Zodiac MX6 Suction Pool Cleaner

I have had the Zodiac MX6 swimming pool cleaner for two years now and I am very pleased with it. It is still running every day. There are pool cleaners that cost hundreds of dollars more, but this one works quite well. It works off of the suction of the main swimming pool pump, so does not require any other power source, and it runs all day, as long as the pump is running. It is meant to connect to the pool cleaner fitting that comes into the side of your pool. If you don't have this, the cleaner comes with an attachment to connect it to your skimmer. (However, if you use this, your skimmer will not operate while the cleaner is connected.) It comes with several 3-foot sections of hose so you can adjust the length of the hose for your particular pool. After I got the length of the hose adjusted to the best length, the cleaner has not gotten hung up on the pool's steps. It is easy to set up and comes with clear instructions. It does not require much suction, I have a valve to control the suction of the cleaner so there is still enough suction for the skimmer to work. It has really made a difference in the look of my pool. The most often I could vacuum my pool manually was once per week, but this cleaner is like a little robot that vacuums all day long. The only negative is that it gets jammed up by some leaves, particularly eucalyptus and privet leaves. It is easy enough to pull the cleaner up and get the leaves out, but if you get a lot of leaves in your pool this might be a nuisance. Also, I was disappointed that it did not come with a threaded fitting for the suction-side inlet on my pool, instead it just has a tapered fitting that you jam into the inlet. The hose can then fall out, which is a safety hazard. I bought an adapter at the pool store that helps hold it in, and has a spring-loaded cover to close the inlet off if the hose were to fall out. (An example is the GW9530 vac port fitting, on Amazon.) But, overall, for the price it has been a very effective automatic swimming pool cleaner. May 2025 - I have now had the MX6 for three years and it is still working great. However all of the original hoses have split. I leave the cleaner in the pool all the time, so I think the UV deteriorates them. To get the most life out of the hoses treat them gently, don’t bend them sharply, and be careful when pulling up the cleaner by the hose. The official replacement Zodiac hoses are expensive, but I have not tried the cheaper aftermarket ones. If you are careful with the hoses, they can last a couple years. Even with the limited life of the hoses, I still think the MX6 is a good buy.

First of all lets face it, done of these products are inexpensive . But for the value I found this M6 simple to operate and the best value. Recently I've tried the newest "Smart" Robot, Battery and Electric. They suck. If your trying to impress your techie friends go ahead and waste your money. I'll take a simple mechanical item that works over some high tech electronic item any day. Regarding the Smart Battery Robot, they get confused, just like the ones that are suppose to clean your house (shark, ninja ,etc). This is the thing!! $$$$$$ The batteries are going to wear out, electronic parts are going to go out. You can count on that! Only 1 year warranty. The one unit I brought paid over $700.00 Called the manufacture and asked the cost of the replacement battery. They wouldn't tell me, they said when the battery goes out, you need to buy a new machine . Really !! Ok Back to the M6 . If you follow the instruction, really simple it works great. Two important issues. #1 the hose length is important , just one length too many and it gets curly cues and hinders the operations . #2 the rpm of the wheels is based on the flow volume of your pool. The suggested rotation 20-25 per 10 revolutions doesn't work for everyone. I have a 16,000 gal. 32 ft. long pool. With a Solar heating system. When the solar is working, my flow rate is about 38 rpm , with my pump running at 2000 rpm's. When the solar is not working, my flow rate at the same pump speed goes up to about 50 to 55 gpm. With the solar on I have to adjust my diverter valve for the M6 to 17-18 revolutions to get more volume. When the solar is off, I have to close it down it down. I hope I didn't confuse anyone. The Zodiac M6 works great . If you got the right hose length . And your flow rate is set for your pool operation. If the Zodiac climbs the wall all the way up to the tile line and try to climb out of your pool, YOU HAVE TOO MUCH FLOW AND RPM'S, and it will suck in air and hinder the operation. On the other hand if it doesn't climb the walls and just sits on the bottom, and doesn't move well. You need to increase the flow rate. Don't just go by the 20-25 rpm per 10, you may have to adjust it a little. Every pool flow rate is different based on your pump settings rpm and flow rpm. But the Zodiac really does a great job, very happy , it's simple to operate. AND IT WORKS, NO ELECTRONIC CRAP AND SMART TECHNOLOGY THATS HAS FLAWS TO DEAL WITH .

