Beatbot Sora 70 review: skimming, and the catch

A Beatbot Sora 70 that finishes its cycle parks at the surface by the wall. One whose battery runs out first, or that you leave floating too long, settles back to the bottom, and you fish it out with the hook, waterlogged and heavier than its 23 dry pounds. That single behavior decides more about living with it than its 6,800 GPH of suction does.

It is the overall pick on our robotic pool cleaner picks because no other cordless robotic pool cleaner on that hub cleans the water surface as well as the floor, walls and waterline. We worked from Beatbot's spec table and FAQ and six published hands-on tests, one of them with measured debris counts. Only three owners describe their own unit, too few to count.

What the Sora 70's surface jets catch

Floating leaves, mostly. PCWorld watched the JetPulse jets push leaves to the edges, where live oak leaves were snapped up, while light silk leaves and petals sank before the robot reached them. It skims only while it runs, so it does not replace a skimmer that works all day, and Bob Vila makes the same point about a solar one.

Underwater it is thorough and slow. PCWorld's floor and wall run caught 99 percent of the debris on the floor and took six hours, while Pro mode left 8 to 10 percent behind, mostly leaves in corners. 9to5Toys timed a Pro cycle at around four hours and found it cannot reach the top two steps. Shallow ledges need at least 8 inches of water and 3.3 by 3.3 feet of area: one owner's 6 inch sun deck is out of its reach.

Runtime and how the Sora 70 comes out

Beatbot rates it for up to 7 hours on the surface, 5 on the floor, and about 4.5 hours for floor, walls and waterline together, from a 10,000 mAh pack that recharges in about 4.5 hours. PCWorld's first long run quit after three hours with the app showing 54 percent left, and a firmware update fixed it.

The app cannot steer it once it dives. Four testers found they could not change modes or call it up mid-cycle, and Beatbot's own FAQ says a retrieval interrupts the clean. The Pool Nerd also found no weekly timer. Eco mode spreads one charge over automatic runs every other day, and anything else you start yourself.

Sora 70 vs Sora 30

Underwater they are nearly the same machine: the same suction, the same battery and the same 8 inch shallow limit. The Sora 70 adds the surface jets, a 6L basket against 5.2L, and a three year warranty against the Sora 30's two, and it weighs 22.9 pounds to the Sora 30's 19.6. If your pool has a skimmer or stays covered, you are paying for jets you will rarely use, and our Sora 70 vs Sora 30 comparison sets the rest out.

The owner reports split the same way. One likes it on floors, walls and the waterline. Another returned it after it caught on the bubblers and wrapped their rubber tubes around the brushes, and a third, commenting under a Sora 70 video, says theirs has never moved. The Pool Nerd's review unit arrived with its track side panels popping off.

Sora 70 vs AIPER Scuba V3

The AIPER is the lighter alternative on our hub, rated for a smaller pool. AIPER rates it for 1,614 square feet against the Sora 70's 3,229, on 4,800 GPH into a 3.5L basket, and it does not clean the water surface at all. It weighs 18.2 pounds, and our AIPER Scuba V3 review found it sinks 10 minutes after parking at the waterline. For a big pool that collects leaves, buy the Sora 70.

The ultra fine filter, draining and the lift

The 6L basket comes with a 150 micron filter. The Sora 70 ultra fine filter, a 3 micron basket for silt, is a separate purchase, and Beatbot rates it for about 40 cleaning cycles. Beatbot puts draining at about five minutes after each run, and at 22.9 pounds dry it is heavy to lift out when full: Bob Vila had a couple of close calls being pulled toward the water. On an above ground pool, plan where you will stand to lift it over the wall before you buy one.