always have to pay for monthly pool maintenance.
Pools may be fancy and super-convenient for relaxing and having a good time, but they are not always fun, as every pool owner must have noticed. They need maintenance and cleaning week after week, and these are only a few of the worries that come with owning a private pool.
Thankfully though, manual pool cleaning is gradually fading away as the markets are flooded with tonnes of exotic gadgets for automatically cleaning your pool. Robotic pool cleaners are machines that make owning a pool truly convenient, these gadgets are simply a must-have for every home with a private pool.
While it does the hard work, it saves you the stress of having to manually brush your pool, leaving you with more time to actually enjoy your pool and less time stressing about it. The Polaris P825 sport robotic pool cleaner is designed to automate pool cleaning for large in-ground pools of 40 ft and below. It comes with an integrated filtration system, a front active scrubbing brush, a strong suction, and a powerful motor to drive the system.
To guarantee optimum pool vacuuming and ensure that the machine doesn’t lose suction during a cleaning cycle, the P825 features the Patented Cyclonic Vacuum Technology for sucking up both large and small debris.
The P825 also has a Surface Control System which allows it to clean in-ground pools of all shapes within 40 ft. The active scrubber and tank treads permit it to travel through all types of pool surfaces without losing traction or slipping, it cleans every inch of your pool, from the floors to the walls and up to the waterline.
How the Polaris P825 works on pool surfaces
Pool robots make pool cleaning a breeze, and the Polaris P825 is one such gadget. This robotic pool cleaner sports a powerful and energy-efficient motor that drives a single front scrubbing brush along the pool surfaces, dislodging dirt particles stuck on them. Although this unit comes with a single scrubber, it works very hard to get off both dirt particles and algae from the surfaces of your pool.
This powerful motor combined with a strong suction and tank treads enables the robot to drive through every corner of the pool while sucking up every dirt particle on its path. The strong suction sucks in dirt-filled water, sending them into the filter basket and spitting out dirt-free water, while all the gross pool rubbish gets trapped and locked in the basket. This filter basket can capture leaves, twigs, small pebbles, algae, etc.
The P825 has a filtration system that consists of a single top-access large filter basket that has a transparent window through which you can see the inside of the basket and know when it’s full and needs to get cleaned. The transparent window on the filter is designed to replace a “Dirty Filter Indicator” so it cancels the need for an electric sensor to detect a full filter rather you’ll see through the filter from the robot to tell when it’s full.
Polaris P825 sports a smart navigation system that uses sensors to facilitate smart navigation in the pool to ensure that the robot gets to all the parts of the pool. It also has high-grade tank treads for smooth underwater movement and steady traction on all types of pool surfaces, including fiberglass, tiles, vinyl, and concrete.
This pool cleaner is designed for in-ground pools of no more than 40 ft long, therefore it comes with a 50 ft long power cord. This is a floating power cord and doesn’t feature the anti-tangle swivel technology, however, it’s able to float around in the pool without getting tangled and inhibiting the robot while it makes its turns and random movements during a cleaning cycle.
Performance
The P825 has a single scrubber which is strategically positioned at the front to enable the robot to clean steps, seats, and corners of the pool. With the treads and rubber scrubber, the robot is able to drive over the surfaces of any in-ground pool within 40 ft.
As an automatic pool robot, it does a good job and will leave your pool much cleaner than before after every cleaning cycle. However, this robot has certain flaws that may be deal-breakers for some. For instance, it will get stuck on the raised drains at the bottom of your pool and will be unable to work itself free until you come to its rescue. For a smart gadget designed for automate pool cleaning with very little interference from humans, this is largely inconvenient.
It’s supposed to be “set and forget” but this singular flaw makes that impossible. Also, the filtration system of this robot does not effectively sieve out very fine particles from the pool and after a cleaning cycle you’ll still find some fine particles floating around in your pool and your pool water will not be as clear and shiny as you’d like it to be.
Ease of set-up and use of robotic pool cleaners
Like most other robotic pool cleaners out there, the P825 requires almost no set-up before you can get it to clean your pool. It can simply be described as “plug-and-play” and works right out of the box.
The P825 comes with a power control unit with a very simple control panel from which the robot is controlled, this control unit has a few buttons, 1 power button, and others for selecting your preferred cleaning mode.
