I bought this after my Hayward Navigator died, mainly because it cost half as much and it was the least expensive in-ground cleaner that people seem to be happy with from what I can see on the Internet. After using it I found that it is really a great cleaner. It seems to be especially resistant to jamming compared to the Navigator, which would get small pebbles or twigs caught in it's turbine.
It comes with some nice translucent hose sections which seem more flexible than what I get a the pool store. It also has an adapter for a dedicated cleaner port (if you have one) a telepole attachment so that it can be used manually and a flow gauge.
It does clean the shallow end of my pool and seems especially good at scrubbing the walls. It does occasionally get stuck on the pool light (of all places)
The manual does not say that it is not designed to clean the shallow end. It does say that it will spend most of it's time is the deep end, but that is normal for non-robotic cleaners.
I wouldn't trade it for a new Navigator even though they cost twice as much. Pentair GW9500 Kreepy Krauly Great White Automatic Pool Cleaner for In-Ground Pools, Grey/Black
We bought this cleaner from Pool Supply World based on the positive feedbacks from other people. It was a disaster! The cleaner was stuck in one place and didn't even move no matter what pressure level you set on. We called the Pool Supply World and was initially told that we could not return it since we put it under water already (but how could you know it didn't work without testing it?). They asked us to contact the manufacturer and we did. The manufacture said it may be a defect and sent us another one. It was getting better, the vacuum finally moved around the pool, but needs CONSISTENT attention! We tried and tried and finally gave up. We called the Pool Supply World for return, and finally they agreed, but charged us 20% for restocking fee!!
I am not a person who usually writes reviews for products unless it is supper good or bad. For this one, I definitely would NOT recommend it to other people. And be cautious to buy from the online pool store since they charge very high restocking fee!
I never take time to write reviews, but this has to be the worst product that I have purchased on Amazon! The sweeper doesn't work,it just goes around in a circle in the deep end of the pool only, the shallow end of the pool never gets clean. I should have returned it right away but I originally thought that maybe it was a suction issue with my new Pentair variable speed pump. I have tried every speed and adjustment but end up with the same result, the cleaner just cleans the deep end of the pool! Lastly, the cleaning that is does is not very thorough, the brushes barely clean any dirt that has settled, it will only pick up larger items effectively. I would not recommend this product for any reason unless you want a very expensive paper weight in the bottom of your pool.
I am so glad I found this product. When my inground pool was new 10 years ago we had the same automatic vacuum cleaner. My granddaughter though she could "take a ride" on the vacuum and she broke it! When we purchased the vacuum the company was called Sta-Rite.; I looked for that product but couldn't find it. In the intrum I purchased another automatic cleaner that I HATED!! I started to surf the net looking for a new vacuum system when I finally found this one - I immediately recognized the picture and bought it on the spot. Shipping was very quick and the price of this pool vacuum is excellent!! It's great because you don't need any tools and you don't have to calibrate anything, just plug it in and it works!! It does a great job in cleaning the pool - it also will creep up the walls and works on the stairs too!! I will never use another vacuum as long as this one is available.
I was looking for a low priced efficient auto pool cleaner to replace my ever-dying, undependable, expensive to repair Hayward Navigator. Reading the reviews of the GW9500 on Amazon, it seemed that only 1/3 of the reviewers were dissatisfied with the performance of the GW.I found it on Ebay for 289.00, w/free shipping and a 50.00 rebate from Pentair; so I took a 240.00 chance.
Connected the hoses, dumped the GW9500 in the pool, then turned the pump on. It was that easy. I have a screen enclosed kidney shaped pool 30x16 with 6ft depth, gunite pool with no swim outs,three steps in the shallow end and a ladder in the deeper end. The pool is spotless, the GW9500 never gets stuck, evenly cleans, and it scours the walls like a Catfish. I leave it in the pool and it cleans with each cycle of the pool pump. All I do is add chemicals to the pool; the GW9500 does the rest. Worthy of mention, I fired my pool service that charged 95.00 a month.
Update 05/26/2011: Still working great; pool sparkles. Glad I chose the GW9500.
I would have wanted to read that this model is not designed to clean the shallow end well. Really??- "not designed". I had to pull up troubleshooting in the instructions to learn this important fact. After 2 8hr cycles, it was clear this was not doing a good job in the shallow end. Easy to install and fine tune. I like that it has coarse bristles to brush away algae. And it did a good job in the deep end.
I was lured to this cleaner by the good price and overall good reviews. What a mistake! Do yourself a favor...spend an extra $100-200 and get something that works well. I have had this cleaner now for about 6 months and I'm so frustrated with it. The time that I was spending manually vacuuming my in-ground pool, I'm now spending constantly moving it (because it gets stuck) and adjusting my pool valves. There are 2 problems with this cleaner. First, it gets stuck on the steps, on the pool drains, and on the pool light. Once it gets stuck, it will sit in the same place for HOURS if you do not go out to the pool and physically move the cleaner to another location. In fact, mine is stuck as I write this review. I've already had to move / free it about 10 times in the past hour! The second problem is that the cleaner is extremely sensitive to the adjustment of your valves (the amount of suction you have on the cleaner line or skimmer line). Too much suction and the cleaner will come up the wall of the pool and try to come OUT of the pool. Of course, it will not come out of the pool because it starts sucking air and then loses all power / suction. If you leave the valves on this setting, it will happen over and over and over again. In the long term, this will damage your pump because pumps do not like air. If you adjust the valves to a slightly weaker suction setting, the cleaner gets stuck on everything, including the drains and pool light, as mentioned earlier.'
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