Poolease X1 Pool Robot Review: How Bad Can It Be?
Poolease X1 Pool Robot Review: How Bad Can It Be?
Poolease X1 泳池机器人评测：它到底有多糟糕？
The market is stuffed to the gills with pool-scrubbing robots that cost thousands of dollars, and consumers are well justified in worrying whether that level of expense will ultimately be worthwhile. But there’s also a subset of pool robots that go the other way—much simpler devices that cost well under $500, sometimes much less.
市场上充斥着售价数千美元的泳池清洁机器人，消费者有充分的理由担心如此高昂的支出是否真的物有所值。但同时也存在另一类走极端路线的泳池机器人——它们结构简单得多，价格远低于 500 美元，有时甚至更便宜。
It’s here where we find the Poolease X1, a pint-sized robot that can be yours for barely over 100 bucks. Can it possibly be any good?
正是在这种背景下，我们发现了 Poolease X1，这是一款小巧玲珑的机器人，只需 100 多美元就能带回家。它真的好用吗？
Mini and on the Move
小巧且灵活
I’ve tested robots along these lines in the past. All work under the same general principle. Stripped down to the basics, the tiny Poolease X1—just 9 pounds in weight and not much larger than a lunch box—has no spinning brushes or treads to propel it. Rather, the clearly Dyson-inspired robot is entirely powered by water jets, which send it on a largely random zigzag path around the pool while pulling debris up through the bottom of the device.
我过去测试过类似的产品，它们的工作原理大同小异。Poolease X1 极其精简，重量仅 9 磅，大小和一个午餐盒差不多，没有旋转刷或履带驱动。相反，这款明显借鉴了戴森（Dyson）设计的机器人完全依靠喷水推进，在泳池中进行随机的之字形移动，同时通过设备底部吸入杂物。
Because of this simple propulsion system, the X1 can’t clean walls or the waterline or even steps, nor can it “scrub” the way a robot with motorized rollers can. It’s strictly limited to the floor of the pool. Needless to say there are no wireless or mobile app features at this price level, either.
由于这种简单的推进系统，X1 无法清洁池壁、水线甚至台阶，也无法像带有电动滚轮的机器人那样进行“刷洗”。它仅限于清洁泳池底部。不用说，在这个价位下，它也不具备任何无线或移动应用程序功能。
There’s also no debris basket on the X1, per se. Rather, the entire device splits into two, and leaves and other debris are simply captured inside it, with a simple filter screen serving to keep debris from passing through the device and back out though the propulsion system’s exhaust port. To clean the device, you snap open four clips surrounding the chassis to separate the halves, then spray the whole thing down with a hose.
X1 本身也没有专门的杂物篮。相反，整个设备可以一分为二，树叶和其他杂物直接被捕获在内部，通过一个简单的过滤网防止杂物穿过设备并从推进系统的排气口排出。要清洁设备，你需要打开机身周围的四个卡扣将两半拆开，然后用软管冲洗整个内部。
The unit arrives with some assembly required. The four caster-style wheels (in two sizes) must be snapped into place, along with two brushlike “scrapers” and two plastic plates that must be installed inside the device. None of this is difficult, but it feels awfully unnecessary for the consumer to have to complete the extra effort.
该设备到货时需要进行一些组装。四个脚轮（两种尺寸）必须卡入到位，此外还有两个类似刷子的“刮板”和两块塑料板需要安装在设备内部。这些操作并不难，但让消费者额外花费精力去完成这些步骤，感觉非常没必要。
The X1’s charging port—a term I’ll use loosely—is located on the bottom of the robot, which means you need to flip it over to connect the power adapter, which risks scratching the device’s fetching purple paint job. This connection isn’t so much a port as it is two bare metal posts sitting in a narrow channel. It’s designed to be covered by a rubber stopper when in the water, though note that this stopper isn’t connected to the robot in any way and, I suspect, will be very easy to lose. (A spare cover is included in the box.) It’s also really tough to pry it out of place and to put it back.
X1 的充电口（我姑且称之为充电口）位于机器人底部，这意味着你需要将其翻转过来才能连接电源适配器，这有刮伤设备迷人紫色漆面的风险。与其说这是一个接口，不如说它是位于狭窄通道中的两个裸露金属柱。它设计有橡胶塞，在水中时用于覆盖接口，但要注意这个塞子与机器人没有任何连接，我怀疑它非常容易丢失。（包装盒内附带了一个备用塞。）而且，将它撬出来或塞回去都非常费劲。
The simple 1.8 amp charger will top up the 4300mAh battery in about three hours, giving it enough juice for a specified 90-minute running cycle.
