iGarden M1 Pro Max 100 review: A sports car for your pool

iGarden’s claims of 10 hours of runtime in floor-only mode were accurate in my testing; However, it only achieved around seven hours of operation in the more power-hungry full coverage mode. There’s still plenty of juice to do two or three full cleanings before needing to recharge. Officially, iGarden specifies the robot to clean pools up to 1,274 square feet in size.

I was less concerned with the cleaning process after operations were complete, and not just because the robot had to be retrieved with a pole rather than climbing to the roof when finished. The filter basket is quite large, but can only be accessed through a relatively small opening. It is difficult to get all the debris out through this hole by dousing it with a hose, especially since the basket shape includes a kind of shelf on the inside, where the debris is difficult to reach and difficult to see. A more open basket design or larger opening will be a big help in cleaning time.

Photo: Chris Noll

The basic bin is designed with a fine mesh filter on all sides, but this can be enhanced with a second reusable filter, included in the bin, which attaches to the outside of the bin. This filter has a finer mesh count than the filter in the basket itself, but even so, most users probably won’t need it. I didn’t find it made much of a difference in my tests, but those who have problems with a lot of dirt and fine-grained sand may find it helpful.

Huge price reduction

At $1,599, iGarden has priced this robot aggressively, cutting $1,000 off the price of last year’s K Pro 150 while keeping performance roughly the same. This makes this a much more tempting purchase than the K Series, and although it’s still a little on the high side, it’s now roughly in line with a number of other high-quality robots on the market. If you don’t mind getting a little wet when it’s time to retrieve and clean the robot, it should be a very strong candidate for the job of your own robotic pool man.