Aiper Seagull 1000 Review

The Aiper Seagull 1000 is very popular this pool season, primarily because of its price. At only a few hundred dollars, it’s very inexpensive for a robotic pool cleaner. But with a closer look at the features and performance, it’s clear this isn’t a true robotic pool cleaner. And it’s quickly gaining a reputation for sub-par performance and quick failures. We already reviewed the Aiper Seagull 600, which is a tier below this model, and we were so unimpressed as to encourage our viewers to avoid it completely. But is the Aiper Seagull 1000 really an improvement on the 600? Let’s find out.

"With a poor filtration system, constant recharging, and weak suction, the Aiper 1000 misses the mark"

What Comes with the Aiper 1000

First, we’ll take a look at what all comes with the Aiper 1000.The unit is about 13 pounds. It comes with this floating handle attached by a string, which is supposed to help you pull it from the water after its cleaning jobs. There’s a charging cable, since it’s battery-powered. And this nozzle turns so you can adjust the unit’s turning radius, depending on your pool’s shape. It also comes with this static brush attachment that fits in the middle of the robot’s underside.

Charging and Cleaning Time

Before the Aiper 1000 can do any pool cleaning, it has to charge for 6 to 7 hours. After that, it’s supposed to clean for an hour to an hour and a half before recharging. And keep in mind this unit is designed for flat pool floors only.

So it’s pretty restricted to just flat above-ground pools and the rare small inground pool with flat floors. If you’ve got an inground pool with any kind of slope, the Aiper 1000 won’t be able to handle it.

Underwater Capabilities

Once it gets going, you can see the Aiper 1000 has very simple underwater capabilities. It just roams, and there’s nothing intelligent about the paths it takes. Its description says it has intelligent auto landing technology to stop at walls after a cleaning so it’s easier to retrieve, but we wouldn’t call that intelligent technology. Especially considering the unit tends to stop in the middle of the pool after a cleaning as much as it stops at the sides.

Design and Cleaning Coverage

The design of the Aiper 1000 also impacts its coverage. Because the suction ports and static brush are located in the middle of the underside of the unit, it leaves pool corners untouched. And this is a debris-prone area for above-ground pools.

The Dolphin Escape, which is a true above-ground robotic pool cleaner, has a front spinning brush that can reach more debris and feed it into the robot’s filtration system. As it is, the Aiper 1000 leaves behind more settled dirt and grime in corners than you’d expect.

Wheels and Traction Issues

These plastic wheels are also a problem for cleaning coverage. While the Aiper 1000 doesn’t climb walls, its plastic wheels are still a poor design for maintaining traction on pool floors. We saw it drive over several leaves during its cleaning, and it left most of them behind. If it had tracks that could grip pool floors, like you’ll find on the Dolphin Escape, it might be able to cling closer to the floor and vacuum more debris.

Cleaning Power

Compared to the poorly designed Aiper 600, which is more vacuum than pool cleaner, the Aiper 1000 has a slight edge in cleaning power because of its static brush. While this little brush might dislodge some debris, there’s no way it can actively scrub away tough grime like regular pool cleaning requires. The Dolphin Escape’s front brush spins at twice the speed of the robot’s movement, which delivers as much cleaning power as if you were scrubbing the pool yourself. The Aiper’s static brush is far weaker and more inefficient.

Battery and Power Issues

Like we’ve discovered with most of Aiper’s cordless pool cleaners, they have a serious power issue. That’s because they’re battery-powered.

You’ll need to charge the Aiper 1000 for 6-7 hours just for an hour, perhaps 90 minutes of cleaning. That doesn’t leave much energy to spare for more than movement, much less suction. And because its brush is static, the Aiper’s only chance at real cleaning power is in its vacuuming. But its suction is weak. It leaves behind leaves and pine needles, and it tends to disperse dirt and sand rather than vacuum them up.

Inefficient Cleaning Process

A cordless design can be appealing, but it drastically impacts a cleaner’s performance because it simply can’t deliver enough power to do its job well.

Imagine you have a 24-foot above-ground pool, and it needs a good 2 hours of cleaning from your Aiper 1000. You’ll have to charge it 7 hours, then it will run for about 1 hour. To finish the cleaning job, you’ll need to charge it another 7 hours, then let it clean for another hour, give or take. That’s 14 hours of charging for about 2 ½ hours of active cleaning time. Talk about inefficient.

Comparison to Dolphin Escape

The Dolphin Escape uses a specially designed anti-tangling cord that plugs into an outdoor outlet, so it has a constant power supply. And its 2 DC motors are much more powerful than the weak battery-powered motors on the Aiper 1000. And you can run it for as many cleaning cycles as you need, one right after the other.

Clearly, even when the Aiper 1000’s battery performs as it should, it’s still time-consuming and a burden to pool owners. But consider that longer use of this unit tends to deplete its battery reserve. So after a few weeks of use, you may be looking at 7 hours of charging time for only 30 or 45 minutes of cleaning time.

Filtration System Issues

The Aiper 1000’s filtration system is cheaply and inefficiently designed. The unit isn’t powerful enough to vacuum much debris into the intake, and the shallow filter tray doesn’t hold much, especially compared to the Dolphin Escape’s top-loading oversized filter basket.

Usability and Convenience

In terms of usability, the Aiper 1000 doesn’t make a pool owner’s life easier. Its weak cleaning power and coverage leave so much debris behind that it hardly justifies using it. And because of how long it takes to charge for such a short cleaning job, you spend more time waiting for it to be ready to clean than watching it actually clean.

Durability Concerns

Longevity is also a big issue. The flimsy plastic parts aren’t durable enough to perform long-term in water and sun without sustaining damage. And the vague 1-year quality assurance that comes with the Aiper 1000 doesn’t have fine print listed anywhere on the Amazon listing or its website. So when the unit begins to fail within the first year, we wouldn’t count on a robust warranty backing its product, especially when compared to the Dolphin Escape’s clear 2-year warranty.

Final Verdict

Ultimately, we advise our viewers to stay away from the Aiper Seagull 1000. Yes, it has a lower up-front cost and promises cleaning features that appeal to above-ground pool owners, but its surprisingly poor performance and cheap design are unlikely to last more than a pool season. Even if it did perform well, only getting a few months of use out of it makes the Aiper Seagull 1000 wildly expensive.

Recommended Alternatives

We suggest investing just a bit more in a true robotic pool cleaner that’s designed for above-ground pools, like the Dolphin Escape. It has a 2-year warranty, cleans floors and walls, has an oversized filter basket, and uses an active scrubbing brush to deep clean grime and algae. Similarly, the Dolphin Cayman offers the same features with the added benefit of SeagullNav 2.0 scanning software, and it performs well in above-ground pools.

As always, you can read real reviews and learn more about dozens of other robotic pool cleaners at poolbots.com. Visit our website to find the best deals, tips, and tricks for pool ownership, and special buys that’ll help you enjoy your pool to its full potential.