8/10
Open rating explainerInformationWIREDGreat performance for the price (assuming you can grab it on sale). Outstanding battery life. Floats when cleaning is complete. Love the jazzy orange color scheme.TIREDBasket can be harder to clean than expected. Minimal intelligence (though it doesn’t seem to need it).
ScreenshotBeatbot app via Chris NullAn ominous warning on the packaging of the Beatbot Sora 30 reads: “For routine cleaning only. NOT for first-time seasonal cleanup.” That’s a perhaps worrisome message to receive before you’ve even unboxed the product, but I’m here to assuage most of your concerns. Sure, the Sora 30 may not be ready for the aftermath of a hurricane, but most homeowners are likely to find it more than adequate for daily needs, even if the level of debris in the pool is on the heavy side.
The Sora 30 is the middle option in Beatbot’s new Sora line, which includes the Sora 70 and Sora 10. It drops the surface-skimming mode of the Sora 70 but otherwise keeps most of that robot’s feature set, including the same amount of suction power and the same 10,000-mAh battery.
Orange You Glad It’s Cleaning the Pool?
The Sora 30 is available in two color options. I was sent the orange version for review (the other is a more conservative blue), and it’s quite a striking design. If you’re the type of homeowner who wants to imbue your electronics with a bit of invented personality, this orange color scheme is the way to go. At the very least, you won’t have any trouble at all tracking it while it’s underwater.
Video: Chris NullAt just under 20 pounds, it’s noticeably lighter than the Sora 70—and more compact. Losing the skimmer function makes it quite a bit shorter, which is surprisingly helpful for getting the robot in and out of the pool without a struggle. Another major design change is the use of a filter cover that is completely removable rather than attached with a hinge, which is much more commonplace. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen another pool robot with such a design in years of testing this category. On the Sora 30, this cover hatch pops off the robot entirely, giving you easy access to the 5-liter, open-top filter basket underneath. Otherwise, the Sora 30 maintains Beatbot’s standard treaded design, with two roller brushes mounted on the front of the device to do the scrubbing.
Photograph: Chris NullCharging is done via the same type of power adapter that the Sora 70 uses: a proprietary, blocklike connector that slides into a hatch on the rear of the device. A hinged port cover opens automatically when you slide the adapter into it and snaps shut when it’s removed. It’s not as convenient as a plugless charging dock, but it’s close, obviating the need for screw-on port covers or other waterproofing systems that have to be manually manipulated.
ScreenshotBeatbot app via Chris NullIn the water, the unit offers a scant three operational modes—floor mode, standard mode (which handles floor, wall, and waterline), and eco mode (which runs a floor-only cleaning for 45 minutes every 48 hours). Both floor and standard mode offer three running-time options: two hours, three hours, or max (i.e., run until the battery’s almost dead). These can all be selected through the Beatbot app, which is available via Bluetooth or either 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz Wi-Fi. You’ll also need to set up Wi-Fi for firmware updates.
A Capable Cleaner
I spent the better part of a week testing the Sora 30 with both organic and synthetic debris and found the robot to be quite capable. Contrary to expectations, I encountered no issues with even heavier debris days, and the Sora 30 was able to suck up leaves and dirt with an average 95 percent coverage rate. It worked reasonably well on steps and platforms and is rated to run in water as shallow as 8 inches. Note that there’s no artificial intelligence or a camera that can detect debris on the fly here. This robot just goes back and forth the best it can, which turns out to be pretty good.
The only performance struggles I witnessed were in a single sharp corner area near the pool’s steps, where debris seemed to be pushed aside, unable to be effectively collected. In fact, all of the uncollected material in my test runs would inevitably end up in this one location. (The good news is that this was in the shallow end, making it easy to scoop up with a net.) It’s tough to say whether truly massive amounts of debris or larger items like twigs and branches would impact its operation to the degree the box suggests, but nothing I saw suggested this poolbot was significantly less powerful than most other devices on the market, especially in its price band.
Photograph: Chris NullBeatbot specifies a maximum operational time of five hours (and an equivalent of 3,200 square feet of coverage). I maxed out at 4.5 hours in all of my longevity tests (though the robot ends its runs with about 15 percent of its charge in reserve). Charging is quicker than expected, reaching capacity in about four hours, faster than the 4.5 hours specified. Critically, like most modern Beatbot robots, the Sora 30 floats when it’s finished running, making retrieval without a pole a snap.
I was excited about the Sora 30’s large, open-top basket because it looked like it would be incredibly easy to clean. Hinged basket lids always present trouble as they tend to flop closed whenever you’re trying to hose out debris. Here, the basket works like a bowl (or more of a bundt cake pan) with no barrier on top, but despite the lidless design I still had trouble getting the basket completely clean. The problem is lower down in the basket, where various ridges and crevices are tough to reach with a hose. I ended up having to pick some stuck leaves out by hand more often than not.
Photograph: Chris NullAside from setting the operational mode, the Beatbot app stores a log of each run of the robot, and you can drill down for more information than these logs normally provide. A log entry for each run notes the total running time, the amount of that time spent on the floor vs. on the walls/waterline, and the battery capacity at both start and finish of the run. I’m not sure how I might use this information, but it feels helpful to have for the sake of completeness.
Watch for Big Discounts
The Sora 30 lists at $1,000 but is currently on sale for $750, which makes it a compelling and affordable option, especially when compared against Beatbot’s own $1,200 Sora 70. The only real difference between the two is that you lose surface skimming on the Sora 30, a feature I don’t find overly valuable in traditional robots anyway. Another way to look at it: If you do decide you want a skimmer later, that $450 will go a long way toward acquiring one separately.
$999 $749 at Beatbot$999 $749 at Amazon
