This robotic pool cleaner can run on battery power or with a connected cable, but it's only effective at cleaning the pool when plugged into an AC outlet. Here's a curious concept from the new-to-us robotic pool cleaner manufacturer Bublue: The BuHybrid L6 is a robotic pool cleaner that can run via a plug-in electrical connection or via an internal battery, a hybrid design that makes more sense than it might seem at first, at least on paper. On the surface, the design has a lot in common with the Polaris VRX iQ and other power-corded robots. A small power box connects to standard wall power via a short cord. A separate, waterproof 49-foot-long cable then connects from the box to the 22-pound robot, attaching to its top via a large four-prong adapter with a screw-on sealing system that waterproofs the connection.

Wybot's solar skimmer does a surprisingly good job of grabbing leaves off the surface of the pool, but its loud operation and poor power management knock it down a peg. Solar-powered pool skimmers flit along the surface of your pool operating under the idea that if they can scoop up debris before it sinks, you won't need to clean the bottom of the pool. It sounds logical, but in practice, most pool skimmers don't do the absolute best of jobs--there's only so much surface area a skimmer can cover before leaves get waterlogged and sink to the depths. But robotic skimmers are better than nothing, especially if you don't have a good in-wall skimmer. The Wybot F1 Pool Skimmer was much more effective at capturing floating leaves than any skimmer I've used to date.

With pool-mapping capabilities and other smart features, the Dreame Z1 Pro is one of the most intelligent robots I've tested to date. From the start, Dreame's Z1 Pro robotic pool cleaner certainly seems to check off all the boxes. Its features list touts just about everything: The ability to clean floor, walls, and waterline. I'm not sure what the touted "Triple Surround Fusion Perception System" is, but that sounds good, too. I'll start with what I liked the most: After unboxing, I discovered that the 27-pound robot offers one of the most convenient charging systems I've seen to date, thanks to a magnetic charging mechanism that simply snaps onto the device's chassis, with no plugs or rubber gaskets involved--and no need to hoist the robot onto a bulky charging station, either.

The Fanttik Aero X robotic pool cleaner runs fast and runs long: With six hours of running time and top-notch cleaning power, the device makes short work of underwater debris. In a world dominated by bulbous black-and-blue hardware, the Fanttik Aero X pool robot immediately caught my eye. It's not just that it's black and yellow, it's that the industrial design looks more like a lawn mower than any pool robot I've tested. It has much smaller front wheels than usual, and an exposed rubber drive belt that connects them to its motor. The forward-center brush cylinder is even reminiscent of the front of a lawn mower.

This uniquely designed robot covers the basics of pool cleaning but not much else, and it struggles with some tasks. Smorobot is a new brand to us, but the manufacturer has seven different robotic pool cleaners already under its belt, including this one, the Smorobot Tank C1. As the name implies, this robot is intended to be a workhorse in the pool, promising a 150-minute runtime and maximum coverage of 2,500 square feet. The robot measures roughly 12 x 17 x 15 (HxWxL) inches in size and weighs 18 pounds. It's powered by a 7800mAh battery, which is on the small side for a robot of this size; but in my testing, it was invariably able to exceed its specified running time of 150 minutes, usually by about half an hour.