Zodiac G3 Automatic Suction-Side Pool Cleaner Vacuum for In-ground Pools

. Recognize that I was skeptical about the G3 because there are devices that cost 8-10 times as much as this device. This Baracuda G3 is sooooooo awesome I was literally stunned at how well it worked. I truly mean stunned; fascinated, standing on the pool deck watching it work. I was mesmorized! For a while, I was in a state of disbelief. Why had my pool builder and supplier not mentioned this to me? Sure, I have vacuumed the pool hundreds of times over 15 years and while I listened to music, got a tan, more recently listened to podcasts but seriously, what’s 90 minutes X 15 times a season (this is a MN short season) X 15 years? 338 hours of wasted leisure time! I could have been biking, walking, inline skating… napping for Pete sake and my vac head would still NEVER perform as great a job as the G3 because I’ll only vac for about 90 minutes whereas this G3 can work all day and it sucks up every bit of organic detritus from the bottom and sides of the pool especially if you use a product that eliminates phosphates and drops dust and other organic matter to the bottom of the pool. I own a 24,000 gallon, vinyl lined, L-shaped pool so it has a long deep to shallow rectangle and a 12X12 shallow end L. I told my wife it will never get out of the deep end and it will never climb the vertical walls of the pool. WRONG! It clearly has a random action but I am still fascinated that if you let something randomize long enough in your pool it will cover just about every square inch on the flat, on the sloped, AND on the vert! Amazing. A couple of tips: You must have enough hose to reach one complete hose section beyond the furthest point from your skimmer attachment (I am purchasing a few extra sections). You MUST go to the company website in order to view or download the owner’s manual. Do NOT attempt to assemble and run this great tool by reading only the quick start guide that come in the box! Come on Baracuda….put the full manual in the box… the manual is only a couple of pages but I consider it to be vital. All I did was follow every simple step. The engineering is so simple and so effective. It comes with a suction gauge and the only thing that will mess you up is if your system is too weak (or maybe too strong). If your system lacks sufficient suction power, you might have to return it but I have a standard filter motor, three skimmers and a main drain so there are a lot of ways to increase the suction where the G3 connects to a skimmer to generate the exact amount of suction required…. No more or no less. Even if you only have one skimmer…. Give this thing a try. So much fun. Enjoy all the time you will be saving and you will have a cleaner pool than you would have if you were running the vac yourself.

Have owned a pool for over 20 years but never had an auto vacuum. Didnt want an entry level vac, so I went with the mid-priced, but well established Barracuda model. Used for a week now and my pool has never been cleaner. Works very well and never gets caught up on stuff either. Impressed so far... a few observations however > worked better after I added a extra weight near the head (only comes with one weight/needs two) > play with the hose length to see what works best... adding or removing a hose unit will chance the characteristics of the pattern it will follow. What works best? try different lengths... > terrible instructions in box... go online for real manual and WATCH a few youtube vids on the product... OVERALL. a good unit that is working very well in my pool. Hope its lasts for years...

I've used 5 different automatic pool cleaners in 22 years and this is the best vacuum for my use by far. It's inexpensive, never gets stuck, climbs the sides, rarely gets clogged, has only one moving part and cleans excellent. I've tried the Zodiac MX-8 and it works really well but it's more expensive than the Barracuda and started having problems after one year because of my sheading gritty pebble tech finish damaging the gear train (not the MX-8s problem but something to consider if your pool has a lot of grit). I also tried the navigator but it doesn't climb the walls and got stuck often. I also tried a Zodiac Barracuda copy for about 1/2 the Barracuda's price but it didn't perform as well and fell apart in about a year. The worst automatic cleaner i've tried by far is the Polaris Vac-Sweep 360 pressure side cleaner. The hose connections with o-rings are terrible wasting much of the pool pump's operating pressure , the hose mounted "reverser" with cheap plastic gear train gets damaged by grit in no time causing the cleaner to get stuck constantly, the leaf bag seems like an after thought and it was almost $500. It doesn't clean the sides and barely cleans the bottom with it's very narrow path compared to almost a 2' cleaning path of the Zodiac Barracuda G3 that picks up EVERYTHING! The Polaris 360 got stuck for who knows how long actually wearing places in my pool finish from the wheels spinning in one spot and i was constantly messing with it. I tried to sell this almost new Polaris 360 in a yard sale and couldn't even get $50 for a $500 cleaner so i threw it in the trash. THAT'S THE WORST $500 I've ever spent in my life. If you need a cleaner you won't be disappointed in the Zodiac Barracuda G3 or the MX-8 if your pool finish is smooth without grit.

I am so happy with this purchase. I have a new pool, a newborn and a 4 yr old so I don’t have time to spend vacuuming the pool. This takes about 5 min to set up once you are used to it. I just let it go for about 3-4 hours and I have a clean pool! Really glad I bought this, don’t know why anyone would vacuum a pool manually when a product like this is available!

Works well, good value for money, stock hose is a little short but come with all you need to get started