What actually matters
Focus on four things: what surfaces it cleans (floor only vs. floor + walls + waterline vs. surface skimming too), battery runtime, navigation smarts, and whether it handles your pool's size and shape. Cordless models are far easier to live with than corded ones.
Best overall: do-everything AI cleaner
The premium pick adds dual-camera AI navigation and surface skimming on top of floor and wall cleaning, so it replaces both a robot and a skimmer. It's the priciest, but it's the most hands-off.
Best value: strong mid-range
A long-runtime cordless robot that scrubs floors, walls, and the waterline covers what most owners need for a lot less money. It skips surface skimming, which many pools don't need.
Best budget: still fully automatic
The value cordless vacuum is the cheapest way to go hands-off. Runtime is shorter, but for small to mid in-ground pools it's a lot of automation for the price.