Gotcha Robotic Pool Cleaner

[Carol Gudes]

TheBaracuda Gotcha is a mid-level robotic pool cleaner with pretty standard features. Although this cleaner is much more affordable than many cleaners on the market, you may be wondering: is the Baracuda Gotcha worth the price?

The Baracuda Gotcha is a lightweight robotic pool cleaner. At 5.5 kilograms, most pool owners will be able to lift this machine into and out of the pool with ease. With a cord length of 14 metres, this cleaner is rated for pools no larger than 8 x 4 metres in area.

This machine has a varied colour scheme, consisting of teal, white, black, and grey components, and also featuring a bright orange handle on the top of the machine. Compared to other machines, this colour scheme may stand out when the machine is in your pool.

The Baracuda Gotcha is designed for both inground and above ground pools, and is compatible with most types of pool lining, including pebblecrete, glass beads, fibreglass, concrete, vinyl, and quartzon. This machine is not compatible with tile pools.

While no swivel port used to be standard among pool cleaners, most modern machines are equipped with a swivel port due to frustrated users complaining about how long it takes them to untangle the power cords.

This is likely due to the low power rating for the motor it is equipped with, as well as the grade of filter basket, which is not great at removing dirt or other small debris. Many owners of this machine also report that the cleaner fails to climb walls effectively, and occasionally loses suction on these areas.

Baracuda pool cleaners typically last for approximately two years before major service or replacement parts may be required. Some small pieces of the machine may break well before this period, and may or may not be covered under warranty depending on the part in question.

You should also inspect the water intake ports of the machine as well as the impeller to make sure these are not jammed with debris. If this does not fix your issue, contact Baracuda customer support.

Overall, the Baracuda Gotcha is an inexpensive and lightweight pool cleaner that is not worth the price. Regardless of price point, this machine consistently receives poor reviews about cleaning quality, which may be due to the strength of filtration and the underpowered impeller motor.

We do not recommend the Baracuda Gotcha for these reasons. Even though other machines of this price range experience similar problems, there are models available that will at least provide an effective cleaning cycle while they are functioning properly.

I am looking at investing in one. I have a small (5m x 3m) pool. Its on the low maintenance side, but I do have 3 large frangapani trees which which are planted around the pool that drop endless leaves and flower buds. I also have a sand pit in the backyard which, depending on the wind, can result in some fine white sand going into the pool.

I thought I would post a reply here as information on the barracuda captura is pretty thin on the ground. I bit the bullet and bought the captura from Bunnings the other day. Used it twice and my initial thoughts:

I ended up purchasing the Baracuda Captura from Bunnings $999, I needed it as the pool is brand new and had never been cleaned for 6 weeks since the water, Salt and Acid went in, besides the filter running . The water looked clean but we had so many leaves in the bottom I knew it was going to be filthy.

My pool isn't large and is L shaped 32,000ltrs, the cleaner worked better than I expected and I had to empty the filter basket on the robot 3 times (twice it was full, 3rd time was just in case), I also had to empty the skimmer box twice as it was also full as the robot pushed the surface leaves around with its bubble blast.

I will need the finer filter mesh, the 200 micro picked up all the left over beadcrete and bits of sand, the really fine powdery grit is still there although, with the robot stirring up the water the pool filter is catching a lot of it.

Total run time is 3hrs for the first clean, I will do it again on Saturday and this time it should only take a1hr to 1.5hrs, but since it doesn't cost much to run I may just leave it for a little longer.

I think Zodiac and Baracuda are the same company (???)

Yes, Zodiac owned Baracuda. They then merged with Astralpool (who also make pool cleaners). They're now owned by Fluidra. Who also owns Jandy, CTX, Cepex, Hurlcon, and Polaris (who also make pool cleaners).

:-)

TX20,TX35,CX20,OT15 all decent machines but i call them 5yr cleaners after that repair cost make them not worth repairing so in the bin. If you want something quality that can be serived and is worth servicing go the VX50 best value for money robot you can buy. DONT leave any robot in the pool long term or leave them in the sun unless you like spending money on them that is :-).