简单的 1.8 安培充电器大约需要三个小时才能充满 4300mAh 的电池，使其能够维持标称的 90 分钟运行周期。
Small Robot, Small Job
小机器人，小任务
While mini robots like this are clearly intended for above-ground and tiny pools, Poolease specs the robot to cover 861 square feet—the equivalent of a massive 30 x 30-foot pool that would be almost twice the size of my own. Nevertheless, I didn’t expect the X1 to do a spectacular job at cleaning it, and sure enough, it didn’t.
虽然这类迷你机器人显然是为地上泳池和小型泳池设计的，但 Poolease 标称该机器人可以覆盖 861 平方英尺的面积——相当于一个巨大的 30 x 30 英尺的泳池，几乎是我自家泳池的两倍大。尽管如此，我并没有指望 X1 能出色地完成清洁工作，事实证明，它确实没做到。
After powering it on by holding down a button located on the bottom of the device (naturally), the unit lazily careens back and forth around the floor of the pool, usually reversing only when it reaches a wall. There’s no intelligence to speak of under the hood here, which means any collected debris is largely a random race against time. The goal is to suck up all the leaves before the battery dies; in my testing, that was a bit longer than Poolease’s spec, approaching two hours of operation.
通过按住设备底部的一个按钮（不出所料）开机后，该装置懒洋洋地在池底来回穿梭，通常只有碰到墙壁时才会掉头。它的内部没有任何智能可言，这意味着收集杂物在很大程度上是一场随机的“时间赛跑”。目标是在电池耗尽前吸走所有的树叶；在我的测试中，运行时间比 Poolease 标称的要长一些，接近两个小时。
Results were not particularly impressive. With both organic and synthetic debris, the Poolease X1 was only typically able to collect 70 to 80 percent of leaves and other matter on the floor of my pool, leaving material scattered randomly all around. That’s better than I expected, but worse than it sounds. If your gardener left 20 percent of your lawn unmowed, you’d notice.
清洁效果并不令人印象深刻。无论是处理有机杂物还是合成杂物，Poolease X1 通常只能收集池底 70% 到 80% 的树叶和其他物质，剩下的杂物依然散落在各处。这比我预期的要好，但比听起来要糟糕。如果你的园丁有 20% 的草坪没割，你肯定会注意到的。
With minimal clearance between the bottom of the robot and the floor, I also noticed several times that the robot was prone to getting stuck, namely on the circular floor drain, which has less than an inch of rise over the floor surface. Apparently it’s the perfect size for the X1 to beach itself, so its wheels are just shy of touching the ground. The robot was successful in freeing itself eventually, but it spent several minutes doing so.
由于机器人底部与池底的间隙极小，我还多次注意到它很容易被卡住，特别是在圆形的地漏上，地漏高出池底表面不到一英寸。显然，这个高度正好让 X1 “搁浅”，导致它的轮子刚好悬空，无法触及地面。机器人最终成功脱困，但为此花费了好几分钟。
The X1 must be retrieved with a pole and hook (the hook is included) when it’s finished running. I described the simple cleanout process above. Here, debris regularly got stuck in a couple of narrow crannies inside the chassis, requiring me to either pick it out by hand or use the jet mode on my hose to blast it out (soaking me in the process). It’s also worth noting that the unit didn’t pick up any noticeable amount of dirt or silt; I suspect the suction system just isn’t strong enough to do much good on that front.
运行结束后，必须用杆子和钩子（包装内附带）将 X1 打捞上来。我上面描述了简单的清理过程。实际上，杂物经常卡在机箱内部的几个狭窄缝隙中，我不得不要么用手抠出来，要么用软管的喷射模式将其冲出来（过程中把自己弄得浑身湿透）。同样值得注意的是，该装置没有吸走任何明显的污垢或淤泥；我怀疑它的吸力系统在这一方面根本不够强大。
A Value Conundrum
价值困境
It’s clear that, despite specifications to the contrary, the Poolease X1 is not remotely powerful enough for my pool, and I suspect it may be too little for all but very small tank-style pools. Of course, the mere $110 price tag makes this a low-risk investment, which might be fine.
很明显，尽管规格说明书上写得很好，但 Poolease X1 的动力远不足以应付我的泳池，我怀疑除了非常小的水箱式泳池外，它对其他泳池来说都显得力不从心。当然，仅 110 美元的价格使其成为一项低风险的投资，这或许也还可以接受。