I purchased the Zodiac MX6 expecting a premium pool cleaning experience given the price tag. For the first year, it performed exceptionally well, navigating the pool floor and walls with ease. However, almost like clockwork, as soon as the 1-year warranty period ended, the unit began having major issues. The internal directional gears/engine have stalled, and the tracks are already showing significant wear despite proper water chemistry and storage. It is disappointing that a product in this price bracket doesn't seem built to last more than a single season. If you are looking for a long-term investment, you might want to look elsewhere or be prepared to pay for replacement parts shortly after your warranty card gathers dust. I can accept that components eventually wear out, but the Zodiac MX6 has become a constant source of frustration the moment the warranty expired. This is an expensive cleaner, yet it lacks the build quality to last more than a single year without failing. It has gone from being a labor-saving device to a chore that requires constant checking and troubleshooting. Having a product fail so precisely at the one-year mark suggests it isn't built for longevity. If you value your time and don't want to be repairing your pool vacuum every season, look for a brand with better durability.

4 stars so far. Replaced a Polaris ATV that went after 6 years. Thought about buying the rebuild kit, but at the same price, I figured to give it a try. Since I'm familiar with suction side cleaners, setting up was a snap. Got it running within 10 minutes and within 1 day, my pool was clean. Seems to not get stuck because it spins around. I like that. It's wider than the Polaris so it has no problem on the drains. It will climb the walls if you set the suction high enough. My only complaint is in about two sections of hose short. My 32' pool had one skimmer in a corner so it's about 36' to the opposite corner. Update - two months in and it's working great. Still 4 stars, if the suction isn't high enough,, and the hoses get tangled, it gets stuck for a minute or so. One year update - I've had it get clogged with some twigs that lodged into the gearing and it stopped dead. However, it's fairly easy to unclog. I also had the unit cut the string on my thermometer, and the string got wrapped around the drive. That too was easy to clear. After about 3 years, it's time to replace the moving parts. They wear out and cause the unit to basically, stop. The proper parts for a rebuild are: Part # RO524700 Drive A assembly (about $24 on Amazon) Part # RO25100 Drive shaft (about $12 on Amazon) Part # RO524900 Engine assembly (about $22 on Amazon) Part # R0526100 Track Replacement (about $12 on Amazon) Part # R0525000 Scrubber Assembly (about $15 on Amazon) Don't fall for buying a rebuild kit. Just order the parts separately. There's plenty of videos on YouTube to show how easy replacing parts can be. If you can use a screwdriver you can rebuild it.

We have an above ground swimming pool and as I went to use our normal manual vacuum I realized it broke so I needed a new one asap. I couldn't find a automatic pool vacuum that was fairly inexpensive and one that could also be used for above ground swimming pools. I came across the MX6 and took a chance buying it and so far I'm so happy that I did! It's pretty easy to hook up and starts working immediately as it hits the ground. I've bought cheaper automatic vacuums in the past that have gotten tangled up or constantly stuck in one position. Or they were supposed to climb the walls and never did. The MX6 has (so far) done everything it's promised! It doesn't get tangled up, although I did make sure to follow the directions and use the correct amount of plastic tube/pipe included. It does occasionally seem to get stuck in certain areas (the corner of our steps),, but every time I've noticed this happens after a minute or so it will get itself figured out and finds a way to continue on. Today was the first day I used this and its been going non stop since I put it in to the pool. I can't speak for larger inground pools, mines a round 15" ABOVE ground swimming pool and it's working perfectly for the size. If my pool were any bigger I'd probably go with a larger size model only because of the amount of time it would take to vacuum out a larger swimming pool. I've had it on for about 1 hour and 20 mins now and it's gotten my pool very clean, but as I said it's been running for about 1 hour and 20mins on a 15' swimming pool. (Which is fine by me if it's actually accomplishing something, which it is! Most importantly, I'm not out there having to manually vacuum it myself with a 4 year old child following me around.) If your looking for an inexpensive, time saving way to clean your pool, do yourself a favor and get this vacuum. It's a great quality product and is most definitely worth the price. (Note; In the photo below the debris and leaves are at the top of the pool and not the bottom. I just wanted to show the vacuum can be used on above ground pools!