I've got a Dolphin Hybrid pool cleaner which I've had for 7 years now and been working fine. Today I find it just keeps spinning in circles. Had a closer look at it and it looks like the solenoid that controls the forward/reverse gearing isn't working. I can hear it click when it tries to change direction but it doesn't do anything. I can move it with myself though fine so it isn't jammed.

I don't really know anything about these cleaners, have never seen one in use, but have seen some videos on the Dolphin website. I found it a bit tricky to see what the differences between the ranges / models are.

Any feedback or advice? This is for a 9x4m concrete pool, (soon to be) fully tiled, which lives under big gum trees that drop a lot of leaves/sticks/etc. The priority is not to get a budget option, but rather something that will do the job, is not a pain to use and will hopefully last.

The replacement for the CX-20 is the TX-30 which are $800 on ebay. I'm not sure why you would need anything else. My CX-20 is still (mostly) going strong after 5 years. One of the rollers stopped working I took a look at it and a piece of plastic in it had broken. Zodiac are simply brilliant on spare parts though so I just bought a new roller assembly and fitted it. You can literally buy any part you want from a pool shop as long as you can diagnose the fault: -cx20-genuine-spare-parts.html

I have one which I just chuck in every now and then if required. It is a minor pain in the backside. I've also got a Dragonfly floating skimmer which I'd recommend. It keeps things pretty clean and would probably be enough on its own if the pool pump ran 24/7.

I don't think robotic cleaners are meant to left in the pool if you want them to last. I haven't used / seen one yet, but am definitely interested now we are getting the pool tiled, after spending years not being able to get stuff off the bottom.

Since we are spending many thousands on pool tiling, I don't want to go cheap on a cleaner. I have been thinking of a Dolphin M series due to the 3 year warranty, but need to do more homework. So much crap falls in the pool though that I think we need a good size basket, so I think that means the M600...

I did post a question on the Robo-Tek website a few weeks ago, asking if there are any agents in SA. I got a call from someone who I suspect is the boss (based on reading his name somewhere). He ended up offereing to send me a cleaner, at a discount, and buy it back if I wasn't happy with it. He seemed quite genuine to me and I'm still considering it for when our pool is done in 2-3 weeks. Happy to support a smaller Australian company. He spoke about the difficulty in breaking into the market dominated by the big brands. The selling point seems to be that the technology is simple and just works, and they support their product.

Separately, the other day I called them again to ask if a cleaner is likely to have problems with the surface mounted lights we are getting. I spoke to a different guy, seemed very knowledgeable, and willing to spend time on the phone with me.

Yes, Zodiac owned Baracuda. They then merged with Astralpool (who also make pool cleaners). They're now owned by Fluidra. Who also owns Jandy, CTX, Cepex, Hurlcon, and Polaris (who also make pool cleaners).

I can't seem to correlate it with the Zodiac models, based on the weight/cable length etc. Looking to get a replacement for my CX20, but with Bunnings return goodness, and hoping to spend less than the $1299 for the equivalent to the CX20

Well I've worked out that it is the OT15, which is the same unit as the TX35, but with different colour scheme, a non-clear lid and without the caddy. Now to work out whether the ease of returns/warranty at bunnings is worth the extra >$200 for the Baracuda Gotcha over the OT15 at an online retailer. Probably not....

Looking to get a robotic pool cleaner for my 7m x 3m fibreglass pool with safety ledge which does get a decent amount of debris. Mostly leaves and bugs, but also the occasional twig. Main attraction of the robotic cleaner is I've heard they tend to provide better coverage than the suction type cleaners and also leave the skimmer basket free to do it's job. I have a large solar system, so not worried about how much energy they chew really.

My local pool guy pushed me pretty hard toward a Maytronics X 30 unit for about $2k which was more than I have to spend. Only other pool shop in my area is Clark Rubber who have their own line I don't know much about. Seems the Filtrite RC-2500 would be about in my price range there, however reviews claim it does not pick up finer debris well at all. I can get the bigger leaves and sticks with a net, I'd rather the robotic pool cleaner be really good at getting the fine stuff and actually cleaning the surface.

Looking back on previous threads seems the Zodiac CX20 gets recommended by a few, however Zodiac don't seem to list this on their products page any more. Appears on eBay however as well as several online pool shops. This still a valid option for the money ($1200ish) in 2020, or is something like the Zodiac TX30 or 35 better? Any other brands?

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