Wybot - F1 Robotic Pool Skimmer - Black

The Wybot F1 Robotic Pool Skimmer is a great supplemental device to help keep your pool clean of debris. It runs on the surface of the pool much like a little square boat, riding around and swallowing up bugs, leaves, and other floating debris before it all falls to your pool floor. This skimmer isn't perfect. It makes a bit of a high pitched whining sound when it's running which I am not particularly fond of; but it does it's job well and I'm not going to be running it when people are swimming of course so it's not a deal breaker. The skimmer can be charged with an optional power cord, but mostly will run off power from the sun via the large solar panel on top. It seems to charge well from that and I don't see needing to charge it with a power supply often. The basket operates much like a typical pool system skimmer - it has a trap door that only opens inward as it's propelling itself around the pool so stuff gets in but can't get out. The basket is fairly large and would easily hold a ton of leaves and debris. The app allows you to switch between two different modes of operation as well as fully control the skimmer manually. You can also click the "pickup" button to have it "dock" at the side of the pool for removing the basket for emptying. The basket is easy to clean with a water hose so it's ready to go again. The look and design are excellent. It looks like a premium pool robot - very sleek as it's skimming across the surface. It is semi-smart in that it knows when it hits a wall and immediately turns and goes in the opposite direction so it really does go all over the pool. One thing I really love is that it doesn't get stuck against the pool skimmer even when the pumps are running like another robot skimmer I have does so that's a big plus. Side Note: When I first set it up and it started running, it didn't work right. The "engine" seemed to be running fast and loud and it would run into the wall and then just keep going - wouldn't turn around or anything. I let it do that for an hour then took it out and powered it off. The next day I powered it back and and put it back in the pool and then it worked exactly as it should with no issues. I have no idea what that was about, but just in case you run into the same thing, consider removing it, powering it off, waiting a day then going again. Might just be updated firmware that didn't quite take effect or something. Another Side Note: You may or may not receive a power adapter with your skimmer. Initially, they weren't including them, but later decided they should. So if you don't get on in the box, I'd suggest reaching out to customer service to request one be sent to you. The solar panel works great in general, but it's good to have a power cord for the initial charging as well as for cloudy/rainy days. This is overall a great little robot skimmer. It does what it's supposed to do. It's easy to use. It looks good. It does have an annoying whining sound it makes but it's something that I'm guessing most people might not even notice, though it does drive me a little crazy. Nonetheless, I'm glad to have it and look forward to it doing a lot of work for me to keep the pool surface clean and keep the yucky stuff from getting to the floor. The Good: - Sleek, good looking design - Great at grabbing surface debris - Runs primarily off the solar charging - Easy to empty and clean - Doesn't get stuck in skimmer The Bad: - High pitched whining noise when running - Took a little time to start working correctly

This is the first pool skimmer I have owned. Until now, I have used the traditional leaf skimmer to eliminate leaves, grass, bugs, etc. from the surface before they sink to the bottom of the pool, where they are much more difficult to clean. The Wybot F1 Robotic Pool Skimmer measures 21"H x 20"W x 11"L & weighs 18 lb. It has a bin capacity of 1 gallon & is super easy to lift from the pool, dump the bin & place it back in the pool. I was surprised by the leaves & debris collected in the basket in only 3 days! The huge onboard solar panel charges the 4600 milliampere hour Lithium-ion battery in 180 minutes. Because the skimmer charges by solar power, it can stay in the pool all of the time, other than when you are cleaning & rinsing the basket. Dual cleaning modes: Standard will run for 8 hours and Smart mode will run for up to 10 hours. Smart Mode will adjust its run time and frequency to maintain skimming all day. Once started it will follow a programed path. The app also allows remote control, so you can target a leaf & pick it up. Adjustable anti-stranding bars eliminate it from getting stuck on shallow steps. CONCLUSION: The Wybot F1 instantly became one of my favorite pool accessories. The bottom of our pool is noticeably much cleaner than ever before, as debris is eliminated before it sinks. This robotic pool skimmer earns my highest recommendation.

