Utimate Tech Hub Logo

Betta Neo Robotic Pool Skimmer: Features, Setup and Results

The Betta Neo is a solar-powered robotic pool skimmer designed to automatically remove leaves, bugs, pollen, flower petals, and other floating debris from the surface of your pool. It uses solar charging, app control, programmable schedules, smart cleaning modes, and onboard obstacle detection to handle daily skimming with minimal effort. This guide explains how the Betta Neo works, how to set it up, what it can clean, and where its limitations are.

Betta Neo Solar Pool Skimmer Review and Setup

How the Betta Neo Solar Pool Skimmer Works

Daily pool skimming can become a repetitive chore, especially if your pool is surrounded by trees, flowers, landscaping, or other sources of floating debris. The Betta Neo is designed to handle that surface cleaning automatically.

Instead of manually walking around the pool with a net, the robot travels continuously across the water and collects debris in an onboard basket.

What Comes With the Betta Neo?

The package shown in the video includes the main Betta Neo robotic skimmer along with several accessories needed for operation and setup.

How Does the Betta Neo Clean a Pool?

The robot uses three motors. Two motors control movement and allow it to steer left and right across the water. According to the video, these motors are designed to tolerate both salt and chlorine, making the robot suitable for use in saltwater pools.

Two guide wheels at the front help the robot travel along the edge of the pool. This is useful because floating leaves and other debris often collect near the tile line.

A third motor powers the impeller at the opening of the debris basket. The impeller continually draws floating debris toward the basket while the robot moves across the pool.

One-Way Debris Collection

Once debris enters the robot, a one-way door helps prevent it from washing back into the pool.

The removable collection basket can capture several types of floating debris, including:

The basket uses a mesh filter and can be removed by its handle. After emptying it, the filter can simply be rinsed with a garden hose.

Because the filter is reusable, the video notes that there is no need to continually purchase replacement filters.

Solar Charging and Battery Life

One of the biggest features of the Betta Neo is its solar charging system. The upper surface of the robot functions as a solar panel, allowing the unit to recharge while it remains in the pool.

Power Feature Approximate Performance
Battery Runtime More than 30 hours on a single charge
Solar Recharge Approximately 5 to 6 hours of sunlight
Adapter Recharge Approximately 3.5 hours

The reviewer notes that the robot has been operating using sunlight alone, although the test pool is located in Las Vegas where sunlight is plentiful.

UV-Resistant Housing

Because the Betta Neo spends its time exposed to direct sunlight, its housing includes a UV-resistant coating designed to help prevent the exterior material from becoming brittle over time.

Ultrasonic Radar and Obstacle Detection

The robot also includes ultrasonic radar to help it detect and avoid pool walls instead of repeatedly colliding with them.

Another notable feature is its shallow-water safeguard. This is designed to help prevent the robot from repeatedly hitting or becoming stranded around areas such as pool steps or a shallow wet deck.

How to Set Up the Betta Neo

The initial setup process is relatively straightforward.

  1. Fully charge the robot using the included charging cable.
  2. Download the Betta Neo mobile app.
  3. Plug in the included Wi-Fi gateway.
  4. Connect the mobile app to the gateway and the Betta Neo.
  5. Carefully place the robot in the pool.

What Does the Wi-Fi Gateway Do?

The Wi-Fi gateway allows the robot to maintain a connection while operating outside near the pool. According to the video, the gateway is dual-band and provides approximately 600 feet of range.

The gateway can remain inside the house while maintaining communication with the robot outside.

That remote connection allows the user to control or monitor the robot from locations such as work, while traveling, or simply from inside the house.

Why Is a Pool Noodle Included?

One of the more unusual accessories in the box is a pool noodle. It has a practical purpose.

The noodle is placed in the pool's skimmer intake to help prevent the robotic skimmer from being pulled toward the intake and becoming stuck there.

Including this solution with the robot helps address a common real-world obstacle the device might encounter while operating in a pool.

Three Ways to Run the Betta Neo

The video describes three primary ways to operate the robot.

Manual Mode

Manual control allows you to use the mobile app to steer the robot toward a particular section of the pool.

This can be useful when debris has collected heavily in one area and you want the robot to concentrate there immediately.

Scheduled Cleaning

The Betta Neo can also be programmed to operate on a schedule. In the video, four cleaning periods are configured throughout the day, including early morning, midday, and evening cleaning sessions.

Scheduling can be particularly helpful if your pool tends to collect debris at predictable times, such as after afternoon or evening winds.

