Compare Dolphin Robotic Pool Cleaners

I've tested every Dolphin pool robot on the market — and there's one thing the pool store will never tell you: the robot they push the hardest is often the worst value on the shelf.

Nautilus, Explorer, ProLine, Max-Series, the new cordless EON — I've run all of them through my test pool. Stick with me, because by the end of this guide you'll know exactly which Dolphin to buy, which to skip, and the one warranty change that quietly flips half this lineup on its head.

Hey there, and welcome back to the Pool Nerd. I'm Justin, your resident pool aficionado. For over five years I've tested almost every robotic pool cleaner made — and I don't think anyone has put more Dolphins through their test pool than me. Today I'm walking you through every single Dolphin model, the way I wish someone had walked me through them.

Dolphin makes a lot of robots. A lot. So I've sorted them into the lineups that matter — the Max-Series, the ProLine, the Nautilus, the Explorer, the Active, S-Line and T-Line, the cordless Liberty and the brand-new EON, and the commercial Wave. For each one I'll tell you what it does, where it cuts corners, what it runs you, and which one I'd recommend. And if you just want the shortlist, my best Dolphin pool cleaners guide has the winners in one place.

Every Dolphin, One Chart

Pin this chart. It's every current Dolphin, side by side — MSRP, pool size, coverage, timer, filtration, and the warranty line that matters more than any spec on the box. I'll bring it back for the verdict at the end.

*Cayman and Escape: NanoFilters come as a free upgrade from most authorized dealers. *EON warranty splits by sales channel — the retail Nautilus EON shows 1 year, the store-exclusive EON shows 2. Highlighted rows are the models I recommend — full reasoning in my verdict.

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What Separates a Great Dolphin From an Overpriced One

Before we touch a single model, here's how I judge every pool robot — the five things that matter, and the stuff the salesperson conveniently leaves out. Nail these and you won't get burned.

1. Waterline Cleaning

Not wall climbing. Waterline cleaning. Here's the thing: about 90% of the algae and bacteria in your pool lives right at the waterline, in that top inch where the water meets the tile. A robot can climb the wall all day, but if it doesn't pin itself to that line and scrub, it's skipping the dirtiest job in the pool. The good ones fire side jets to hold position at the tile and grind away. When a box brags about wall climbing, that's the trick — climbing a wall and cleaning the waterline are two different things, and only one of them keeps your tile from going green.

2. Filtration — Specifically NanoFilters

A standard mesh basket grabs leaves and the big stuff. NanoFilters are tightly pleated polyester with pores fine enough to trap the dust, pollen, and fine algae that float straight through a basic filter — think HEPA-level capture for your pool.

In my side-by-side testing, the NanoFilter pulled out a whole layer of fine grit the standard filter let right back into the water. The difference is night and day. If you fight cloudy water or live anywhere with fine dust, this is the difference-maker.

3. Restocking Fees

And this one's sneaky. Plenty of sellers, including a lot of Amazon listings, will hit you with a restocking fee of up to 20% if you return the robot. On a $1,500 cleaner, that's a $300 surprise just for changing your mind. Buy from an authorized dealer that gives you a real 30-day trial and charges zero restocking — places like Poolbots, Pool Robots, and Pool Express. No exceptions. I break down the whole Amazon-listing trap in Stop Buying Pool Robots on Amazon.

4. The Warranty

Read it like a contract, because it is one. Dolphin's premium robots carry a 3-year warranty that isn't prorated and isn't capped by cleaning cycles. A lot of the cheaper and mid-tier units? As little as one year. That gap is where the real cost hides, and I'll call it out on every model — because the warranty can flip the entire value equation. If you're wondering how long these robots actually hold up, I cover that in how long does a pool robot last.

5. Corded vs Cordless

I'll say it plainly: I steer most people toward a corded robot. Cordless has come a long way — but you're still managing a battery, the motors are smaller than a corded commercial unit, and suction can taper as the charge drains.