My mx8 has always gotten stuck where my steps meet the bottom of the pool. I'm not kidding. I would pull it into the middle of the pool and it would get stuck within 1 minute. Non stop. Never ending. Was looking at how it was getting hung up and thought that the mx6 might be better for my pool shape and design. So I bought the mx6 and it has not gotten stuck once! And it was much easier to dial in the suction and flow rate with my variable speed pump than the mx8. I like to run my variable speed pump at 2600 rpm for 1000 watts per hour usage and the mx8 just did not like the reduced flow when I tried to balance it with the skimmer. The mx6 runs perfectly on my slower rpm mixed with the skimmer pulling in water at the same time. The yellow indicator on the wheel is rotating 10 revs in 21 seconds (which is perfect) and the skimmer is still pulling enough of the surface water in to clean the surface. The mx6 at 10 revs per 21 seconds climbs the walls all the way to the top but has not sucked in air yet. The mx8 would climb to the top unless I ran the pump at 2600 rpm and no skimmer mixed in. All in all...I couldn't be happier with this purchase. The mx6 has not gotten stuck once and runs SO MUCH better than the mx8 with lower rpms on my variable speed pump. Edit to Add - 21 Aug 2020 I am still so happy with the MX6. So much better in my pool than the MX8. Still has not gotten stuck once! Never. I have to brush the walls a lot less. This thing climbs perfectly and gets the walls with precision. And does not get hung up on my drains like the MX8 did. It is still working much much better than the MX8 with slower pump speeds. I have my pipes set up for a 60% / 40% split. With 60% being the skimmer and 40% being the MX6. With a pump speed of 2600 rpm drawing 1050 watts. And it is balanced perfectly. The yellow indicator on the MX6 rotates at 10 revs in 21 secs. Just right. It cleans so much better!

Bought this last year and for the first 16 months it worked great. It will not vacuum up leaves and such, but that is not what it is designed for. It does a good job on dirt and will keep your pool clean. The downside, and it is a BIG downside, is that the hoses will decay and crack in 16 months and the replacement cost for new hoses is around $250. This is a scam since normal pool hoses cost $40. Zodiac knows this, but they rip customers off for over-priced replacement hoses because what else are you going to do. Screw Zodiac. HERE IS THE SOLUTION. Buy a normal pool hose, cut off the ends from your broken zodiac hose segment, use a dremel to clean out the inside of the connector, and then hot glue the connector onto your new pool hose. The only thing you need to do, is to make sure you purchase the right pool hose as a replacement. It took me two tries to find a replacement hose that would work and not curl up when the vacuum turned on, but on the second try I found the right hose. The hose that I found that would work is the 1 1/2 inch 30 foot Poolzilla Spiral Wound EVA Vacuum Hose that cost me $40. It seems that the key is that the hose needs to be a spiral wound hose. You can find hoses that are blow molded, but do not use those. The blow molded hoses will curl up when the vacuum turns on and you develop internal suction. The spiral wound hoses appear to be the same construction that the original zodiac hoses are, and do not curl up in response to internal suction. You do need to lay the hose outside in the sun and stretch it for a couple of days by placing bricks on the ends to get rid of the pre-winding that the hose has do to shipping. You can leave the normal ends on the hose and then hot glue the original connectors on the hose, or you can cut off the ends and then hot glue the old connectors on. I left the ends on, connected one end into the zodiac skimmer connector, and then hot glued one old female end onto the other end of the new hose. I added on some of the old hose sections that were not cracked, and the setup worked great. While I applaud Zodiac's vacuum head, I take off three stars because they seem to be ripping customers off in regard to the cost of replacement hoses.

Above Ground Pool 8K. Works perfectly well. Low and High Speed.

This little cleaner is doing a bang-up job on my 18' X 36' in-ground vinyl pool. Had to fiddle a bit with the water flow mechanism, but I've now got it cleaning every inch of the pool floor and climbing the walls without cavitating. I bought this basic model over its bigger (MX8) brother because it has fewer parts to wear out. Recommended.

Nos ha ahorrado mucho tiempo a la hora de limpiar la alberca, lo único es que en nuestra alberca no sube paredes, no sé si sea por la potencia de la bomba o cual razón pueda ser, sin embargo, preferimos darle una cepillada a las paredes y escalones de la alberca de vez en cuando que estar aspirando como lo hacíamos antes, además nos ha ahorrado mucho en agua, recomiendo ampliamente.

Blocks up with the smallest leaves. Wasteof money and does not work as ad advertised.

No sirve, se descomponen muy rápido de los engranes de las llantas

This is by far the cheapest option out there, and it works great. I have used the big brother, the MX-8, for 3 years and the drive gears finally wore out. The only difference between the two models is a twin drive gear so that the two tracks can run in opposite directions, but this unit simply turns around its end rather than its middle and does the job just fine. You can see the two models reviewed at [...] My old one only lasted 3 years because it got jammed underneath the pool stairs occasionally, and wore down its drive gears until they were stripped and it only ran in circles. Considering that, I'd say the model is reasonably sturdy and performed well for 3 years.