Smart Mode

Smart Mode is the reviewer's preferred operating method. According to the video, Smart Mode determines how to clean the pool based on location and weather conditions.

This allows the robot to operate with minimal day-to-day intervention.

How Well Does the Betta Neo Clean?

The time-lapse test shown in the video demonstrates the robot collecting common surface debris, including leaves, bugs, pollen, and flower petals.

The major convenience is that the robot continuously removes debris before the homeowner needs to manually skim the pool.

Why Removing Surface Debris Early Matters

Surface cleaning can have benefits beyond simply improving the appearance of the pool.

Removing floating material before it sinks helps keep leaves, pollen, and organic debris from breaking down deeper in the water or reaching the pool filtration system.

According to the reviewer, this can potentially contribute to:

What the Betta Neo Does Not Do

The Betta Neo is specifically designed as a surface skimmer. It is important to understand that it is not intended to replace every part of pool maintenance.

It does not:

If your pool regularly accumulates debris on the floor, you will still need a separate cleaning system or pool vacuum for those areas.

Is a Solar Robotic Pool Skimmer Worth It?

The reviewer's initial skepticism changed after seeing the robot operate over an extended period. For pools that regularly collect surface debris, an automatic skimmer can dramatically reduce the amount of manual net skimming required.

A pool surrounded by trees or landscaping is likely to benefit the most because leaves, pollen, bugs, and flower petals continually reach the water.

Someone looking for a single robotic cleaner that handles the surface, walls, and pool floor should understand that the Betta Neo does not provide all of those functions.

For daily surface skimming, however, the reviewer reports going weeks without needing to use a manual pool net.

Final Verdict

The Betta Neo combines solar charging, automatic surface cleaning, app control, scheduling, smart operation, obstacle detection, and a reusable debris basket into one robotic pool skimmer.

It does not replace every aspect of pool maintenance, but it addresses one of the most repetitive chores: removing floating debris before it sinks.

For pool owners who regularly find themselves skimming leaves, insects, pollen, and other debris from the water, an automatic solar-powered surface skimmer can significantly reduce the amount of hands-on maintenance required.

Your pool guy isn't going to like this. I haven't picked up my pool net in weeks, and this is why.

This thing skims my pool all day, every day, and I've never had to charge it, not even once, because it's powered by the sun. Best of all, I control the whole thing with an app on my phone.

This is the Betta Neo smart robotic solar-powered pool skimmer.

I was a bit skeptical when I pulled this out of the box. My first thought was, "No chance." A little floating robot with no cord is supposed to keep a whole pool clean? Really?

I figured it would do one lap, get stuck in a corner, or run out of power, and I'd be back out there with my net by the weekend. Stick around for the time lapse, though, because it really surprised me.

What's Included With the Betta Neo?

Here's what you get. You get the Betta Neo itself. You also get a pool noodle, and it's not a gag. I'll show you why in a minute.

You also get a detailed manual, a warranty card, a Wi-Fi gateway with a power brick, and a charging cable for the Neo itself.

The Wi-Fi gateway is what makes this robot really cool.

How Does the Betta Neo Clean?

How does this robot actually clean? There are three motors.

Two of them drive the robot left and right like a tank. These two motors are salt and chlorine tolerant, so they won't corrode even when used in a saltwater pool.

The robot also includes two guide wheels up front. These allow it to roll along your tile line so it can hug the edge where leaves and other debris tend to collect.

The third motor is the impeller motor. It spins a blade at the mouth of the basket. It runs while the robot is operating and pulls debris inside.

Here's the clever part: a one-way door helps keep the debris from washing back out.

Everything ends up in the basket, which lifts right out by the handle. It collects leaves, bugs, pollen, and even fine debris thanks to the mesh filter.

The basket rinses clean with a hose, so there is no filter replacement required. That's a huge bonus because I hate buying replacement filters.

Additional Features

There are a few more features to be aware of.

The top cover is the solar panel, and there is a slit at the top that allows you to see when the basket is full without opening it.

The robot also includes ultrasonic radar, which helps keep it from repeatedly bumping into the walls.

Another feature I hadn't seen on other skimmers is a shallow-water safeguard. This helps keep the robot from repeatedly hitting your pool stairs or wet deck.

That was the exact situation I thought might strand it.

Setting Up the Betta Neo

Let's talk about setup because it's very simple.

First, fully charge the robot using the included power cable. Then download the Betta Neo app.