A corded robot plugs in, pushes 4,000-plus gallons an hour with no drop-off, and runs on a weekly timer so your pool stays clean while you never go outside. For most pools, that's still the easier, safer, better-value call. I go deeper in corded vs cordless robotic pool cleaners and my best corded robots guide.

Now — the lineups.

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Dolphin Max-Series — Built Around the MaxBin

The Max-Series is built around one thing: the MaxBin. It's a top-loading filter basket roughly 50% larger than a standard Dolphin filter, and you empty it from the top without ever flipping the robot over — pop the lid, lift the bin, shake it out, rinse, done. Most models pair it with a HyperBrush that spins about twice the speed of the robot's drive to knock loose stuck-on algae, HyperGrip tracks that cling through slopes and transitions, and SmartNav 2.0, which cleans in a logical pattern instead of bumbling around like a drunk Roomba. Three robots live here.

Dolphin Escape

The Dolphin Escape is the entry point, and the one I send above-ground owners to. Dual DC motors push up to 4,000 gallons an hour on about 180 watts — over 80% less power than an old pressure-side cleaner, so you're spending pennies an hour to run it. You get the MaxBin, the HyperBrush, HyperGrip tracks, and SmartNav 2.0.

What you don't get is the app or waterline cleaning — it focuses on the floor and handles a gentle wall, but it won't grind the tile line. There's no weekly timer built in either, though most dealers offer an optional timer upgrade for $99 if you want the set-and-forget schedule. Otherwise: plug it in, hit the button, walk away. At this price nothing touches it for an above-ground or a small in-ground pool. Just know its limits: leaves and dirt, yes; waterline and full wall climbing, no.

Want to see how it stacks up against its closest rivals? Check my Escape vs E10 and Escape vs Nautilus CC comparisons.

Dolphin Cayman

The Dolphin Cayman is the value sweet spot, and my pick for most people watching a budget. At an MSRP right around eleven hundred dollars — and usually less at an authorized dealer — you get wall climbing, dual motors, the HyperBrush, HyperGrip tracks, the MaxBin, and the underrated piece: a weekly smart timer built right in.

Set it to run daily, every other day, or every third day, and you only touch the robot once a week to empty the bin. That's the set-and-forget experience people think they're buying and usually aren't. (Curious how often you should actually run it? Here's my answer.)

It ships with a 50-foot cable and a 2-year warranty, and you can add NanoFilters as a free upgrade from most dealers to get ProLine-grade filtration on a budget robot.

Here's a number worth sitting with: the Cayman costs less than a Nautilus CC Supreme, gives you two years of coverage instead of one, and throws in that weekly timer and MaxBin the Nautilus doesn't have.

The one catch — it climbs walls but won't pin the waterline. If that top inch matters, step up to the Quantum. For a smaller in-ground or an above-ground pool, the Cayman is tough to beat for the money.

Dolphin Quantum

And then there's the Dolphin Quantum — the star of this whole lineup, and the easiest recommendation I make. Here's why it's special: it's the only Dolphin that's both Max-Series and ProLine. It borrows the Max-Series basket and the ProLine muscle, so you get the best of both worlds in one robot. It cleans floor, walls, and the full waterline with PowerJet 3D Mobility jets that ride horizontally along the tile line.

And here's the part almost nobody else can claim — the new Quantum now climbs and cleans steps, tanning ledges, and sun shelves. Those shallow shelf areas are the exact spot every other robot drives right past, and the Quantum is one of the only corded cleaners on the market that handles them. If you've got a Baja shelf or a set of sun-shelf stairs, that alone can make this the robot for you.

It runs the XXL MaxBin — the largest filter in the entire Dolphin lineup, with about 225% more capacity than a standard Dolphin and over 400 square inches of surface area — and it ships with NanoFilters in the box, both the XXL NanoFilter panels and standard mesh.

