CNET's key takeaways
- It's great value for $799, available at Amazon, Best Buy or directly through Maytronics' website.
- It has excellent suction power and remote scheduling at a reasonable price.
- Requires almost no effort or attention during the week.
- The cord never tangles.
A backyard pool should be all fun and little work. It's your summer sanctuary, not a second job. But if you're always vacuuming up leaves, bugs and mystery debris with a manual cleaner, a pool can feel more like punishment than a place of leisure.
This year, I'm set up with a wiz of a pool cleaner machine that vacuums my entire pool in under two hours with almost no effort needed on my part. In all, I tested 12 robot pool vacuums before I landed on the Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus Wi-Fi. It hits all the marks for cleaning and scheduling via its app, and it doesn't cost an outrageous sum.
Why I chose the Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus Wi-Fi
The Dolphin deftly cleans the pool floor and sides in about 2 hours.
Out of the box, the robot requires no setup other than plugging into a power source and connecting to Wi-Fi, a process that took me less than 5 minutes. Once it's connected, dropped in the pool and a cleaning schedule is set, there's not much else to do.
The CC Nautilus Plus Wi-Fi cleaned my pool in around 2 hours, picking up soggy leaves, dead bugs, gravel and sand. It used its fierce scrubbing brushes and a suction rate of 4,500 gallons per hour to clean the floor and walls of my kidney bean-shaped pool.Â
The cord occasionally hooked my skimmer bot, but it didn't cause any serious complications.
The only function it doesn't have is a dedicated waterline setting, but I've found most waterline cleaning features to be just OK. Plus, it's easy enough to brush the waterline manually every few weeks if you notice buildup. For me, spending several hundred dollars more for a model with waterline cleaning just isn't worth it.Â
Being able to set a cleaning schedule from my device tipped this robot cleaner over the line for me.
The Wi-Fi and app connectivity are what tipped this model over the top. Through the app, you can control the robot's cleaning schedules, and I found it had far fewer disconnections and glitches than other connected robot pool cleaners I tested.
At 35 pounds, the robot is easy enough to pull out of the pool when it needs to be emptied and rinsed, roughly once a month. Its cord allows you to haul it in without a struggle. Speaking of the cord, the anti-tangle device with attached buoys kept it from looping around itself, although sometimes it gets caught up in my solar robot skimmer.Â
A pool robot that filters water means far less stress on your expensive built-in equipment.Â
Pool filters are not cheap and can be difficult to clean, depending on the type. Having a robot cleaner that works daily will save your filter lots of work and prevent you from having to replace it as often. It'll also take some stress off your built-in pool pump and filtration system, sending less debris through the pipes to be filtered out.
You can bypass the app and use the control box to start and stop the robot.
Cleaner water also means you'll spend less on chemicals due to a reduction in algae growth and better water chemistry balance.
For a full breakdown, see my list of the best robot pool cleaners for 2026, tested for every type of pool.Â
The specs
- Type: Corded
- Suction power: 4,500 gallons per hour
- Cleans: Floor, walls
- Weight: 34.6 pounds
- Cost: $799
- Automatic daily cleaning: Yes
- App control: Yes
CNET's buying advice
I've tested dozens of pool robots and learned a few things along the way.
I have tested more than 12 pool-cleaning robots, and the Dolphin is my top recommendation. It does everything you need it to, including deep cleaning of the walls and floor on a schedule of your choosing. It's easy to use and maintain and costs half the price of competitors.
If you factor in how much time a robot pool cleaner saves or what you'd have to pay for professional vacuuming, this is as close to a no-brainer as purchases get for pool owners.