The BuVortex V5 is an odd-looking device. It has four 1-inch float modules attached to a cylindrical container. The float modules serve to keep the top of the basket level with the surface of your pool and also help with navigation around the edges. The container holds a pair of motors, a debris basket, and a filter. A sensor on the side of the container uses gyroscope technology for smart mapping and navigation. The V5 is designed to cover up to 538 square feet of surface area. It has an IPX8 waterproof rating, measures 15 by 13 inches (HW), and weighs 11.5 pounds.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)
A removable collection basket with a round mesh cover sits in the center. The mesh cover prevents captured debris, like leaves and twigs, from escaping back into the pool water. When you remove the basket, you’ll see a round filter that captures finer particles such as tiny bugs and smaller leaves. Both the filter and the basket can be easily rinsed out with a garden hose. The skimmer’s dual motors provide a respectable 2,061 gallons per hour (GPH) suction rate while propelling the V5 around the pool. You can choose one of two cleaning modes: Normal mode uses one motor to suck in debris while the skimmer moves along its optimized path, and Corner Boost has the skimmer park at the pool’s edge and use two motors to pull in debris from the surrounding area.
The top of one of the floats holds a round onboard control panel, which contains a power button, a Bluetooth pairing button, an LED ring, and a proprietary two-pin charging port protected by a rubber cover. The V5 has a 7,800mAh battery and can run for up to 180 minutes (three hours) on a charge, and Bublue includes a wall charger with the device. By comparison, the Betta Flex has a 32.56Wh cell (approximately 8,800mAh), but it has solar panels, so it never needs charging. The Surfer S2 Cordless Robotic Pool Skimmer also has solar panels, and while Aiper doesn’t specify how big its battery is, it claims 35 hours of operation on a charge.
The LED ring glows solid green while charging, blue when the skimmer is working in Normal mode, orange in Corner Boost mode, yellow when the battery is low or when the skimmer is self-parking, and flashes yellow when the cleaning cycle is complete. A solid red LED indicates an error.
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(Credit: John R. Delaney)
The V5 uses embedded Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth radios to connect to your home network and to your phone. The Bublue mobile app (available for Android and iOS) opens to a home screen that displays a picture of the device, its name, and the charge status. There’s also a counter that tells you how long the current cleaning session has been running. Near the bottom of the screen is a cleaning mode panel. Here you can select Normal and Corner Boost modes and use the Back button to send the V5 to the side of the pool for retrieval.
Tap the three lines in the upper-right corner to access the settings screen. Here, you can enable Bluetooth, rename the device, update the firmware, and view cleaning records that show the total time needed for each session.
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