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For many pool owners, pool cleaning is a dreadful and nightmarish experience, and very understandingly so. Robotic pool cleaners all promise to take the hard work of manual pool cleaning off your hands while you sit back, relax and enjoy your pool. But unfortunately, they don’t all deliver on this promise thus the never-ending search for the ideal pool robot. This is yet another robot with such promise, find out if it’s worth your money with this Aquabot X4 review. You may also like: Are Robotic Pool Cleaners Worth the Money?Metalix Aquabot Elite Pro Review Quick Comparison 1-minute Aquabot X4 Review The Aquabot X4 robotic pool cleaner is a budget pool robot designed to automate cleaning large in-ground pools of up to 50 ft long. It has the core features that make automating pool cleaning possible, and with features like rotating micro brushes, powerful motors, and superior filtering capabilities, every cleaning cycle leaves your pool water shiny and dirt-free. A 4-wheel drive system ensures a strong grip on surfaces and steady underwater movement on a variety of surfaces including tiles, and vinyl, giving it the ability to climb walls and offer exceptional coverage on the pool floor without slippage. To sweeten the deal, it also comes with a caddy for easy manoeuvrability. The Aquabot X4 has a lot to offer for a great price, although there are a few flaws that we'll look into in this review. Cleans both floors and wallsGood navigation system60 foot swivel cordTransport caddy includedFour wheel drive system provides strong gripIdeal for any pool shape or surfaceBudget-friendly price tagA 3-year warranty Not very sturdily built No remote controlNo weekly timerWeighs 35 pounds Aquabot X4 robotic pool cleaner Review As a low to mid-range pool robot, the Aquabot X4 lacks most high-end features of premium robotic pool cleaners like programmable weekly timer and Wi-Fi connectivity, but this has no bearing on its performance and the budget price tag justly corresponds to what you get. Overall, you'll find that it meets industry standards and provides good cleaning performance. While it's efficiency isn't perfect, it gets the job done and will clear out large debris and capture more dirt than a non-robotic pool cleaner. Is it the best value robot? In terms of price, the Aquabot X4 robotic pool cleaner falls below the top robotic pool cleaners such as the Dolphin Premier or Sigma, that cost over $1000 and but more than the cheap above-ground cleaners like the Aquabot Pool Rover Jr, one of our preferred above ground pool cleaners. It's a great machine for its price and performs well within its price point. How the Aquabot X4 works This Aquabot pool robot comes with all the basic design features to automate cleaning large in-ground pools of up to 50 ft long. It integrates a powerful motor with rotating scrubbing brush and superior filtering capabilities, with these core features the Aquabot X4 is able to achieve this fit. How does it clear dirt and debris from your swimming pool? When it takes on a pool, features like the rotating micro-brush, with spike-like bristles and driven by a powerful motor, agitates the pool surfaces to dislodge dirt and grime including algae, bacteria, and other pool contaminants. As these dirt come off, the internal pump simultaneously circulates about 85 gallons of pool water per minute through a built-in filtration system. While the 4 wheel drive design allow it to move around swimming pools with ease, an extra-powerful motor drives this pump, sending in debris-filled water and flushing out crystal clear water with enough speed and power to filter up to 10,000 gallons of pool water with 2 hours theoretically. The filtration system of this robot pool cleaner comprises dual ultra-fine mesh filter baskets with the collective ability to hold up to 190 cubic inches of debris, dirt and pool rubbish. These filter bags are made of white cloth-like materials and can capture even the tiniest pool contaminant, as small as 2 micron nominal, including algae and bacteria. Smart navigation for your convenience This pool cleaning machine also features the AutoX Pool mapping technology for sizing up the pool, mapping out and using the shortest and fastest cleaning route for efficient and timed cleaning. For smooth and uninterrupted cleaning, the X4 features a floating 60 ft power cord connected to a 360-degree rotating swivel. No need to worry about untangling the cord The anti-tangle swivel technology ensures the power cable never tangles so the robot can make smooth turns throughout the cleaning. This small feature can't be overlooked, since anti-tangle swivel technology really will make your life easier in the long run. The pool robot lets your program it via an intuitive control panel for automated daily cleaning cycles to be taken care of on a set schedule. Performance Great results from each cleaning cycle The Aquabot X4 robotic pool cleaner does a good of automatically cleaning both inground and above ground pools, it cleans both the floors and walls up to the waterline. This robot has an excellent grip on all types of pool floor, it can rotate through 90 degrees without slipping and it travels steadily along the pool wall, thanks to the rubber wheels. What are some of the product's drawbacks? Despite the great features for automated pool cleaning, these gadgets do have a few flaws. First, it scrubs pool surfaces with a single rotating micro-brush which is positioned at the center of the robot. The location of this brush doesn’t allow the robot to scrub corners and edges of pool, this is serious disadvantage and you’ll have to use a pool brush to get the corners and edges which the robot missed. Also, the X4 can clean pool steps but it doesn’t handle them well enough, now this is general flaw for many robotic pool cleaners, and you will have to