The Wybot F1 skimmer is great for top water cleaning, with the included solar panels. It can run up to 30 hours. A charger is not included with the F1. All that it needs is sun. My unit immediately beeped when I took it out to the pool signifying that it had started charging in the sun. I hit the power button and let it go. The F1 took off immediately and started skimming the pool for debris. It even was able to suck in leaves that were stuck on the side of the wall at the waterline. When it is finished it parks itself by the edge of the pool for removal and cleaning. Or you can just leave it in the pool and when the sun comes back up it will take off again. The F1 utilized a Weir type gate to negate captured items from floating back in to the pool. I clean my unit daily along with a rinse off. It is always good to remove plant material from your pool so your phosphate levels remain low and help keep the food away from algae. The F1 has anti stranded bars on the bottom of the unit that can be extended so it doesn’t get stuck on Baha shelfs 2.8 inches or less. My 12000 gallon pool took under 2 hrs. to totally clean the surface but the F`1 continues to seek out debris until the battery is drained. The Wybot F1 is great for people who have leafy plants, trees, bushes in your back yard or from encroaching plant life from neighbors or HOA ha-ha. This is an excellent tool to add to your pool cleaning tool chest. It sure beats using a skimmer net for 20 minutes!!

The F1 Robotic Pool Skimmer is a promising product, and I am hopeful that future firmware upgrades may remedy some of the following shortcomings or all of them, which would make this device a real must-have: 1. The solar panel struggles to charge the battery fully. Even when the unit was exposed to full Florida sun for 2 days and not running, the battery charge level did not make it above 48%. As such, 24/7 continuous cleaning is not possible. Eventually, the battery is depleted even under full sun. 2. The unit appears to only work at its best when fully charged (above 50%), which makes charging it through the wall charger a necessity (if none was provided, best contact the very responsive WYBOT customer service team). 3. The unit struggles to move against currents in the pool, e.g., waterfall features and especially the pool skimmer (the unit becomes sort of "stuck" in front of the pool skimmer as it is not able to move away from it with its jets/thrust. As such, it's best to run the unit when the pool pump is off, i.e., when there are no currents. 4. It runs into walls, and it takes a longer moment until it changes its thrust to remove itself. However, on the plus side, I have experienced the following: - With a full battery charge and no water currents present, it does a great job going up and down the pool water surface and picking up lots of debris, bugs (in particular, mosquitoes, which float on top of the water, and leaves, thanks to its rather large fine-weave basket. - Even though you need to charge the unit with the external wall charger, it's a good moment to empty the basket. - Cleaning the basket is easy; rinse it using a water hose or a running faucet. - Very quiet operation thanks to the use of jets; as such, you could run this unit at night without disturbing anyone. - The F1 Robotic Pool Skimmer comes fully assembled and with a wall charger (100-240V, 50/60 Hz, 0.75A, Output: 12.6V, 1.8A), and a hook (which fits into a standard pool pole, not provided) so you can fish out the unit. (Note: If the wall charger is missing, best contact the very responsive WYBOT Customer Support team.) - It is controlled through the WYBOT App. As such, best install the WYBOT App before first use, and add this unit through the main menu. If new firmware is available, you'll be prompted to install it. - The WHYBOT app provides a visual of the battery level and whether it is being charged. Before first use, fully charge the battery using the wall charger (may take up to 3 hours depending on battery level). - The WYBOT app offers you to select from three cleaning modes: (1) "Smart Mode" (recommended); (2) "Standard Mode" (use this for continuous skimming; it stops when the battery is exhausted); and (3) "Remote Control" (with forward, backward, left, and right movements of the skimmer) Verdict: As tested, 3 out of 5 stars. Future firmware upgrades might provide for a 4 or even 5-star experience (e.g., once "24/7 continuous cleaning plus solar charging while in operations" is enabled/available).

