Rather spend on Zodiac MX8 parts than Kreepy Krauly

<p>Too long, didn’t read? Short version: Brand New Kreepy Krauly doesn’t last a month</p> <p>Long story, at first I had a Zodiac Pacer for years which started to get old and I always had problems with it getting stuck in the one corner of my pool so I decided to buy the Zodiac MX8. Have it for close to 4 years now, brilliant machine, goes everywhere, cleans everything. Big problem with it is that it has so many parts that I already replaced, especially the gearboxes that go every 8-10 months (if I replace the latest broken gearbox now it will be the 6th) so I decided that I would rather buy a Kreepy Krauly which has the "1 moving part for years of dependable service" so it was obviously a good choice for maintenance free pool cleaners.</p> <p>Now to my problem, the R1500 “almost maintenance free” machine didn't last a month. Set the machine up according to their instructions, it also got stuck the same place as the Pacer, added pipes, removed pipes, still the same result. I changed the weights around which sort of works but the pool cleaner moves so vigorously that the weights keep on shifting to the ends of the pipe. So the result is that the bumper roller (which evidently is supposed to keep it from getting stuck in the corners in the first place) chafed against the step resulting in it not fitting anymore and falling off, which caused the drive tube to chafe against the wall resulting in a big hole. Unfortunately I work long hours in a day so I can’t sit there and watch the pool cleaner for 24 hours a day to see if it gets stuck or not. It’s called an Automatic Pool Cleaner for a reason …</p> <p>I do realize that this is not a manufacturing defect but in my mind this is bad design. Also good luck getting through to ****** on tech support (I guess she’s inundated with the amount of people complaining about probably the same thing as I phoned numerous times, also left messages, etc.). I do appreciate that ****** told me to take it to the factory in Spartan as they are “very understanding” etc. but you know what, I’ll just take the money I would have spent on Petrol and Toll to get to Kempton, add another R100 bucks or so and get my MX8 working again. Don’t want to get to Kempton and they tell me the same story again …</p> <p>Nothing against Kreepy Krauly, my dad has same Kreepy Krauly for 20 years now and it’s still running, my pool probably has a layout that wasn’t tested in the claimed “over 3 million pools worldwide”, but in the end I expected a little more for the amount that I spent (I could have bought about 4 gearboxes with the amount I spent on the Kreepy Krauly and kept it running for another 3 years). I guess I’ll stick with Zodiac.</p>