Best Polaris Pool Cleaner Reviews 2020 – Top Picks

Last Updated on March 29, 2020

There is no question that Polaris is a leading name when it comes to pool cleaners. They have been around for many years and have solid reputations for both the quality of their products and the warranty and service that stands behind it. Polaris is not known for being a bargained priced manufacturer, although they offer pool cleaners for almost every budget.

If you are looking for a completely programable robotic unit or a traditional and straightforward automatic pool cleaner, Polaris will have an option for you. Choosing which Polaris pool cleaner is best can take a bit of research. We have tried to make that a bit easier for you highlighting the pros and cons of the best Polaris pool cleaners so that you can make a more informed decision.

Some differences between models seem subtle, but it is essential to know all features before pulling the trigger. There is nothing worse than finding out that $30 more could have given you a model that was a better fit for your individual needs.

Comparison of Our 5 Favorite Models for 2020

Model	Price	Weight	Editor Rating
Polaris F9550 (Best Overall)	Check Price	44 lbs	4.9/5
Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 (Best Value)	Check Price	15 lbs	4.6/5
Polaris Vac-Sweep 380	Check Price	16.88 lbs	4.3/5
Polaris Vac-Sweep 280	Check Price	16.3 lbs	4.2/5
Polaris 280	Check Price		3.9/5

8 Best Polaris Pool Cleaners

1. Polaris F9550 Pool Cleaner – Best Overall

The Polaris F9550 Pool cleaner is a four-wheeled robotic cleaner that will make your pool cleaning responsibility a whole lot easier. The Polaris F9550 comes equipped with ActivMotion sensory technology that will attract it to the areas that need the most help.

One of the great things about the Polaris F9550 is how compact it is. Sometimes, dealing with pool cleaners is a job in and of itself; you won’t have that issue with this model.

This pool cleaner is undoubtedly not the cheapest on the market, but the quality of the job that it does on your pool is worth the extra money. This model is entirely programable, allowing you to set it up to focus on the dirtiest areas of the pools. In addition to the programming, this model comes with a remote that will allow you to direct it to specific areas that need attention.

Some robotic pool cleaners can struggle with irregular shaped pools, but you will not run into that with the Polaris F9550. Also, the Polaris does not struggle with larger particles like leave and twigs. Overall, this option is a bit more expensive than some others, but it will leave your pool looking clean and save you a ton of time.

2. Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 Pool Cleaner – Best Value

Our best overall model from Polaris was not cheap, although it provided an excellent quality clean that helps to justify the price. The Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 Pool Cleaner is a budget-friendly model that comes with a few less bells and whistles but happens to do a great job on the overall cleaning process.

One of the most important factors to consider when purchasing a pool cleaner is durability. You want to make sure that you choose a model that will last for years to come. If your pool is under trees or tends to collect quite a bit of dirt, your pool filter may be running for hours each day.  The Polaris Vac-Sweep is capable of being this pool cleaner for you.

The Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 can sweep, scrub and vacuum any size or shape pool. It is powered by triple jets that allow it to do all of this cleaning at a great pace.  The only real downside of this product is that is can be a bit tricky to put together.  There are videos available that can make it a bit easier. However, the time spent on proper setup will prove worth it when you have a stable and dependable pool cleaner for years to come.

3. Polaris Vac-Sweep 380 Pool Cleaner

The Polaris Vac-Sweep 380 is priced towards the top of the scale. It will be even more expensive when you factor in the cost of the necessary but not included Polaris booster pump. On the positive side, this pool cleaner moves very quickly, but the hose doesn’t knot or bind. You can expect it to live a long service life, keeping your pool clean for years.

Of course, not everything about the Vac-Sweep 380 is great. The hose leaked at the connections in our kit, reducing the overall suction. Also, the wheels got jammed up on ours, which were able to fix. When we looked into it though, we discovered that this is pretty common. Sometimes, the wheels even fall off, breaking at the axle. It’s not our favorite, though it is a solid machine overall.

