As a reviewer, you often gravitate to the best model in a range. However, a review is all about helping you find the best product for doing a job. Robots that help with menial tasks around the home have become the hottest-selling items, whether a vacuum, a lawn mower, or, in this case, a pool cleaner.
I recently looked at the Aiper Scuba X1, the brand’s mid-range pool-cleaning robot, and found some surprising results.
Table of contents
Features
The Aiper Scuba X1 is a cordless pool cleaner designed to clean the floor and walls, including the waterline. It is suitable for use in both fresh and saltwater pools.
The X1 uses smart navigation to create a crisscross pattern within your pool to ensure all areas are cleaned. The robot has a range of sensors that can detect obstacles up to 6m away, ensuring it navigates around them. Able to circulate 25,000 litres of water an hour through its suction, sand and pebbles are no issue and get sucked into the 5-litre filter basket. An included micro-mesh basket can be added and removed as needed, and goes one step further by collecting dust and pollen down to 3µm.
Beyond suction power, there are four brushes that not only aid in transporting dirt, but also brush the surfaces of your pool to ensure a better clean. This cleaning also occurs on the pool walls up to 5cm above the water line. With exposure to air, this is the most likely place for algae to grow, and the X1, with its horizontal scrubbing, helps keep it in check.
The robot is controlled via buttons on the top of the unit or via the Aiper app. Using the app, you can also set up a schedule. There are four modes: ‘Smart’, which cleans walls and floor, ‘Floor’, ‘Wall’ and ‘Waterline’. If your pool is an irregular shape, like a kidney, you can adapt the cleaning path to better suit the shape and ensure an intelligent clean.
Note that the connection with the app only works when the robot is out of the water, unless you purchase the optional HydroComm Pro ($680), which adds underwater communication, including sending instructions to the surface for retrieval, water-quality analysis, and chemical recommendations.
An optional caddy ($449) is also available, allowing you to wheel the robot away from the pool for storage or to keep it out of sight.
Aiper Scuba X1 specifications and price
| Obstacle avoidance | Optical sensors |
| Battery life | 3 hours |
| Basket capacity | 5 Litres with 3μm Fine Filter Mesh |
| Dimensions | 49 x 42 x 24 cm 11kg |
| Price (RRP) | $1,999 |
| Website | Aiper Australia |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Using the Aiper Scuba X1
If you have a 10-metre pool and clean it three times a week in summer over three months, you will save up to 53 hours of manual labour. If you value your time at $50 an hour, then you just saved yourself $2,650. At the time of writing, the Aiper X1 Pro was on special for $1,700. So, the robot essentially paid for itself in two months.
The basket needs regular emptying, and you can remove the fine filter and skip using it on every clean. The basket should also be rinsed with clean tap water after each emptying to remove finer particles that have been collected.
My friend Bernard’s pool has been cleaned to an inch of its life over the summer, comparing different pool cleaners, including three models from Aiper. His commentary is:
“Having tried a few robot cleaners for our pool, this one has some really great features and is highly effective.”
“A more compact robot than the next level up and much lighter, it’s easy to handle and simple to operate using the Aiper app.”
“Being more compact and lighter means it is really easy to handle and get into the charging dock.”
“The leaf basket is really quite large, which is great for a pool like ours that has lots of large deciduous trees in the back yard and lots of leaf litter.”
“This model also has a really convenient drop-in fine-particle filter for when you need small particles collected and filtered out. This is much better than those cleaners that require installing finer filters by attaching them to the basket.”
“The sensors work really well, systematically moving around the pool to clean all areas.”
“The Scuba X1’s water-edge cleaning mode is quite strong and effective. It has also performed really well on the pool steps, even in the curved areas.”
“We have a lot of leaf litter, and this cleaner has been very effective at clearing it from the pool floor.”
“Combined with the Surfer S2 surface skimmer, the pool is ready to use whenever you’re ready. I haven’t used the leaf rake since we combined these two cleaners.”
“Having the robots has dramatically reduced the number of times I have to clean the cartridge filter as well.”
“The Scuba X1 is a perfect, more compact, lighter cleaner for our smaller-to-mid-sized pool.”
Bernard had previously tested the higher-end Scuba X1 Pro Max, so I asked him which model he would choose. His answer was surprising.
He said the X1, as long as he could also have the Surfer S2 pool skimmer. The Pro Max sells for $3,500, whilst you can purchase the X1 and Surfer for $2,700 (currently on special for $2,280). His reasons are that the X1 is lighter and easier to handle (11kg vs 15kg), the filter box’s fine filter was easier to manage, and the cleaning job was as good. One negative he did mention was the reduced battery life, from five hours to three hours.
Bernard is a busy single parent, and as an observer, the pool has never looked so good, and I am pleased he has got some more time back.
Who is the Aiper Scuba X1 for?
Owning a pool is a big commitment in terms of cost, including ongoing maintenance. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot just jump in anytime you like without a lot of manual labour to keep the pool clean, just like your house.
The Aiper Scuba X1 will suit most Australian backyard pools, incorporating the latest technology and performance without being the Lexus model in the range. It works hard so you don’t have to.
When combined with the Aiper Surfer 2, the duo is formidable, removing leaf litter and insects before they reach the bottom, removing sand and grit from the floor, and scrubbing algae from the sides.
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