Aiper vs Beatbot vs Dolphin

Prices, specifications and warranty terms checked 5 September 2026

These three are the choice most Australian buyers narrow down to, and they are not really competing on the same thing. Aiper competes on price, Beatbot on specification, and Dolphin on whether anyone here will fix the machine. This page puts all 44 models side by side and separates the three arguments.

Running cost: not a difference between them

People ask which of these three is cheapest to run, and the honest answer is that the question does not have a meaningful answer. Two things make it so.

First, the numbers are tiny. On the worked example in our running-cost register, a robotic cleaner costs about $4.86 to $7.85 of electricity across a full swimming season depending on your state tariff. The filtration pump costs around $358 a year by comparison. Nothing you choose between these three brands will show up on your bill.

Second, only one of the three publishes an operating power figure at all. Aiper's manual for one model states a motor power of 75 W, which on the same assumptions works out at $2.02 to $3.27 a season. Beatbot's "65 W" is a charger rating rather than in-water consumption, and Maytronics publishes no draw figure for any Dolphin. Any page that ranks these brands on efficiency is comparing a motor rating against a charger rating against nothing.

Warranty does not track price

It is tempting to read a longer term as a confidence signal. It is not one, and this three-way makes that obvious. Within the Dolphin range alone, two machines at the same price carry two years and four years respectively. Beatbot advertises "up to three-year warranty" and then hedges to "select models" on its own service page. Aiper runs 12, 24 and 36 month terms across its range and omits two current models from the table entirely.

Warranty length reflects how a brand packages its range. What matters is who performs the repair and where the machine has to travel to get it. See the warranty register for the full brand-by-brand evidence.

Which one, for whom

• Buy Dolphin if you want the lowest ownership risk and you are keeping the machine for years. You pay more at the bottom of the range and you get a registered Australian company, a service network and no requirement to register the product to claim. We earn nothing on this recommendation.
• Buy Beatbot if you want the most capable machine on paper and you have a large pool. The top models add surface skimming and water clarification that neither of the others offers, and the longest published runtimes in our whole register. Accept that a repair may leave the country.
• Buy Aiper if price is the constraint and you are comfortable treating the machine as a five-year purchase rather than a ten-year one. It is the cheapest way into floor, wall and waterline cleaning from a brand with any Australian presence at all.
• Check where you are buying it in every case. One Aiper model is sold through a major hardware chain that does not appear on Aiper's own authorised sales channel list, and Aiper voids warranty on purchases from unauthorised resellers. Ask before you pay, not after.

Prices, specifications and warranty terms checked 5 September 2026. Figures are manufacturer published or verified at the Australian retailer, and a blank is recorded as "not published" rather than estimated. Prices move often, particularly around late November. Confirm with the retailer before buying.