Hydrodynamic Efficiency
Written: Jan 31 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent, durable design. Lowest price system that I found. Cleans pool extremely well.
Cons: Waste basket must be handled carefully.
The Bottom Line: An affordable and effective pool cleaner. It's a little hypnotic, too!
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| anonimitie's Full Review: Baracuda Mars Pool Cleaner |
After having my first pool for a year, I finally decided to get an automatic cleaner. The pool is 25,000 gallons and I feared that an un-boosted cleaner would be too great a strain on my filter pump. So, I began looking for boosted models.
I was ofcourse attracted to the MARS because of its price - it was drastically cheaper than the other models I was considering. I was sold after taking a look at its engineering. There are no rubber belts to deteriorate and finally fail. It is difficult to describe but, the outer two thirds of the units are wheels and the center third is the collection basket.
The wheels are like inverse paddle wheels (Paddles on the inside of the wheel) with two jets spraying water on the paddles, forcing them to turn. By eliminating any kind of drive belt, my MARS ought to be indestructible.
I was extremely skeptical of any of the cleaners but, have been completely satisfied with my MARS' performance. In a day, it cleaned a pool that hadn't been cleaned for two Autumn weeks. What I especially liked was the pool got worse before it got better.
The unit vacuums up large debris into its basket but, also has a tail that sprays water and kicks fine materials up so the pool filter itself can clean it out of the water. This is not a feature that is unique to MARS; nearly all cleaners will have it. I'd just like to emphasize how well it worked. Apparently I had more sand in my pool than I was aware because, the MARS made it cloudy for about five or six days while the filter removed the sand from the water. The pool's water has been sparkling ever since.
Now that the heavy clean up is done, I have to empty the basket every three days or so. The basket on the MARS was smaller than some of the others but, I wouldn't consider it any kind of limitation.
One minor problem I've found is that the debris basket is delicate. The screen is very fine which is great for cleaning but, it must be carefully handled by the frame of the screen or risk tearing it.
I had my cleaner professionally installed. I understand the principals of plumbing and electricity but, have little practical experience in it. If you are competent with plumbing and wiring, I suspect installing the MARS would be a three or four hour project (NOTE: If you hire pros, try to understand what the final install should look like. Because I knew what it should be, I was able to recognize that, although it worked, both my plumber and electrician had installed it incorrectly and needed to be called back).
I can whole-heartedly recommend the MARS system. Its initial cost is lower than its competition and its design should make the cost of ownership far less, also. Furthermore, it does a great job at cleaning pools!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
anonimitie
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Location: Jacksonville, FL
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 0 members
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