Getting one of these means you'll have more time for other things on the weekend. It'll also potentially save your shoulders from sunburn and your pool from ugly leaves. It's not cheap, but would you rather stand in the sun all day? We didn't think so.
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While robot vacuums have seen a lot of progress in the last few years, robot pool cleaners are taking a little longer to catch up. Maybe that’s because pools aren’t that popular in other parts of the world, or maybe it’s that the folks with enough disposable income to afford a robot pool cleaner already pay someone to clean their pool. Or maybe it just takes us longer to get the cooler stuff in South Africa.
If it’s that last one, it seems like Wybot is looking to enact change. It released a plethora of pool cleaning equipment in South Africa earlier this year, including the Wybot S2 Vision. We didn’t get around to reviewing the S2 Vision back then, mostly because things were already starting to freeze over.
But now that everything has thawed out again, and all signs point to this being one of the hottest summers in history (thanks, El Niño), you probably want to know if dropping R20,000 (or less if you get lucky and find a deal) on a semi-autonomous robot pool cleaner is worth it for you (or the pool guy you pay). As always, that depends.
Cleaner meets pool
Like the other robot pool cleaner we’ve reviewed, setting up the Wybot was pretty straightforward: take it out of the box, charge it to full, and dunk it into your pool. You’ll want to make sure the basket and filters are in their correct places, and that you’ve selected your desired cleaning mode. Unlike the last one, the S2 Vision has a companion app. It pairs to the ‘bot over Bluetooth and offers extra functions, but isn’t strictly required for operation.
The Wybot S2 Vision has five modes to select via a button, or you can do that in the app with the option to customise a few. The default mode will clean the whole pool, but you can also make it clean only the floor, only the walls, just the water line, or put it into dirt-hunting mode, where it will use its built-in camera and AI smarts. That last one sounds the coolest, but it will also take the longest to become effective.
Welcome to the enrichment centre
The user manual also notes certain conditions that could mean the Wybot S2 Vision won’t perform as well (or at all) in your pool. It stipulates a maximum chlorine content of 4mg/l, a pH level of 7.0 – 7.8, and a temperature range of 5° – 35°C. This list of conditions likely serves as a way for Wybot to protect itself from the quick-to-litigate folks, so we don’t think deviating from them will do much harm. However, the surface of your pool could make or break its performance.
A small paper insert in the package explains that the “factory default applicable pool material of this robotic pool cleaner is PVC. If your pool surface material is slippery, such as tile, mosaic, or acrylic…” it might have trouble climbing the walls. In that case, you’ll need to follow the instructions to properly install the floating assembly or floating block included in the box. We didn’t have an issue here, but your mileage may vary.
Eats shoots and leaves
In fact, during our testing, we were pretty chuffed with the results. In the before-and-after pictures below, the ‘bot was set to the default ‘pool floor cleaning’ mode. The pictures were taken an hour apart.
We didn’t start with a particularly messy pool, but the filter basket still needed emptying after around two hours. Two more hours after that, and it was time for a charge. Those two aspects are still the biggest points of friction for a device like this.
Sure, it’s putting in the cleaning effort while you sip something cool in the shade, but your input is still needed every two to four hours to empty the basket and charge it up. Charging takes roughly three hours, which can turn your ‘pool cleaning day’ into a ‘pool cleaning weekend’ if you’re dealing with a particularly neglected pool or one susceptible to debris.
The Wybot S2 Vision’s other shortcoming is the lack of any water surface cleaning. Sunken leaves are no match, but you’ll have to fish the floaters out yourself. Or throw more money at the problem by expanding your pool cleaning family. Similarly, spending about R9,000 more will get you the upgraded Wybot S2 Solar Vision, which comes with a solar-charging station. You’ll still have to empty the basket yourself, but at least you won’t have to trudge between the pool and the charger every four-ish hours.
Wybot S2 Vision verdict
If cleaning your pool is more about being outside with nature, you won’t want a robot getting in the way of that. If you are work- or sunburn-averse, this is a match made in the pool care aisle… provided you have the coin. It’s often listed for R20,000, which is a lot of cash for something you still have to supervise. But when you can find it for less (it was listed for R15,000 at the time of writing), it becomes easier to justify. Especially if it’s not you doing the basket-emptying. Get this, and your pool guy will love you. Probably.
