I live across a road, and dust, leaves and debris keep landing in our pool. After reviewing four or five pool robots, by September 2024 the Wybot C1, at under $400, had become my favourite of them all.
In the pool within 10 minutes
The unboxing was really straightforward. Within 10 minutes the robot was in the pool and cleaning. I didn't even know which programme was on, I just wanted to see it run. When a product is that easy to start, I like it.
What impresses me most is the price. I remember that five or six years ago you had to spend at least 1,500 on a robot with a long cable that was a mess to take out every time. My parents still have one: it does a great job, but it has just one button. Today you get similar results for a fraction of the price, cordless, with an app to choose how it cleans.
Built like a little tank
The C1 has a sleek design that looks like a tank. The basket is really well done and easy to clean, and there's an LED indicator on top. The tracks are sturdy for climbing walls but soft enough not to damage the liner. Underneath there are two main brushes that work independently: I watched it turn by spinning one faster than the other. The filtration system sucks up nearly 1,000 litres per hour, which means it's recirculating water about as fast as a medium-sized filter. Suction power is very, very strong.
Charging and modes
It charges in 3 hours and runs for 120 minutes, which you can split across four modes. You can choose walls only, floor only, both, or a complete clean that includes the waterline. There are also multi-day programmes. When we went on holiday for a week, I used the one that cleans four times with a 48-hour gap between sessions. With the pump also running eight hours a day, the pool was fantastic when we got back, and you can see in the video how much dirt it had collected.
My verdict
Before getting into pool robots, I bought a couple of 100-euro cleaners that kept breaking. They moved by pushing water (jet propulsion) and didn't do a good job. Wybot also makes a robot with that technology that works well, but for a pool of at least 6 × 3 m you need something that does the job for you. The C1 is impressive. It will be the robot I use every day until it breaks or I find something better, and that's going to be hard at this price. A no-brainer.