Aiper Seagull 1000 Review

Can a $200 pool cleaner get the job done? Spoiler: the Aiper Seagull 1000 struggles.

Positioning and Design

Right off the bat, I can tell you the Aiper 1000 is positioned at the low end of the market, the only lower-end cleaner in production today is the Aiper 600. Also, we’re not going to refer to it as a pool robot, but a pool cleaner. It’s popular because it’s cheap and cordless, but those are also its biggest defects.

The design and feel of the Aiper 1000 are more like a toy truck than a true robotic pool cleaner. It has a cheap and flimsy build quality when compared to other Dolphin or Aquabot robotic pool cleaners. Look at these plastic wheels. Even though they have some tread molded in, the slippery hard plastic won’t offer real traction on pool floors. Especially compared to high-end above ground robotic pool cleaners like the Dolphin Escape, which has tracks with tread that can even climb walls.

All the Aiper can do is move forward and back on a completely flat surface. If you expect it to do any more than that, you’ll be disappointed.

Pool Coverage

The Aiper’s pool coverage is shockingly subpar. It’s only supposed to clean pool floors, so that’s already pretty elementary. But it does a terrible job covering even a simple pool floor layout.

For one, you need to have a flat pool floor. So no inground pools with slopes. Even if your above ground pool isn’t perfectly level or has a vinyl wrinkle in the bottom, the Aiper might struggle.

When the Aiper operates, it moves very fast. You might think that’s a pro, but it’s actually a big feature working against it. It moves so quickly that it doesn’t have time to pick up debris. And it doesn’t have any intelligent navigation onboard, so you’re left hoping it’ll cover all of the pool floor rather than knowing it will. Depending on the shape of your pool, you’re supposed to be able to adjust these nozzles to control its cleaning route. I tried this, but I never noticed a big enough difference. The Aiper’s coverage was disappointing every time.

Weak Performance

Even if the Aiper 1000 had good pool coverage - even for just pool floors - it would be pointless because it’s so weak. It’s a cordless design which is fantastic in concept. However, the technology hasn’t been fully developed and it simply doesn’t work well.

The Aiper has to charge for 6-7 hours before it’ll clean for 60-90 minutes. After using it a few times, I could tell the Aiper’s main energy goes toward movement, and not toward suction. It left behind a frustrating amount of debris. As for its performance, you’re better off cleaning your pool by hand. It’s just not powerful enough to suck up much of anything. It especially left behind a lot of leaves. I’d watch it zoom over them without picking up any.

There’s a brush attachment that goes on the bottom of the Aiper, but it doesn’t contribute much of anything to cleaning your pool. It’s static, so it just drags along as the Aiper moves. Even if it did help dislodge some debris that’s stuck to pool floors, just remember how weak the Aiper’s suction power is. Even if the flimsy static brush managed to scrub out anything, it’s a toss-up whether the Aiper can get it into its filtration. Compared to the front spinning brush on the Dolphin Escape, the Aiper’s static brush is almost decorative.

User Experience

Now for what I think is the most crucial part of any pool cleaner review: What’s it like to use? And more importantly, will it make my life easier as a pool owner?

You guessed it: The probability of a good experience is near zero. This robot was always charging.

Watching it zoom over settled dirt and especially leaves was so frustrating as a pool owner. I went and got my pool net out before the Aiper had even finished its cleaning job.

Even if it had captured that debris, you’d be disappointed with its inefficient filter design. To get to it, you have to remove the entire top body of the unit. And then it’s just a flat tray with a flimsy mesh covering. There’s no way this could hold a meaningful amount of debris, even if it were powerful enough to do so. For instance, the Dolphin Escape has an easy-access, top-loading basket that can hold several times as much debris as the Aiper.

Then there’s the cordless, charging design. I get the appeal of a cordless pool cleaner. But the Aiper’s cordless design is a huge nuisance. I had to charge it 6 hours for an initial 90-minute clean. As I used it throughout the week, it got to the point where I had to charge the Aiper for 7 hours just for a 45-minute clean. The longer you have the Aiper 1000 and the more often you have to charge it, the worse its battery life becomes.

I don’t know if I’ve ever tried a robotic pool cleaner that required quite this much babysitting. If an hour-long cleaning wasn’t enough for my pool (which it rarely is for any pool), I have to wait the better part of a day for the Aiper to fully charge just to run for another hour. I waited nearly 6 hours of charging time for just a 2-hour cleaning. And a poor cleaning at that.

Finally, there’s its longevity. Its cheap design and depleting battery life mean you’d be lucky if it lasted a full pool season. There are a ton of other Amazon reviews that say similar remarks about the battery simply not lasting or having issues with getting it replaced.

Final Verdict

Okay, so what’s my final verdict on the Aiper 1000?

It’s Pool Nerd disapproved.

This cheaply made, mass-produced Chinese robot isn’t something I’d recommend to anyone. It moves quickly around the pool floor, so I suppose it’ll help circulate water. But that’s all it can do. You can’t rely on it to pick up debris, it won’t climb the walls, it won’t actively scrub away grime, its filtration is terrible, and its decreasing battery supply means you’ll spend more time charging it and starting it than watching it clean. The Aiper not only leaves more work for pool owners to do... it’s an active nuisance.

Alternative Recommendations

I highly suggest looking at the Dolphin Escape as an alternative. It has a 2-year warranty, and its dual DC motors give it power to clean floors, climb walls, and suck up debris that the Aiper 1000 would leave behind. Plus, its SmartNavigation actually maps your pool for better coverage, and the front HyperBrush scrubs away debris as efficiently as if you were manually scrubbing with a pool brush.

If you want to keep nerding out over your pool, check out the rest of our website to keep learning how to make pool maintenance way easier. View my comparison page and see all the differences between the many robotic pool cleaners out there. Until then, enjoy that pool and check back soon for more pool maintenance tips and insight.

Your resident pool aficionado.

For over 4+ years, The Pool Nerd has been a leading source in the swimming pool industry. With years of experince owning a swimming pool, our hope here is to guide and help making owning a swimming pool easier.