PoolPad began with a green backyard pool and a long list of questions. We worked through the water chemistry, completed professional pool operator training, and began buying equipment to test through full seasons. These are the reviews and guides we wanted on day one.
We bought a house with a backyard pool and quickly traded lazy summer afternoons for cloudy water, hard-to-read test strips, and equipment manuals that left out the useful parts. That first season became a hands-on course in pool ownership.
We read manuals and published guidance, balanced the water by hand, took apart pumps, and tracked what changed. When the water cleared and neighbors began asking what worked, we started organizing those notes for other owners.
We later completed professional pool operator training and certification, then kept testing gear season after season. PoolPad brings together those test notes, repair lessons, product scores, and care guides so you can spend less time repeating our mistakes.
— The PoolPad Team
Gear is purchased at retail. PoolPad does not accept payment for rankings, and affiliate commission is kept separate from scores.
Cleaners face leaves, sand, floors, walls, and waterlines. We report what happens in the water alongside the published specifications.
Each pool-care step includes the reason behind it, so you can adjust the instructions to your pool instead of copying a dose blindly.
We match equipment to pool type, cleaning needs, and budget, then explain the tradeoffs that separate one model from another.
Each product follows the same purchase, pool testing, scoring, and update process.
We buy each unit through retail channels. We do not accept loaners, sponsorships, or paid placements in rankings.
Cleaners face leaves, sand, and grime across floors, walls, and the waterline over hours of run time, not a quick demonstration.
Coverage, filtration, navigation, features, noise, and value are rated the same way so you can compare two reviews directly.
We use products long term and revisit reviews each season as firmware, durability, and prices change.
PoolPad is a small team of certified pool operators and longtime pool owners. We maintain our pools year-round, work through the same algae, chemistry, and equipment problems other owners face, and document the fixes.
The purchase, scoring, update, and correction rules used on PoolPad.
Policy reviewed for the Fall 2026 season.
Check the 2026 robot rankings or browse scored reviews of cleaners, pumps, and water monitors.