It has dual cleaning cycles, one for a quick clean and another for an extended and thorough pool cleaning session. This robot weighs 20 pounds which is quite heavy, however, it comes with a pool caddy which enables easy transport and mobility.
Reliability
The Polaris P825 is a robotic pool cleaner with an excellent design, but if you’re looking for a pool robot that offers both reliable and efficient cleaning with great build quality to last for an impressive number of years, then you may have to look elsewhere. This robot is poorly put together with less than sturdy materials which will all fall apart in no time.
There have been complaints about the power control unit dying even before the warranty expired (it has a 2-year warranty) and the cables and drive gears going bad, even after several repairs. This is just too much stress, if you ask me after a robotic pool cleaner is supposed to give you less stress and not more trouble. There are many other sturdily built pool robots that clean pretty well.
Ongoing maintenance
The Polaris P825 manual ensures maintaining this pool machine is quite easy. It comes with a Push ‘N’ Go mesh filter cartridge which is very easy to remove, clean out and replace. This filter basket has a push-button ejector and it has a handle so your hands won’t touch those gross pool rubbish, this is probably the best feature of this robot.
Keeping the filter cartridge is about the only maintenance this robot needs, and occasionally checking other wearable parts like the scrubber and tank treads, for wear and replacing them promptly. The error indicator on the unit makes it easy to troubleshoot the Polaris P825.
Extra purchases and ongoing costs
Polaris P825 comes as a complete pool cleaner and it also comes with a pool caddy which makes sense since the robot weighs about 21 pounds. So, you need not worry about any other purchases before you can get the gadget to work. This robot, however, will need a few worn parts replaced with time.
For instance, the scrubber and tank treads may get worn, and the control unit and cables may die and need replacements or repair, expect this to cost you some hundred bucks. The Polaris P825 warranty is for 2-years, so if any part of the system dies within the warranty, you’ll have that part fixed for free.
FAQs
How long is the power cord?
This unit comes with a 50 ft long power cord that connects the robot to the power control unit. The power unit also has another power cord connecting it to a mains outlet, which is much shorter, about 5 ft. The power cable is long enough to clean in-ground pools of up to 40 ft.
Can it be programmed to automatically come on and off daily?
The Polaris P825 doesn’t come with a programmable weekly timer, so it has to be manually turned on every time you want it to clean your pool. It also doesn’t come with a remote control so there is no chance of controlling it from anywhere except you are standing right in front of the robot’s control unit.
Can the P825 pool cleaner be used in an above-ground pool?
This pool robot is specially designed for in-ground pools, however, it also works great for above-ground pools. But because it has a wall-climbing feature, you have to make sure that your above-ground pool has very sturdy walls.
The cable is tangling up in the water, how do I fix this?
The P825 doesn’t have the anti-tangle swivel technology, but it has floating cables which are not supposed to get all tangled while the robot cleans. And according to the makers of this unit, if the cables are getting tangled, it could simply mean that you put too much of the cable in the pool and placed only the required length of cable in the pool for a cleaning cycle and do not unravel the entire cord length, this will prevent it from tangling. You should also check the manual on how to handle cord tangling.
Does the Polaris P825 pool cleaner climb walls?
Yes, the P825 will climb the walls of your pool and clean up to the waterline. It cleans quite well and gets out most pool contaminates.
Final Thoughts on the Polaris P825
There is no doubt that the Polaris P825 excels at pool cleaning, it scrubs the floors and walls of a pool including the waterline. It’s only a basic robot and does quite well for a robot of its class.
But when you consider longevity and how many loyal service years you can get out of your investment in this pool robot, you find out that it may not be worth it.
It’s an excellent pool robot, make no mistake about it, but its build quality is very disappointing. You will get a better bargain in the likes of Dolphin Advantage, Hayward TigerShark or Aquabot Breeze IQ.
- AUTO POOL CLEANER: The Polaris P825 Robotic Cleaner deftly navigates all pool surfaces, climbs walls, and scrubs to the tile line for thorough cleaning.
Last update on 2023-12-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Matt is the founder of the Little Robot Shop, who has spent much of the last decade hacking home cleaning with various robots and devices to make keeping his home clean as easy as possible. Not an easy task with two young children.
When not working on the Little Robot Shop website or YouTube channel, he works as technical support and product specialist for a fast-growing digital company. He does his best to get his younglings to code, which will be an essential skill in the future.