Verdict: I highly recommend getting the Wybot F1 Solar Skimmer… it has been a game-changer for us, reducing bottom-of-the-pool cleaning substantially with maximum convenience through solar charging. Just remember to clean the basket regularly because it gets nasty with bugs, leaves, etc. In my testing, I let it run from Wednesday through Saturday, with the robot charging through solar and stopping on low charge. Our pool has full sun, so this thing could in theory just live in the pool indefinitely. Background. I have an inground 30k-gal gunite pool. We’ve had a pool for eight years now and we’ve maintained our pool ourselves the whole time, cleaning by hand, then with a connected pool robot, and finally progressing to a rechargeable robot in 2025. The Wybot skimmer is our first skimmer. Setup. After unpacking the unit, I installed the app, created an account, and connected to the robot. The app easily detected and added the robot; the robot will blink purple lights when it connects to the app. During setup, the app will ask basic questions about your pool. I did the firmware update, and then there was still a notification to update, so I did the second update. The robot only had 50% charge, so I very much wish it came with the cable so I could get it going at full charge. App. Through the app, you can choose the standard mode or the smart mode for cleaning. You can start/stop cleaning and you can control the robot with a joystick. It’s important to note that you do not need the app to operate the skimmer; you can just turn on the robot by pressing the power button and the propellers will start working within 10 seconds (they stop if they don’t detect water). Performance. The skimmer moves slow. You can’t expect it to clean the pool as quickly as a human can clean with a hand skimmer. Accordingly, I don’t think this robot is the best tool to throw in your pool after a big storm. However, it’s a fantastic all-day everyday tool that will keep your pool cleaner for little additional work. The robot will steadily pick up surface debris, preventing them from dirtying the bottom. I doesn't seem to be detecting and navigating to a target... Instead, I think it just moves back and worth randomly, which seems to work just fine. I am consistently surprised about how much stuff is in the basket when I empty it… bugs, leaves, debris, etc… After a few days, there is a lot in there, and there is a lot less stuff to clean at the bottom of the pool. Cleaning is easy; just pull the basket out, dump the contents, and do a quick rinse. Finally, solar and/or rechargeable is infinitely better than the old robots that were connected by a cable. Steps. At the bottom of robot, there are feet that can be pulled down about three levels in case you have shallow steps where the robot can get stuck. I actually use these because my shallow step is just the right height for the robot to get stuck. The feet will prevent the robot from getting on the step, essentially hitting the step and stopping the robot. If you don’t have a shallow step, you can keep the feet tucked away to eliminate any drag through the water. Of note, having different heights for the feet is great so you can use the least height required to prevent the robot from getting stuck, while avoiding unnecessary drag in the water. Edges. When the robot gets to a wall, the propellers keep going forward and eventually the robot will rotate (there are small rollers on all four corners) and go a different direction. At first, it looks like the robot is stuck, but it’s part of its edge cleaning feature. Obstacles. I put a beach ball in front of the robot, and it started to maneuver to avoid it. Not sure if it’s recommended, but in our observation, you can swim in the pool while the skimmer slowly moves around the pool and works to avoid people and large obstacles. Things I love: - Solar charging for no-hassle cleaning - Significantly reduces bottom-of-the-pool cleaning - Very easy to clean; just pull the basket out and dump contents - Fairly light weight, so it’s easy to pull out of the pool - Effective cleaning over time - Joystick option is both fun and very handy when you really want to get that one leaf Things I don’t love: - While the robot charges through the solar panel, I think they should have included the plug-in charger. The cost of a charge is minimal, while convenience is wort much more. If the robot is dead, for example after storage (for winter in some parts of the country, going away for a while, etc.), it gets complicated with solar only. It would be so much nicer to be able to get the robot started on a full charge, rather than putting it in the pool and wonder if/when it will recharge itself - The rear middle bumper is already falling off (see picture). That’s not a big deal… but the bumpers really shouldn’t be falling off Overall, this solar skimmer is amazing! It’s easy to use, effective, easy to clean, and pretty affordable for how much value you get from it. Not sure how it compares to other skimmers, but we are very happy with this one. I give it a solid 4 stars (1 star less for the two issues noted above).