Wybot F1 Pool Skimmer evaluate: It is loud, however it's very efficient

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At a look Knowledgeable's Ranking Execs

The general finest skimmer at capturing particles in our checks

Enormous filter basket

Distant management permits for guide steering when wanted

Cons

Extraordinarily loud

Blunt operation; runs into the wall Continually

Weak battery life

Our Verdict Wybot’s photo voltaic skimmer does a surprisingly good job of grabbing leaves off the floor of the pool, however its loud operation and poor energy administration knock it down a peg.

Value When Reviewed

This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined

Finest Pricing Right this moment

Value When Reviewed $329.99

Finest Costs Right this moment: Wybot F1 Pool Skimmer

Photo voltaic-powered pool skimmers flit alongside the floor of your pool working beneath the concept if they'll scoop up particles earlier than it sinks, you gained’t want to scrub the underside of the pool.

It sounds logical, however in follow, most pool skimmers don’t do the very best of jobs—there’s solely a lot floor space a skimmer can cowl earlier than leaves get waterlogged and sink to the depths. However robotic skimmers are higher than nothing, particularly in case you don’t have a very good in-wall skimmer.

The Wybot F1 Pool Skimmer was far more efficient at capturing floating leaves than any skimmer I’ve used thus far.

Specs

Wybot’s F1 Photo voltaic Skimmer is maybe the beefiest, burliest skimmer I’ve examined thus far. The 14-pound beast is technically lighter than the 17-pound Beatbot iSkimmer Extremely I reviewed in January, however its look is extra dominating, with a gaping maw in entrance because the gateway to an enormous, 7-liter particles basket. (A small ridge contained in the filter basket prevents particles from coming again out.)

<img decoding="async" data-wp-init="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on-async--click="actions.showLightbox" data-wp-on-async--load="callbacks.setButtonStyles" data-wp-on-async-window--resize="callbacks.setButtonStyles" src="https://b2c-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Wybot-F1-pool-skimmer-app-screenshots.png?w=1200" alt="Wybot F1 pool skimmer app screenshots" class="wp-image-2813887" width="1200" height="800" loading="lazy"/> The Wybot F1’s app has has two working modes: customary and good. It's also possible to use a D-pad to manually navigate the bot across the floor of your pool.

Christopher Null/Foundry

As with all photo voltaic skimmers, a big photo voltaic panel makes up all the prime floor of the robotic, the 33-watt panel feeding a 5200 mAh battery contained in the chassis. An included plug-in charger can prime up the battery in case you don’t have sufficient solar to do the job.

Not like most different skimmers I’ve examined, the F1 doesn't have seen paddles to propel and switch it within the pool. Moderately, its propulsion system is hidden contained in the chassis, secreted deep inside two channels on both facet of the system.

Two vents on both facet of the robotic are used when the Wybot F1 must again up, jetting water out so the robotic can reverse. A protracted LED bar on the entrance of the system supplies a fast take a look at standing (operating, charging, low battery, and so forth), and house owners of swimming pools with very shallow areas can come out 4 anti-stranding bars on the underside of the system to stop the robotic from reaching sure areas the place there’s not sufficient water to work in.

Efficiency

When beginning up the robotic, what you’ll discover instantly is how loud it's. The impellers contained in the robotic sound just like the props on a small airplane, whirring and sputtering and blubbering to a level I’ve not encountered in any pool-cleaning system. The robotic putters across the pool (at a wholesome clip) scooping up particles, however it virtually feels like an precise boat. A couple of customer recognizing it at work within the pool remarked about its noise manufacturing.

The Wybot F1 has two working modes, which you'll choose by the Wybot app: customary mode and good mode; with the latter—paradoxically—being its default mode. Customary mode runs the robotic repeatedly till its battery dies, then waits till it's absolutely charged to begin operating once more.

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Christopher Null/Foundry

Sensible mode adjusts the robotic’s runtime primarily based on obtainable sunshine to maintain it operating on and off all through the day, ostensibly sustaining sufficient cost on the battery to keep away from lengthy intervals of downtime. The app additionally features a distant management that may—slightly crudely—direct the robotic across the pool to areas of specific bother.

The skimmer isn't essentially the most clever I’ve examined, as it's liable to winding itself as much as most velocity then run headlong straight into the wall. Hand it to the F1 although, because it doesn’t like to surrender. After a couple of seconds of relaxation, it can usually attempt to push ahead instantly into the wall as soon as once more earlier than, ultimately, it realizes it’s not making progress. Finally, one of many backup vents will have interaction and the robotic will make a flip, then jet off to greener, dirtier pastures.

In some way this all works fairly effectively. Its quick velocity and sheer tenacity let the F1 cowl a whole lot of floor shortly, however it’s the big opening for the filter basket that appears to be the key sauce. Different photo voltaic skimmer designs usually push particles to both facet because the ploddingly gradual robotic creeps nearer, inflicting that particles to be solely missed, the the F1’s extensive mouth permits for no escape.

The Wybot F1 was far more efficient at capturing floating leaves in my testing than every other skimmer I’ve used thus far, accumulating about 85 p.c of the leaves in my take a look at samples whereas the rest sunk to the underside. (Solely a pair remained on the floor after about 4 hours of operating time.)

Though it may be robust to dislodge its filter basket, cleanup is fairly straightforward, because the basket splits into two elements, permitting for a neater washout. That mentioned, it could be helpful if the rear of the basket additionally opened to permit particles to cross by to the opposite facet.

The inevitable caveats

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Christopher Null/Foundry

Sadly, the Wybot F1 isn’t excellent. That additional velocity equates to a brief battery life, and I used to be by no means capable of get the robotic to run for a full day with out its battery dying, even beneath the summer season solar of Texas. Its battery can also be gradual to cost. Even on comparatively sunny days, I usually discovered the robotic didn’t run in any respect throughout the day in customary mode as a result of it had by no means absolutely recharged.

Wybot’s app could be very easy, primarily used to pick out between the 2 working modes and to activate the distant management; however the Bluetooth and a pair of.4GHz Wi-Fi-connected system additionally supplies one crucial metric: remaining battery life.

The issue is that I may by no means get this battery indication to replace with out force-quitting the app and restarting it. It doesn't matter what I did, the battery indicator would stay caught on no matter stage it was on the final time I checked it.

This evaluate is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the most effective robotic pool cleaners.

This is usually a actual ache once you test the app and see the robotic has 98 p.c battery life remaining, solely to restart the app to search out that the true remaining battery life is simply 13 p.c.

Do you have to purchase the Wybot F1 Pool Skimmer?

At $330 (avenue value), the Wybot F1 is vastly cheaper than the $1,499 Beatbot iSkim Extremely I reviewed in January, and it’s aggressive with the $340 Smonet SR5 I evaluated in November 2024.

In the event you don’t thoughts the din it creates whereas it’s puttering across the pool—heck, you may even discover the noise endearing—it’s arguably the skimmer to beat.