Add the HyperBrush, a 60-foot anti-tangle swivel cord, SmartNav 2.0, and a weekly timer with Automation Plus scheduling — now with app control too, so you can run it from the power supply or your phone. That's a robot that does almost everything the Premier and Sigma do, for less. It carries a 2-year warranty, and at an MSRP near two thousand dollars it lands several hundred below the Premier and a full thousand under the Sigma. If you want full coverage, NanoFilters, and step-and-shelf cleaning at the smartest price in the lineup, the Quantum is it. See how it fares against the cordless flagship in my Beatbot AquaSense 2 vs Quantum comparison.

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Dolphin ProLine — Commercial Motors, Longest Warranty

If the Max-Series is about the basket, the ProLine is about the motors. These are commercial-grade — the same motor platform Dolphin puts in its Wave robots that clean resorts and water parks for two to eight thousand dollars — and you feel it the second the robot hits the water. ProLine is where Dolphin loads its best stuff: NanoFilters, true waterline cleaning, no restocking fee through authorized dealers, and that longer 3-year warranty that isn't prorated and isn't capped by cycles. Owners regularly report ten years of service out of these. Three robots wear the ProLine badge — and yes, the Quantum is one of them.

Dolphin Premier

The Dolphin Premier is, in my book, the most complete residential robot Dolphin makes — and it's Pool Nerd Approved. Its signature is Multi-Media filtration: four swappable filter options, including an oversized leaf bag for fall and fine NanoFilters for dust, that you change in seconds depending on what your pool is throwing at you. Commercial motors push around 4,500 gallons an hour across floor, walls, and waterline on pools up to 50 feet, with a 60-foot anti-tangle swivel cord.

If your pool is near trees, that leaf bag alone is worth the ticket — it expands to swallow more debris than any cartridge in the lineup (I cover the whole leaf battle in how to clean leaves in your pool).

Here's the kicker, and it's the feature I wish every robot had — Media-Alert. It's a light on the power supply that blinks when the filter is full. No other Dolphin has it. Not even the Sigma. Every other robot makes you guess; the Premier just tells you.

Pair that with a weekly timer built right into the power supply — no app required — and the 3-year warranty, and the Premier checks every box on my list: NanoFilters, waterline cleaning, no restocking fee, and the longest warranty going. If you want the best all-around robot and you don't care about an app, this is the one I'd buy.

See how it embarrasses the big Amazon seller in my Nautilus CC Plus vs Premier comparison.

Dolphin Sigma

The Dolphin Sigma sits at the very top — the most advanced robot you can put in a backyard. Start with power: it's the only cleaner I know of with three commercial-grade ProLine motors. Three. More suction, more climbing force, and more waterline grip than anything else in the class. Navigation runs on a gyroscope — the same kind of position-tracking tech you'd find in aircraft — paired with SmartNav 3.0, the smartest mapping in any Dolphin. It knows where it is and where it's been.

Then there's the myDolphin Plus app over full Wi-Fi. You schedule exact days and times — not vague intervals, but Fridays at 4 PM. You remote-drive it to a dirty corner from your phone. You can read pool stats like gallons filtered and distance traveled, and you can even tell Siri to clean your pool and watch it start.

NanoFilters are included, it runs quad scrubbing brushes on independent bi-directional tracks, full floor-walls-waterline coverage to 50 feet, and the 3-year warranty. The only knock is the price — you pay for the tech. But if you want every bell and whistle, nothing else is close.

And the Quantum lives here too, as the value door into the ProLine — same robot I covered above, ProLine performance and waterline cleaning at a friendlier number, with a 2-year warranty instead of three.

If you only remember one thing from this section: ProLine and Max-Series are the two lineups I'd shop first. Everything else gets measured against them.

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Dolphin Nautilus — The One Spec That Changes Everything

The Nautilus is Dolphin's most recognizable name — the line you see in big-box stores and all over Amazon. They're good robots. They clean great. But here's the single most important fact in this entire guide, and it's the thing the store display will never put on a sign:

Here's the lineup.

