# Forum Home Renovation Pools, Spa & Water Features  Creepy crawly

## andrewkafp

Our old Baracuda just died and I found that Bunnings sell a MK2 Posiedon for $200. After reading the product review site, the general comments were. "It doesn't work" "it doesn't climb the walls" "the rubber pleat comes off". 
I bought one and found it does indeed work better than the Barracuda, it does climb the walls if you position the weights correcty, and you would not get the rubber pleat off with a sledge hammer. It has cheap and available parts and 12 mth warranty. So don't believe everything you read.. People there may sell $700 overpriced units and feel threatened.

----------


## chipps

Ta for the heads up Andrew, am spending a fortune replacing geniune parts as they wear on the barracuda.

----------


## m6sports

Get a Polaris 360
My mums had one for a couple of years now and loves it
only part that needs to be replaces is the black scrubbing pad on the tail
and its doesnt even need to be replaced as we find it doesnt really do that much 
the other upside is it runs on the pressure of water coming back into the pull via 1 jet
so the pool slimmer doesnt get used up by a cleaner 
the model we have runs of 1 pool jet but have been told that the ones that run off a booster pump work just as good  
our pool is 2.5m deep and 15m long and after an hour or 2 its spotless   http://www.zodiac.com.au/pool-cleaners.aspx#

----------


## andrewkafp

Polaris 360's are $900.. For $900, I would want it to clean the pool, adjust the salt levels and when it's not doing that, go out and cut the lawn... 
Seriously though, a mate had a Heyward (about $800) and was spending a fortune on parts.. He is happy with his $200 Bunnings machine as am I.

----------


## m6sports

my mums tryed all the cheap creepy crawlies and they are all cr@p 
they all seem to do a great job of NOT cleaning the pool 
most of them wouldnt climb a wall at all 
tryed Heyward they are just as bad as the cheaper ones but that said it didnt break down just didnt do a good job cleaning 
i dont remember the name of the last cheap one she bought but it was more expensive to repair than to buy a new one 
she has had this Polaris 360 for a while now with no problems and does a great job cleaning  
if you never want to clean your pool again get a Polaris 360 yea its expensive but at least your paying for somthing that works

----------


## andrewkafp

Mine climbs the wall.. is still going strong.. and has done a better job than the old Barracuda.. Maybe your mum didn't install it properly.. maybe her pump is faulty and has low pressure.. The expensive ones are a waste of money...
A friend at work also bought one for his f/glass pool (mine is concrete) he also is hve no problems.. and he is a real fussy dude.

----------


## piscean

our barracuda needed a new "skirt" not long ago because it was all worn out and kept falling off and a replacement one was some rediculous price for a piece of rubber   :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  
we made a new one out of that thick plastic floor stuff that you use in hallways over carpet etc and it works brilliant LOL, it cost maybe a couple of bucks to make using the old one as a template. I think we've been using it for about a year now so if it gets worn out it we'll just make another one. cha ching   :Biggrin:

----------


## Compleat Amateu

Damn, Piscean, I'm impressed. 
Pool cleaners are expensive, and every time mine stops working, the leaves in the pool tell it is they are doing the job. 
My particular problem was that my uBarra would track, and polish one part of the pool floor while not crossing another part.  My poolshop has a clockwork gadget for rotating the hose every 15 mintes, thereby 'randomising' the Barra track.  $100, ca-ching!  Has anyone tried one?

----------


## GeoffW1

I have a Geoff brand pool cleaner  :Annoyed:   
It is hell to get going, slow, works only intermittently, needs heaps of maintenance, but finally does a good job  :Blush7:  
Cheers

----------


## piscean

> I have a Geoff brand pool cleaner   
> It is hell to get going, slow, works only intermittently, needs heaps of maintenance, but finally does a good job  
> Cheers

   :Biggrin:   that method lasted about 2 months at our place geoff until we got lazy. I love the barracuda it's like having a maid for the pool. The biggest disappointment is I cant set it up inside the house and get it to do the floors in there as well   :Frown:

----------


## andrewkafp

My $200 Bunnings (2 moving part) one is still going strong,and still going a fair way up the walls too.
A mate bought one to replace his expensive one that died. It stopped working after a week. After an inspection, it had swallowed a kid's hair band and this clogged the mechanism. It's back working again now. These things pick up every leaf and dump them into the skimmer box very quickly. Good value for money

----------


## chipps

> still going a fair way up the walls too.

  Just curious Andrew, have a barrcuda, are they supposed to climb the walls? 
I was told by pool shop to adjust the weight on the hose so it would not climb up walls. 
Mind you, it still has to be manually lifted onto the pool seat & steps, or alternatively, broom the debris into the pool. 
Cam

----------


## andrewkafp

I am not an expert, but I would see no reason for a pool cleaner to go up walls. The leaves float for a while and you rake them out. If you are away, they eventually sink to the bottom. The pool cleaner is just a controller for the suction hose and it picks up everything from the bottom. Any green algae on the sides is removed by having the correct water condition and chlorine level and is not meant to be removed by the Creepy crawly. After a strong wind,our pool has  quite a few leaves at the bottom and they are in the skimmer by the next day.

----------