Next, plug in the gateway. Connect the app, then connect to the Betta Neo and place it in the water. Don't actually drop it into the water. You want to place it in the water.

How the Wi-Fi Gateway Works

The Wi-Fi gateway is the part people ask about. It's dual-band and has approximately 600 feet of range, so the robot can remain connected while it is outside at the pool and the Wi-Fi gateway is inside the house.

That means I can run it from almost anywhere, including from work, while I'm on vacation, or from the couch after a windy afternoon.

Why Does It Include a Pool Noodle?

What about the pool noodle?

It goes in your pool's skimmer intake so the robot doesn't get sucked toward the intake and become stuck.

The fact that they included a solution for that problem in the box tells me that somebody actually tested this thing in a real pool.

Three Operating Modes

There are three ways you can run this robot.

The first is manual mode, where you drive it from the app to a specific location.

The second option is scheduling. I've got four schedules set throughout the day: one before I wake up, a couple during midday, and one after the evening wind.

Then there's Smart Mode, which is the one I use most of the time.

Smart Mode cleans your pool based on your location and the weather conditions. You simply set it and forget it.

Battery Life and Solar Charging

When it comes to battery power, here are the real numbers.

You'll get more than 30 hours on a single charge.

It can top itself back up in approximately five or six hours of sunlight while it is still working, or about three and a half hours using the power adapter on cloudy days.

Mine has been operating on nothing but sunlight. I do live in Las Vegas, though, and we get plenty of sun.

Speaking of sunlight, the robot's housing also has a UV coating to help prevent it from becoming brittle.

How Well Does It Actually Clean?

Now let's talk about the all-important results. How did the robot actually clean?

As you can see in the time lapse, it handles leaves, bugs, pollen, flower petals, and just about anything else floating on the surface.

I wake up to a clean pool instead of another chore.

Here's something I didn't really think about at first. Pulling debris off the surface before it sinks means it never gets the chance to break down deeper in the water or clog your filter.

That can mean cleaner water, fewer chemicals, and fewer filter changes. Over time, it quietly pays for a portion of itself.

What the Betta Neo Doesn't Do

Let me be clear about what it doesn't do.

It's a surface skimmer. It will not clean your walls or your pool floor, and it will not add chemicals.

If you have debris on the bottom of the pool, you'll still need another system to take care of that.

Luckily, mine is handled by my in-floor cleaning system.

Final Verdict

So, what's the final verdict?

The skepticism I started with is gone.

Should you fire your pool guy? Probably not. The Betta Neo doesn't handle chemicals, walls, or floors.

For daily skimming, though, I haven't touched a pool net in weeks.

If you've got trees near your pool or you're manually skimming every day, this is an easy call.

If you want one robot that does absolutely everything from top to bottom, this isn't it. But for me, I can't live without it.

Links for the Betta Neo are in the video description below.

If this made your summer easier, hit like, share, and subscribe. Also, tell me down below: how often are you out there skimming?

If you ask me, never.

Thanks for watching.

Related Videos

How to Configure a Static Ip Address on a Laptop! #asuszenbook #networkingtips

Easy Static IP address assignment for your laptop! Bam! ASUS Zenbook - https://amzn.to/44rHiaC ASUS ZenBook 14 Pro OLED ...


Top Mesh Router on a Budget - Tp-link Deco Xe70 Pro

This is our Test and Review of the TP-Link DECO XE70 Pro Wi-Fi6e Mesh Router system. Product Link: Best Deals! TP-Link Deco ...


I Tested the Cheapest Outdoor 4k Tv - Sylvox Deck Pro 2.0 (2024)

We found the Cheapest Outdoor 4K TV in 2024. Is this Outdoor TV Really Water-Proof? Watch until the end to find out! This is an ...


How I Wall Mounted a Neon Sign!!! | Sculpt Neon Signs Review ?

Learn How To Wall Mount a Neon Sign! We just installed our Brand New "Ultimate Tech Hub" Neon Sign in our YouTube Studio.


How to Connect Lian Li Uni Sl Infinity 120 Fans ( Triple Pack ) Review

How to Connect Lian Li Uni SL Infinity 120 fans ( Triple Pack ) Review Lian Li UNI Fan SL-Infinity 120mm-Triple Pack-ARGB White ...


Why You Need a Smart Ring in 2024 - Ultrahuman Ring Air Review

Should you buy a Smart Ring to track your Health and Fitness? If yes, than watch this review on the Ultrahuman Ring air.