Nautilus CC Plus

The Nautilus CC Plus is the popular budget pick — wall climbing, a top-load dual filter, pools up to 50 feet, and a few SKUs add Wi-Fi. No waterline cleaning, no NanoFilter, one-year warranty.

Nautilus CC Pro

The Nautilus CC Pro steps up to full floor, wall, and waterline coverage with Wi-Fi and the app, around the $1,149 mark. Still one year.

Nautilus CC Supreme

The Nautilus CC Supreme is the premium Nautilus — Wi-Fi, dual-layer top-load filtration, full coverage — but at an MSRP around fourteen-fifty it's one of the priciest residential robots out there, and I have a hard time justifying it. Look at what else that money buys.

The Quantum is about five hundred more and hands you commercial-grade value, NanoFilters in the box, full waterline plus step-and-shelf cleaning, and an extra year of warranty. The Cayman costs less while adding a built-in weekly timer and the MaxBin. One year of coverage on a fourteen-hundred-dollar robot is a tough, tough sell.

Nautilus Titan

And the Nautilus Titan is the newest, top-of-line Nautilus — full coverage, Wi-Fi, around $1,599. Same one-year warranty.

Nautilus CC, Nautilus AG & Pool Up

The Nautilus CC is the $699 baby of the line — floors and walls on pools up to 33 feet, no waterline, no timer, one year. Below it sit two above-ground models: the Nautilus AG, which handles the floor and cove, and the Nautilus Pool Up, a floor-only unit at $549.

The Nautilus name sells, and these robots clean well. But dollar for dollar, a ProLine almost always wins on motors and warranty. If you find a Nautilus at a steep discount and you understand you're getting one year of coverage, fine — go in with your eyes open. And see exactly how the flagship Amazon seller compares in Nautilus CC Plus vs Quantum.

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Dolphin Explorer — The Online-Only Entry

The Explorer is Dolphin's online-only line, and it got pared way down for 2026. The one that's still front and center is the Explorer E10 — the entry rung at an MSRP around six hundred dollars, pools up to 30 feet, floor-focused, plug-and-play, no app.

For a smaller or above-ground pool that mostly needs the floor handled, it's a clean, no-drama pick, and you'll often find it as an Open Box unit for even less on my deals page.

The bigger Explorers — the E25, E40, E50, and E70 — are on their way out as Maytronics seems to be discontinuing them. You may still spot them in stores, and if one's deeply discounted it can be a fine buy. But at full price, don't bother — a Cayman or a Quantum will out-value them every time, with a real weekly timer, NanoFilter options, and the same or better coverage.

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Dolphin Active, S-Line & T-Line

These lines lump together because they overlap a lot — largely the same proven Dolphin platform sold under different names and tiers. For 2026 they got renamed into a cleaner thousands system, and the old numbers were retired. You'll see the upgraded versions on the master chart above.

The Active line — now the Active 3000 and 2000 — is the everyday best-seller: Wi-Fi, the myDolphin Plus app, fine and ultra-fine filtration, full floor-walls-waterline coverage, pools up to 50 feet, and a 2-year warranty with brushes, tracks, and filters covered the first year. MSRP runs from about twelve hundred to fourteen-fifty.

The S-Line — now the S2000 — is the no-frills, weekly-timer version. No app, no Wi-Fi, but a big top-load basket, a built-in weekly timer, and real waterline scrubbing. Lightweight, dependable, 2-year warranty, around twelve hundred. A great pick if you don't care about an app and just want a robot that runs on a schedule.

The T-Line — now the T2000 and T3000 — climbs in capability with the number. The connected trims add the full app-controlled, full-coverage experience. Two-year warranty across the board.

Dolphin also runs the store-exclusive Premium line and the M-Series, the M400 through M600, that overlap heavily with these. I'd treat them the same way — cross-shop on price and run them through the same checklist: weekly timer, NanoFilters, waterline, warranty.