4. Polaris Vac-Sweep 280 Pool Vacuum

If you have a darker pool floor you may not like the sharp contrast of a white pool cleaner. The Polaris Vac-Sweep 280 Black Max takes care of that problem by providing a powerful pool cleaning machine in black to match your dark pool. One thing to be aware of, because it is black, it really shows white buildup from salt or chlorine. This means it may require some regular cleaning that won’t be necessary with other pool cleaners of a different color.

We found this pump to be very reliable, providing years of hassle-free service. It seems to rarely get stuck, though it also seems to have trouble staying on the pool floor. This isn’t the worst problem a pool cleaner could exhibit, but we didn’t experience this issue with our top picks.

5. Polaris 280 All-Season Pool Cleaner Kit

Although it’s not cheap, the Polaris 280 All-Season pool cleaner is more affordable than many of the other ones available. We like the reliable all-season use of this machine, and our only real complaints aren’t with the machine itself which we thought was very adequate.

The first problem we faced was with the collection bags which are just too small. They need to be emptied far too often to the point of becoming an annoyance. This is a simple oversight to fix, but it’s a problem that persists. Beyond that, this is just not a very powerful unit. It moves slower and did a less thorough job overall than the units that outranked it on this list. It’s still a sufficient performer, just not strong enough for our top recommendation.

6. Polaris Vac-Sweep 3900 Pool Cleaner

When we hooked it up, the first thing we thought about the Polaris Vac-Sweep 3900 Sport side pool cleaner is that it’s fast. It moves around the pool very quickly, thanks to the improved torque and power present in the sport model. Of course, you’re paying a premium for that extra power.

Everything evens out in the end though, and that power has a drawback. It’s constantly pulling the hose off and spraying water out. We noticed this happening nearly every day. While it’s a pretty effective pool cleaner overall, this was a major inconvenience. We also noticed that this model seemed to get stuck more often than most of the others. For such a high-end model, this was quite disappointing and has stopped the 3900 sport from reaching a higher position on this list.

7. Polaris 165 Pool-Vac

If you’re looking for a budget-priced pressure pool cleaner, then the Polaris Vac-Sweep 165 is one of the only choices available. It’s less than half the price of most floor-rolling models, and one-third the price of the higher-end rollers. In our experience, it did a decent job of keeping the pool clean overall, though it’s not effective for removing dirt.

As far as problems go, the Vac-Sweep 165 is mostly held back by two things. To begin with, the hose is too stiff for this unit, so it prevents proper movement. This results in the machine repeatedly spinning in circles. Eventually, it gets tangled in the hose and tips over. The jets on the bottom continue to shoot, but now the water is just being ejected from the pool and wasted. Although this machine may save you some money, it might also add to your frustration.

8. Polaris 65 Pool Sweeper

Although it’s only usable in above ground pools, the Polaris Vac-Sweep 65 is the most affordable pool cleaner that we reviewed. Since it’s only good in pools up to five feet deep, this isn’t going to apply to every situation. We found it to be a rather effective pool cleaner all together, but it exhibited many of the same problems we saw from the Vac-Sweep 165 in the seventh position of this list.

This unit kept spinning in a circle which caused it to get tangled in the hose. It required untangling and resetting at least every day. For us, the extra headache doesn’t seem to be worth the money you save.

Buyer’s Guide

Things to Consider Before Buying a Polaris Pool Vacuum

Before taking the plunge (quite literally) and buying your dream Polaris pool cleaner, you have to think of all possible outcomes that could happen because of your purchase. You may of thinking of buying a pool cleaner due to many problems in the past with the dirt in your pool, and in this case, then a pool cleaner is ideal. However, you have to assess your situation before you invest your hard-earned cash into a pool cleaner that might not be worth it. We’ve compiled a list of things you may want to consider before buying a pool cleaner.

