Hayward W3PVS20JST Poolvergnuegen Suction Pool Cleaner for In-Ground Pools up to 16 x 32 ft. (Automatic Pool Vaccum)

So let's talk about Wayward Hayward a bit. This is my third unit. The first two were the flipper style. The first one was excellent. Lasted three years. The second one, the "update" was a complete confused POS. We hated it from the start. This is the upgrade, with the new design of the trac rollers and the vacuum cleaner front. Verdict.First off, I don’t plastic parts are alive so, the performance isn't going to change. It comes assembled and ready to use out of the box. I LOVE that!! Think like the manufacturer! They have to make a product flexible enough for midsize to very large pools. 20 to 40 thousand gallon as the description says. Well, there's a huge difference in pump power! We have a 3500 per whaterver pump, which is for the 20,000 gallon. When I split the suction between the Main drain and this unit, it won’t climb. However, thinking about the design, I increased the suction to all unit and, it climbs perfectly. So, it "replaces" the main drain and that’s fine with me! They annoy me anyway. I leave them just open enough to compensate for a clog or a reduction in flow and Hayward climbs. I would assume with more power it could walk on water but, that's what to keep in mind. Vacuum power is key. It’s not magic.The unit has some hard turn mechanics inside to prevent going over and over in the same pattern. The two wheels can be randomized. Thus, I assume IF the randomization is too opposite, it would do circles and that would be bad. So, check to make sure the random tabs on the wheels are offset and if you're experiencing spinning in place or repeated patterns, decrease the randomizer distance. I didn’t have to. Mine's perfect out of the box.What do I notice different? Well, those stupid feet and flippers are gone. Major improvement. It's plastic in a chemical pool so, it's not a fine wine which will get better with age. Plan on replacement parts, probably yearly I'll guess, maybe two. Hayward put less material in the hose, which I find to be SMART! The other hose was too heavy and thick. The joints on the hose are more secure than the old design. There is a tool with this unit the other didn’t have. It’s a rubber suction gauge that fits into the skimmer hole. Worthy. Value for price paid is there because they all cost a lot. Don't let the kids ride it or the dog eat it and you should be fine.

5 Stars after my modification. Hayward could have a 5 star product with one simple modification. I'm an electrical engineer, and very mechanically inclined. Out of the box, this cleaner, I have the 4-wheel version, was horrible, and almost got the return sticker affixed, however after watching the unit flounder around, get stuck in corners, flay endlessly at my steps, and look like it lost it’s mechanical grip on life – all this cleaner needed was a little traction on my concrete pool. The wheels spin like hell but the cleaner would barely move. This thing was so neutral buoyant that it would barely touch the bottom of the pool. No traction – no Go!So, in addition to the 2 factory supplied hose weights, I added a 1 ½ oz fishing sinker, tie wrapped to the bottom hose connection– problem solved. This dang thing actually works. And, pretty good too. My pool is 20,000gal, 8’ deep 1.5HP Pump, and kidney shaped. It gets 95% of it. Does not do walls nor the steps – but sure does the bottom very well. It even eats nickel sized rocks, something my Hayward Navigator locked up on, every time. This cleaner can eat a nickel to quarter sized rock and push it through to the leaf bag.Highly recommend, but buy a sinker and tie wrap to go with it. Isn't worth a hoot without the extra weight. Seems like Hayward could pitch in a few fishing weights to help us out. I'm guessing, the physics of the installation might require more or less weight to obtain optimal performance - but just a little extra weight solved my problem.

This unit has made my life so much easier. Now I can enjoy the pool and it does the cleaning.

I bought the 2-wheel version and ended up sending it back and purchased the 4-wheel one. The problem with the smaller one is it would rarely make it to the shallow end. My pool is a simple oval, medium sized at 15,000 gallons and 29 feet long. It's 8 feet deep and since not super long, maybe the slope is a little steep.Both cleaner versions stop and turn as part of normal operation, but the small one does this about 2x as often. It would be working it's way up the slope to the shallow end and stop and turn, then end up in the deep end again. Over and over. Turning is critical to operation since this cleaner will get stuck at a wall or step and bang into it until the turn comes. That's fine but the 2-wheel version just does it too frequently. The 4-wheel version makes it to the shallow end just fine and spends time more or less equally in all areas. With a 29 foot pool the hose with the small one was supposed to be plenty long - it was not and I had to add one segment just to get it to the farthest point. They give 2 more segments with the 4-wheel version and I used all. This gives a little extra so it still goes mostly to the end of the pool even when there is the inevitable loop in the floating hose.In general this style cleaner has some good, and some less than good points.Pro: It covers the pool bottom well without self-imposed keep out areas like the creepy disk type seem to have. It doesn't have that noisy bangbang valve to make it move like the creeping ones and is therefore not so sensitive to sucking in a leaf and getting jammed. I assume it will work just as well in cold water where my bangbang type stopped banging.Con: It doesn't climb walls or steps, not at all. Since it doesn't rub on the surface like the creeping disk type do, it doesn't mechanically stir up the surface algae. So far this hasn't been a problem but time will tell.Overall after a month of use I'm happy with it. The cost is way way higher than the cheap creepy type, but not so much more than the name brand ones. I've gone through 3 or 4 cheap creepy ones and wanted something more reliable. I do have to brush the walls more than I'd like.