SKimDoctor Maytronics Skimmer

I have to explain this post a little. First this product functions in an amazing way. We installed it in our pool with pop up heads and it increases the suction dramatically and clears leaves from the pool much faster. Everything about it is good, except, you knew that was coming right? The steel screws rust out very quickly and it is very hard to find replacements for them. It is faulty manufacturing from that aspect. We ordered this right when the 2.0 was coming out and supposedly they have fixed that, but they were backlogged and we could not get a 2.0. So our screws are rusting and we are trying to get the manufacturer to stand behind the product with no such luck. Totally New Technologies said they dont manufacturer it any longer, even though it says they do on their website and they passed the buck to amazon who then surprisingly told us it was past the 30 days and there was nothing they could do. What about the "a to z" satisfaction claim I said? Normally Amazon is fantastic about making things right, but in this case they are more reminiscent of the failed retailers of past with that response than the Wal Marts and other stores of the world that have great return policies and stand behind faulty products. Hmm. Amazon has been fantastic in the past, is this signalling a shift in the way they do business?I hope not because I normally love and I mean love Amazon. On this purchase not so much. If you do buy it and it works great, I would recommend buying the 2.0, but if you do be aware the customer service might be very limited on this item. If Totally New Technologies makes this right I would be willing to up this to a 5 star based on the product effiectiveness, but at this point I cannot see doing that with the CS issues.

I am an engineer and I love the physics of a Venturi system, so I purchased one of these units.The product collects debris as described and in fact, fills up with debris rather quickly. The problem is the difficulty and clunkiness of removing the debris. The top portion (the blue part that you purchase) is connected to your current basket by using 2 thin rods that are threaded on each end. On the bottom end they give you a tiny threaded connector and on the top they give you a larger, thumb turnable, threaded fastener to tighten the blue part to your basket.Well, it worked great the first time, and then it got full. And then I had to empty the basket below the blue venturi ... and that is the problem. You have to unscrew one or both of the fasteners, remove the blue top part, and then dump the basket, and then reassemble everything. Unfortunately, my bottom tiny threaded connector popped off and got lost in the grass. Oh well. They don't give you any extras, so now I have one with a bottom connector that dangles loosely, and the other is still connected.I so wanted this to work, but it has not yet been designed correctly. I do NOT recommend a purchase. They need to continue the design and offer some type of bottom and blue top, that connect by twisting them together until they snap. Much like my Zodiac leaf catcher that is hooked on to my Zodiac MX8 pool cleaner. That is the solution. Of course, that means they will have to have different types of baskets and so forth. They just need to finish the design; it is very close.

It was easy to assemble and seems to work well. However, after only a couple of weeks of use, the nuts on the top have started rusting. I will have to remove this from my pool. I plan on sending it back for a refund.

Initially, loved it. It does speed up the skimming process. Then? The rust happened on the side pins. Then the top plastic piece broke off. Then? The inner ring stopped sliding around easily to adjust the vortex. With better materials this might be a great product. I suggest they invent one that uses the suction of the skimmer hole to keep the vortex in place and eliminating all the parts that dont hold up. The worst part is putting your hand inside the skimmer (now) a tunnel to dig out the not yet dead spiders and june bugs. I was super excited about this product. Disappointed it did not hold up. If it hadnt literally fallen apart it would still be in my pool.

As an engineer, I didn't understand how this could work. Cleaning is controlled by the amount (gallons per hour) of water that passes into the strainer basket, not by the velocity. But, what the heck: I've spent more money on a bad steak, so I thought it was worth the try. Well, I should have gone out to eat! The water throught the opening is faster, but the volume is the same so the cleaning is the same. Period. Physics 101.