Okay, here’s my blog post about the Polaris Freedom pool cleaner, written from my personal experience:
So, I finally caved and got a robotic pool cleaner. We’ve had this pool for, like, five years, and I’ve been doing the whole manual vacuuming thing. It’s a workout, sure, but it also eats up, like, half a Saturday. I figured it was time to reclaim my weekends.
After way too much online research (seriously, there are tons of these things), I decided on the Polaris Freedom. Cordless was the big selling point for me. I didn’t want to deal with another dang cord getting tangled or having to be super careful around the outlet.
The Unboxing and Setup
Getting it out of the box was pretty straightforward. It’s bigger than I expected, but not super heavy. It came with the charging station, which is pretty simple – just a stand and a plug. I plugged that in outside near the pool (gotta have a covered outlet, obviously) and plopped the cleaner on it to charge.
Important: It takes a few hours to fully charge the first time. The instructions said six, and that seemed about right. I just left it overnight, and it was good to go in the morning.
First Time in the Pool!
This part was actually kinda fun. You just grab the handle, lower it into the pool, and hit the power button. It sinks to the bottom and, after a few seconds, starts moving. No priming, no hoses, just…goes. It’s surprisingly quiet, too. Just a low hum.
- Cleaning Pattern: It seemed to do a pretty random pattern at first, but it covered the whole pool eventually. It climbs the walls, too, which is cool.
- Debris Pick-Up: It got everything. Leaves, dirt, even some of those tiny little bugs that always seem to end up in the pool.
- Run Time: I got a solid two hours out of it on the first run, which was plenty for my pool.
Getting It Out and Cleaned Up
Getting it out is easy too. There is a floating rope that you could pull to bring it to pool edge. Then I used the handle. It’s a little heavier with the water in it, but nothing crazy. There’s a big filter basket inside that you just pop out and hose off. Super simple. I just sprayed it out with the garden hose, put it back in, and put the cleaner back on the charging station.
My Overall Thoughts
I’m really happy about this purchase. Seriously, it’s freed up so much of my pool time. I turn it on, and it just, cleans the pool for two hours. I love that I can do other chores around the house instead of constantly monitoring the pool cleaning. It’s made pool ownership way less of a chore, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for.