Beatbot iSkim & Sora 30 Review: The iSkim Is Seriously Good
Disclosure: We may earn a commission when you purchase through links on our site. This does not influence our reviews or recommendations.
I've reviewed quite a few robotic pool cleaners at this point, and I've started to realize that spec sheets only tell you so much. Pool size matters, but so does the shape of the pool, the walls, steps, shallow areas, and even where debris tends to collect. That's especially important with something like the Beatbot Sora 30. On paper, it has up to five hours of floor-cleaning battery life, a 5.2-liter debris basket, and the ability to clean the floor, walls, waterline, and shallow areas. In practice, I think the Sora 30 is a pretty solid robotic pool cleaner. But after testing it alongside Beatbot's iSkim, the iSkim ended up being the product I liked considerably more.
The Beatbot Sora 30 Is a Solid Pool Cleaner
I used the Sora 30 for several different cleaning jobs around my pool, although I spent quite a bit of time using its wall-cleaning mode because that's one of the areas where I actually needed it. Overall, it did a good job. Beatbot rates the Sora 30 for pools up to 3,230 square feet, with a 10,000mAh battery providing up to five hours of floor cleaning. It also has 6,800 GPH of suction and a 5.2-liter debris basket. Those are useful numbers, but I'd be careful comparing robotic pool cleaners based entirely on claimed coverage.
My pool isn't a simple rectangle or circle. It's a more complicated custom shape, and that's going to affect how efficiently a robot can navigate and clean it. That's why battery life and debris capacity are two specifications I pay considerably more attention to. Five hours is five hours, and 5.2 liters is 5.2 liters. But saying a robot can clean a certain amount of square footage doesn't necessarily tell you how well it's going to navigate your particular pool. A simple rectangular pool could be considerably easier for a robot to clean efficiently than a custom pool with unusual curves, walls, steps, and shallow areas. The Sora 30 handled my pool pretty well, but that's something I'd keep in mind when reading any robotic pool cleaner review, including mine.
My Problem With Pool Cleaner Apps
The Sora 30 uses Beatbot's app, and this continues to be one of my frustrations with robotic pool cleaners in general. I understand why the app exists. You can select modes, monitor the robot, and use features such as one-touch retrieval while it's at the surface. Beatbot also gives the Sora 30 both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. The problem is what happens after the robot goes underwater.
Once I've selected a cleaning mode and dropped the Sora 30 into the pool, I mostly have to let it do its thing. When it's down on the floor or cleaning the walls, you can't just take control of it through Wi-Fi and drive it around. And that's exactly my problem. I'd actually rather have more of those basic controls directly on the robot. Select what you want it to clean, put it in the water, and let it go. That's simpler, and it doesn't require yet another app on my phone.
The iSkim Is the One That Really Impressed Me
The Sora 30 is good. The Beatbot iSkim is fantastic. This is one of those products where the basic idea makes so much sense that I almost don't want any additional complexity added to it. Turn it on, put it in the pool, and let it cruise around the surface collecting debris. That's basically it. The iSkim uses solar charging, so under the right conditions it can keep itself going without constantly coming out of the pool for charging. Beatbot also gives it a huge 5-liter debris basket, a 10,000mAh battery, and a 24W solar panel.
In my pool, it worked extremely well. Within roughly an hour and a half, it had essentially cleaned the entire surface of my pool. Leaves and other floating debris that I'd normally have to skim manually were simply gone. And because surface debris is exactly what the iSkim was designed to handle, there's not much ambiguity about whether it works. I could look at the pool before, throw the iSkim in, come back later, and immediately see the difference. For a little under $500 when I tested it, I thought it was fantastic.
Even the iSkim Doesn't Really Need an App
Ironically, my biggest complaint about the iSkim is also the app. The beauty of this product is how autonomous it can be and why do I even need the app at all? It's solar powered. It floats around by itself. It collects debris. When I need it, I can retrieve it and empty the basket. That's exactly what I want from a robotic pool skimmer.
I don't need another appliance begging for space on my phone. Give me a couple of buttons on the machine and let the robot do its job.
The Sora 30 and iSkim Make a Great Combination
Using these two together makes considerably more sense to me than looking at either product in isolation. The Sora 30 handles the underwater work: floor, walls, waterline, and shallow areas. The iSkim stays at the surface collecting floating leaves and debris before some of that material even has a chance to sink. That's a pretty complete automated cleaning setup. Both also have large debris baskets, which matters because I don't want a pool robot that requires me to constantly stop what I'm doing and empty it.
At around $1,200 combined based on the pricing I tested them at, I think that's a pretty solid setup for someone who wants to automate most routine pool cleaning.
These Aren't Replacements for a Serious Manual Cleanup
There is one expectation I'd set correctly before buying either robot. These are maintenance machines. If you're opening a neglected pool for the first time of the year and there are piles of debris, huge branches, or half a tree sitting at the bottom, I'm still doing that cleanup manually. That's not a criticism of Beatbot. There's only so much debris a consumer pool robot can physically collect. Where these products make sense is keeping a reasonably maintained pool clean without requiring you to constantly skim the surface, vacuum the floor, and scrub the walls yourself. And for that job, both performed well.
Final Verdict
The Beatbot Sora 30 is a good robotic pool cleaner, particularly if you want one machine capable of handling the floor, walls, waterline, and shallow areas. Just remember that real-world performance is going to depend heavily on the size and shape of your particular pool. But the iSkim is the star of this review for me. It's incredibly simple, solar powered, and did an excellent job cleaning the surface of my pool. Within about an hour and a half, I could see a dramatic difference, and it required almost no involvement from me. I'd still like Beatbot to rely less heavily on apps. With the Sora 30 especially, the usefulness of app control becomes limited once the robot is underwater anyway. But as a combination, these two make a lot of sense. Let the Sora 30 handle everything underneath the water while the iSkim cruises around on top.
That's about as close as I've gotten to throwing two robots into my pool and letting them deal with the problem themselves.