occasionally brush your pool steps. The solution? You could sweep out the corners of your pool where the robot's brushes can't reach and the steps so that it can pick up the dislodged dirt from those areas. Ease of set-up and use Like most other robotic pool cleaners, the X4 doesn’t require any form of set-up before you can get it to clean your pool. It comes as a completely packaged gadget and works right out of the box. To get started with it, unpack your X4, connect the cable from the robot to one end of the control unit, then plug in the cable on the control unit to the power supply outlet closest to your pool. Place the robot in your pool, switch on the GFCI power outlet and press the ON button on the control unit. It’s very simple and straightforward. How easy to use is the control panel? The control unit has a control panel with 4 buttons, 1 power button and 3 buttons for setting your preferred cleaning mode. You can either chose the 1 hour, 1.5 hours or 2 hours cleaning setting, depending on how dirty your pool is and how long you want the robot to clean. The X4 also has a “Dirty Filter Indicator” light on the control unit. This light comes on when the filtration baskets in the robot are full and need to be cleaned, when this happens the robot will pause and stop working while you take it out of the pool, unload the filters and wash with a stream of water from a hose. Reliability The Aquabot X4 is a finely designed but poorly constructed robot. It works excellently well as an automatic pool cleaner but the problem comes with the build quality. Despite its 3 year warranty, it’s not sturdily built and probably won’t last that long. The X4 is prone to frequent breakdown even after a season of use. The foams on the wheels deteriorate really quick, the wheels get worn with very little use and need replacement really quick, and the motor also falls apart before long. Ongoing maintenance Maintaining the Aquabot X4 pool cleaner only requires that you clean out the filters and promptly replace worn out parts. Unfortunately, cleaning out these very fine micro-filter baskets of this robot can be a frustrating task. These filters are super fine with white cloth-like materials, and they are able to capture all forms of dirt and debris from swimming pools, but cleaning them is an arduous task and you really have to handle them with extreme care. Extra purchases and ongoing costs Aquabot X4 comes as a complete robot plus it comes with a pool caddy so you don’t have to worry about that. And no extra purchases before you can get started with it. However, you may need to get replacement parts even in your first season of using the robot. Parts like wheels, drive motor, filter baskets wear out pretty quickly and replacing them can cost you several hundreds of dollars. This robot also comes with a 3-year warranty, but there has been complaints about poor customer service and terribly slow and delayed responses. FAQs How the Aquabot X4 powered?The X4 comes with a control unit which has a very long cord that plugs into a GFCI wall socket. The control unit has a 4-button control panel from where you will power the robot and select your preferred cleaning setting. There is also a “Dirty Filter Indicator” on the control panel which comes on when the filter baskets are full and ready to be emptied. When this light comes on, the robot stops working until the filters are emptied, cleaned and replaced. My Aquabot X4 tends to stay in the deep end of my pool, how do I get it to clean the shallow end? It takes awhile for this robot to completely learn and master a pool. First, it may be unable to travel to all the shallow ends of the pool on its own. According to the users’ manual, you should start the X4 on different ends of the pool when you first use it, this way it will “learn” the pool layout faster and “know” where to go. Also start the unit in a different place every time it cleans the pool. You can also help your X4 by moving it around the pool a bit using a skimmer pole.Where do you buy your replacement parts?Replacement parts for Aquabot X4 can be gotten from the manufacturer. To get new parts for your X4, you would have to contact them directly with information about your robot. Is this robot ready to go right out of the box or does it require setting up?Aquabot X4 works right out of the box and does not require any putting together. Simply connect the cables to the right places, place the robot in your pool and press the power button and the robot runs. It’s that simple.Can you leave this in a saltwater pool or do you need to remove it after each cleaning?You can leave your X4 in your pool, but do not leave it for too long at a time in a saltwater pool because the saltwater may damage some of the parts. For saltwater pools, it’s best to always stow away the robot in the caddy after each cleaning cycle.Does it pick up small particles like sand?The X4 does a great job at picking both small and large debris, but it doesn’t always get all the sand out. Does the Aquabot X4 climb walls to waterline?Yes, it climbs walls and cleans up to a few inches past the waterline before going back down to continue cleaning. All in all, are the Aquabot X4 robotic pool cleaners worth it? If you want a budget pool cleaner to maintain your in-ground pool, the Aquabot X4 is a great option. The Aquabot X4 costs much less than most high-end robotic pool cleaners and offers as much good cleaning as premium pool robots. While this robot may seem like a great and an excellent pool cleaner, you should be aware that it is prone to break downs and may not serve you for very long, even in spite of the 3 years warranty. Other pool robot vacuum cleaners to consider If you’d like something of a better build quality, consider other options like the Dolphin Advantage (for 33 ft in-ground pools) or Aquabot Breeze IQ (for 50 ft inground/above ground pools).