• How often you will use the pool cleaner is something you definitely must think about before you buy one, there are some models which are made for long usage and others which are better for those people who won’t use them as much. If it’s going to be more of a seasonal clean, then you will have look at models that suit your needs. It’s all about realizing what sort of product you need that will do what you want and isn’t too expensive. There is no point spending a lot of money on a pool cleaner that doesn’t do what you want it too.
• Do you want a manual or a robotic pool cleaner? Is something else you may want to think about. Both have their advantages and similarly their disadvantages, manual pool cleaners are more for the perfectionist who likes to do a lot of the worth themselves. The pool cleaner doesn’t do any of the work and you’re responsible for covering every inch of the pool yourself. Whereas robotic pool cleaners will roll around on their wheels around the bottom and sides of your pool making sure every single piece of dirt or debris is cleaned up, a lot of them also have a remote control that you can use if they fail to catch some dirt or you want to ensure everything is sparkling clean. However, robotic pool cleaners tend to be a lot more expensive and manual are more affordable, so it could all come down to your budget when you’re comparing the two.
• The size and shape of your pool will also be a factor to think about before you buy yourself a pool cleaner as a lot of them have a limited amount of area they can cover. The more expensive pool cleaners tend to be able to cover bigger surface areas, but this isn’t always the case, therefore, before you buy a certain model you should measure your pool size and then see what sorts of pool cleaners would suit work.
• Also, consider if it has to be a Polaris pool cleaner. We’ve also written a buying guide on Dolphin pool cleaners, that you may find interesting.

Tips for Buying

Buying a pool cleaner isn’t easy and there are some top tips you have to think about before buying your pool cleaner that is essential. If you consider these tips you’re sure to find the perfect pool cleaner that will suit everything you need.

1. Find a pool cleaner that not only fits in your budget but exceeds your expectations, instead of going online straight away and finding the best priced pool cleaners, go instore and try them out, then you can shop online (when you know what you’re looking for!) Shopping online is bound to save you money but doing this method will allow you to see the product and model before you actually spend a lot of money on it.
2. Don’t always opt for the most popular model of pool cleaner, when products get good reviews then its obvious that they must be working well for a vast amount of people, but that doesn’t mean to say there aren’t hundreds more out there that have just as good reviews but aren’t marketed by large companies. If you’re willing to do some in-depth research then you might be able to find really good models for cheaper prices and that work the same as the expensive ones, thus saving you a lot more money in the long term.
3. Invest in an automatic pool cleaner if you have a large pool that will need to be regularly cleaned, despite cleaning the pool not being a major job on a hot summers day, when the winter rolls around and you need to keep the pool looking relatively tidy you won’t want to go out with your manual pool cleaner and spend hours making sure every inch of dirt and debris has gone, and that’s exactly why we would recommend putting a little bit more money towards a pool cleaner and getting an automatic one.

Conclusion

It is clear from everything recollected in this guide (in particular the reviews of the Polaris pool cleaners) that the Polaris F9550 is the best model to choose if you’re wanting a robotic pool cleaner for your household. However, the Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 is the best value for money as you’re getting the quality product for a lot less of a high price point. In terms of concluding, we would say that despite the price range and various models to choose from, the Polaris brand is still a good name that is trustworthy and if you go for a model by Polaris you can almost be sure that it will be the right thing for you. Just ensure you read the reviews (even the brutally honest ones!) to find out what could possibly go wrong with the model before you buy it.

Hopefully, we have made the process of buying your Polaris pool cleaner a lot easy and that now you can finally decide on the model you like the best!

There’s simply no better feeling than watching your Dolphin cleaner do all the work, while you drink an ice-cold beer, hehe. I, by the way, recently stumbled upon this cool little gadget: a nICE Mug! It’s basically a mug made out of ICE! Haha, I love the idea.

Related pages:

• A closer look at our favorite Dolphin pool vacuums
• https://poolcleanerhub.com/best-robotic-pool-cleaners-for-vinyl-pools/