Dolphin vs Polaris
The short answer. The difference that will actually affect your decision is not in the machines, it is in how the two companies sell them.
Maytronics publishes prices and specifications for Dolphin on its own store, so you can compare models against each other in an afternoon without speaking to anyone. Polaris lists twenty eight robotic cleaners on its own site with no prices at all, a rebate badge instead, and a find a dealer button.
Both are legitimate models and each has a real advantage, but they ask completely different things of you. If you want to compare on price tonight, only one of them lets you.
What each maker actually publishes
We are comparing the two brands on this rather than on a specification table, and the reason is worth stating. A side by side spec table for these two would have to be assembled from reseller listings, because one of the makers publishes no specifications or prices for its robotic range at all.
Reseller data is exactly the sourcing this site tells readers to be careful with, so building a table out of it here would be writing the article we complain about.
| Dolphin, by Maytronics | Polaris | |
|---|---|---|
| Prices on the maker's own site | Yes, per model | No, none shown |
| Robotic models listed | A short laddered range | 28 |
| Primary action | Buy it | Find a dealer |
| Headline offer | Model price, sometimes reduced | A rebate, up to $100 |
| Owned by | Maytronics | Fluidra |
| Compare two models yourself | Possible in an afternoon | Needs a conversation |
The naming problem, and it is Polaris's
Twenty eight robotic models is a lot to sort through, and the names make it harder rather than easier.
The families run FREEDOM, ALPHA, EPIC, SCOUT, ERA, PCX, PHENOM and VRX, alongside numbered Sport models, and several members differ from each other only by a suffix: FREEDOM, FREEDOM Plus, FREEDOM SC and FREEDOM LT are four separate products, as are ALPHA iQ and ALPHA iQ+, and EPIC 8520, 8640 and 8642 iQ.
| Family | What is sold under that name | What separates them in the name |
|---|---|---|
| FREEDOM | FREEDOM, FREEDOM Plus, FREEDOM SC, FREEDOM LT | A suffix, and nothing in it says which is the bigger machine |
| ALPHA | ALPHA iQ, ALPHA iQ+ | A plus sign |
| EPIC | EPIC 8520, EPIC 8640, EPIC 8642 iQ | Four digits, and one of them also adds iQ |
| ERA | ERA 710, ERA 820, ERA 842 | Three digits |
| SCOUT | SCOUT 40, SCOUT 42iQ | Two digits, and one of them also adds iQ |
| VRX | VRX iQ+ | One machine carries the family name |
| PHENOM | PHENOM iQ+ | One machine carries the family name |
| PCX | PCX 868 iQ | One machine carries the family name |
| Numbered and Sport models | 7240 Sport, P724, P70, PIXEL, 9450 Sport, 9550 Sport, 9650iQ Sport, P965iQ, P825, 7000, 8050 Sport | No family name at all |
Nine rows, twenty eight machines, and not one price anywhere against any of them.
Without published prices to anchor them, working out which two you are actually choosing between takes longer than the choice.
In fairness, Dolphin has a version of the same problem and we say so on our Dolphin page, where the ladder is also easier to pay for than to read. The difference is that Maytronics attaches a price to each rung, and a price is a rough proxy for where a model sits even when the name tells you nothing.
What we can say about the machines
Less than a spec table would imply, and we would rather say that than fill the gap.
On the Dolphin side we have read coverage, warranty and price per model off the maker's own store, and the useful findings are that coverage splits the range into machines that clean the waterline and machines that do not, and that the warranty runs one year on the Nautilus and EON models we checked against three on the Liberty models.
On the Polaris side the maker publishes neither, so we state neither.
One thing the Polaris listing does publish is review counts, and they are large on the older models. That tells you the installed base is enormous, which is the correct way to read the other thing people notice about this brand: searches for Polaris problems are common, and a brand with decades of machines in the ground generates decades of faults.
Complaint volume tracks how many units exist and how old they are, not how good the current products are.
The option this comparison leaves out
Anyone comparing these two is comparing the two incumbents, and the category has moved faster than either of them. Cordless machines from newer makers now do jobs neither brand was doing a few years ago, including surface skimming and water clarifying in the same machine that scrubs the floor.
Our brand by brand notes cover all of them, including the two on this page, and say for each one whether we earn anything.
We do earn a commission on one of those newer brands, which is why this paragraph is placed here rather than at the top and why it comes with the same caveat we put everywhere else: our review of that machine issues no confident recommendation, because the two most detailed independent tests of it disagree completely.
If you want the incumbent with the deepest service network, that is Dolphin, and it earns us nothing to tell you so.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dolphin or Polaris better?
They are close enough on cleaning that the buying experience decides more than the machines do.
Maytronics publishes its prices and specifications on its own store, so you can compare Dolphin models against each other in an afternoon. Polaris publishes neither on its robotic cleaner listing and sends you to a dealer, so a Polaris decision usually means a conversation and a quote. Which of those you prefer is a fair way to choose.
Why does Polaris not show prices on its website?
Polaris sells through a dealer network rather than direct, so the listing shows a rebate offer and a find a dealer action instead of a price. That is a deliberate channel choice rather than an oversight, and it has a real upside: a dealer installs, services and warranties the machine locally. The cost is that you cannot compare Polaris against anything without making contact first.
How many robotic pool cleaners does Polaris sell?
Twenty eight, according to the count on their own robotic cleaner listing. The names overlap heavily across families such as FREEDOM, ALPHA, EPIC, SCOUT, ERA and the numbered Sport models, and several differ from each other by a suffix. For a buyer this is the single hardest thing about the brand, because working out which two models you are actually choosing between takes longer than the choice itself.
Who owns Polaris and Dolphin?
Polaris is a Fluidra brand, which their own site states in its footer. Dolphin is made by Maytronics. The practical consequence is the one you can see in how each sells: robotic cleaners are the whole business at one and one product category among many at the other.
Should I consider anything other than these two?
Yes, and it is worth saying on a page comparing the two incumbents. The category has changed faster than the two established brands have, and the cordless machines from newer makers now cover jobs neither of these did a few years ago. We earn a commission on one of those newer brands, which is disclosed on every page here, and our review of it recommends nothing with confidence.