Results were not particularly impressive. With both organic and synthetic debris, the Poolease X1 was only typically able to collect 70 to 80 percent of leaves and other matter on the floor of my pool, leaving material scattered randomly all around. That’s better than I expected, but worse than it sounds. If your gardener left 20 percent of your lawn unmowed, you’d notice.

With minimal clearance between the bottom of the robot and the floor, I also noticed several times that the robot was prone to getting stuck, namely on the circular floor drain, which has less than an inch of rise over the floor surface. Apparently it’s the perfect size for the X1 to beach itself, so its wheels are just shy of touching the ground. The robot was successful in freeing itself eventually, but it spent several minutes doing so.

Photograph: Christopher Null

The X1 must be retrieved with a pole and hook (the hook is included) when it’s finished running. I described the simple cleanout process above. Here, debris regularly got stuck in a couple of narrow crannies inside the chassis, requiring me to either pick it out by hand or use the jet mode on my hose to blast it out (soaking me in the process). It’s also worth noting that the unit didn’t pick up any noticeable amount of dirt or silt; I suspect the suction system just isn’t strong enough to do much good on that front.

A Value Conundrum

It’s clear that, despite specifications to the contrary, the Poolease X1 is not remotely powerful enough for my pool, and I suspect it may be too little for all but very small tank-style pools. Of course, the mere $110 price tag makes this a low-risk investment, which might be fine if you just want to keep it on hand for emergencies.

On the other hand, as they say, you get what you pay for. Imagine tasking your 5-year-old to clean up his room. I mean, they try, right?