Where I land: dependable robots, all of them. If you spot one on a real deal and you don't need NanoFilters or the 3-year warranty, take a look — but always set it next to a Cayman or a Quantum at the same price first. More often than not, the Max-Series or ProLine wins.

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Dolphin Liberty & EON — The Cordless World

Now the cordless side, and this is where I get opinionated. (For the full landscape, read corded vs cordless and my best cordless pool robots guide.)

Dolphin Liberty 200, 300, 400 & 600

The Liberty series is Dolphin's battery line, and it's better than I expected. Every one of them cleans floor, walls, and the waterline, plus the sun ledge down to about eleven inches — so you're not giving up that top inch the way you do on a lot of cordless robots.

The Liberty 200 is the entry model at $949: inductive Magnetic-Connect charging, pools up to 33 feet, two-year warranty. Check price on Amazon (Liberty 200).

The Liberty 300, at $1,249, adds Eco Mode, the Click-Up sound-activated pickup so you can call it to the surface, and a Cycle Selector — but no app, and a two-year warranty. Check price on Amazon (Liberty 300).

The Liberty 400, at $1,429, brings in the myDolphin Plus app and steps up to a three-year warranty. And the new top dog, the Liberty 600 at $1,729, stretches to 50-foot pools, runs up to four and a half hours, adds multi-layer filtration and the Maytronics One app, and with its Eco Mode scheduler keeps a pool clean for one to two weeks on a single charge — also a three-year warranty.

The Liberty line is good — and the 600 in particular is a serious robot. But I still reach for a cord first, and here's why. A corded robot runs commercial-grade motors with no charge cycle to manage and suction that doesn't taper as a battery drains — and on the cheaper Liberty models you're still working around charge times.

Dolphin EON 100 & 120d

The EON is the newest cordless Dolphin, and it's the most interesting one they've built. The headline is shallow-water cleaning — it works in as little as 8 inches of water, so it finally reaches the tanning ledges and Baja shelves with barely any water on them, the spots even most corded robots skip. It covers the entire pool — floor, walls, waterline, steps, corners, and that sun ledge — uses JetIQ jets to grip and climb over steps, and runs SmartMap navigation that maps your pool's shape instead of just bumping around.

Quick naming note, because it trips people up: Dolphin sells this as both the EON and the Nautilus EON. They're the same robot — just a name-and-color difference — but the published warranty splits by channel. The retail Nautilus EON shows one year, which fits the Nautilus pattern; the store-exclusive EON shows two.

Two models. The EON 100 is $899 and uses a sealed monoblock filter — a 70-micron cartridge that traps fine particles. The EON 120d is $1,199 and adds DebrisLock, a backwash filter that senses a clog and rinses itself while it's still in the pool, which Dolphin says saves you about twenty hours of filter cleaning a year. The headline spec is UltraRun: with the scheduler, the 100 keeps a pool clean for up to a week on one charge, and the 120d up to two weeks. Both run app control through Maytronics One — though heads up, the app only connects when the robot's above the waterline, so you schedule and check it on deck, not mid-clean. And keep that retail one-year warranty in mind: price it against the coverage you'd get stepping into a corded Quantum.

One fair warning straight from the reviews: that DebrisLock filter is fantastic at trapping fine grit, but when it's time to clean it out by hand, it's a bit of a chore. Worth knowing before you buy.

So where do these land? The Liberty is a strong option now — the 600 especially — but you're managing a battery and paying a premium for the privilege. The EON is the real step forward for cordless, especially if you've got a sun shelf or a ledge sitting in barely any water that no other robot could reach. And since I get this question constantly: between the EON and the Quantum, the Quantum is the corded pick — steps and shelves, full waterline, commercial-grade value, and a longer warranty; the EON is the cordless one that goes even shallower, down to 8 inches. For most people with a step or a tanning ledge, those two are your real options, and almost nothing else on the market touches those areas.

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Dolphin Wave — The Commercial Line

Quick one, because most of you don't need it. The Wave is Dolphin's commercial line — built for big public, municipal, and oversized pools. You've got the Wave 60, 80, 100, and 120 scaling up by pool size, plus the W20, which handles pools up to about 68 feet and runs around $2,099. These are heavy-duty, long-cycle machines made to run all day in high-traffic water. If you own a backyard pool, this is overkill — point yourself back to the ProLine or Max-Series. (Got a genuinely huge residential pool? Start with my best robots for large pools.)

But here's a secret worth repeating, because it tells you exactly how good the residential robots have gotten: those Wave commercial machines cost two to eight grand and still don't come with NanoFilters, Multi-Media, Media-Alert, the app, or a weekly timer. The Premier and Sigma do. You're getting commercial power with residential brains for a fraction of the price.

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My Final Verdict

So what's my final verdict?

• If you want the flat-out best robot — get the Dolphin Premier or the Dolphin Sigma. ProLine motors, NanoFilters, true waterline cleaning, no restocking fee, and that 3-year no-nonsense warranty. The Premier is the most complete pick, thanks to Multi-Media filtration and that Media-Alert light; the Sigma is the most advanced, thanks to the gyroscope, the triple motors, and the app. You won't regret either one.

• If you want premium performance for less, the Dolphin Quantum is the smart-money play — most of the ProLine and Max-Series goodness, full waterline cleaning, NanoFilters, and step-and-shelf coverage, around two thousand dollars instead of the twenty-five hundred to three thousand the Premier and Sigma run. It's the no-regrets pick.

• If you're on a budget, the Dolphin Cayman is my value champ — wall climbing, a weekly timer, and the MaxBin for right around eleven hundred dollars, and usually less at a dealer. It even undercuts a Nautilus CC Supreme while handing you an extra year of warranty.

• For an above-ground pool, grab the Dolphin Escape — or the Explorer E10 if you want the online-only route. (More above-ground picks here.)

• If you've got steps, a tanning ledge, or a sun shelf, you've finally got real options — the corded Quantum for full coverage, or the cordless EON when that shelf sits in barely any water.

Two rules to take with you. One: ProLine and Max-Series are the lineups to shop first in 2026. Two: always read the warranty — remember, every Nautilus is just one year, while the ProLine gives you three. That single line has saved my readers more money than anything else I tell them.

One last secret. The best deal on any of these isn't the lowest sticker price — it's a Certified Open Box unit. Like-new condition, full warranty, hundreds off. I keep the current ones on my deals page.

That's every Dolphin. If this helped, hit that subscribe button, and head over to ThePoolNerd.com/deals for the best prices and a full side-by-side comparison. Want the winners in one ranked list? That's my Best Dolphin Pool Cleaners guide. I'm Justin, this is the Pool Nerd — until then, enjoy that pool, and I'll see you next time.

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Compare Other Brands

Want to see how other brands stack up? I've done the same deep-dive for these:

• Compare Aiper Pool Cleaners — I tested every Aiper model and uncovered serious flaws
• Compare Beatbot Pool Cleaners — Beatbot's cordless lineup vs the corded competition
• Best Robotic Pool Cleaners of 2026 — My overall top picks after testing 30+ robots

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Related Reading

• All Dolphin Pool Cleaner Reviews — Every Dolphin review in one place
• Best Dolphin Pool Cleaners — My top picks from the Dolphin lineup
• Dolphin ProLine Guide — Everything about the ProLine series
• Dolphin Max-Series Guide — The MaxBin generation explained
• NanoFiltration Explained — Why the filter makes the robot
• MaxBin Explained — Dolphin's top-load basket, measured
• Stop Buying Pool Robots on Amazon — The restocking-fee trap in full
• Corded vs Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaners — A detailed breakdown
• Best Corded Robotic Pool Cleaners — Why corded is king
• Best Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaners — If you refuse to run a cable
• Best Robotic Pool Cleaners for Large Pools — Top picks for big pools
• Best Above Ground Robotic Pool Cleaners — Above ground picks
• All Robotic Pool Cleaner Reviews — Every robot I've tested