Hayward Viper In-Ground Pool Cleaner  Product Reviews

"I have experienced many operational and repair issues as a owner of an early Polaris, it's 180 replacement, and an early (~6-year old) Hayward Viper that may be ready for replacement. Polaris wore out or broke something almost every year, but was repairable for $5-50. The Viper body stiffened from UV in year 2 and a tab that holds the debris bag broke, now I use a plastic plug to hold the bag. Two internal hoses came loose once and were repaired for free. The Viper now works intermittently, I suspect the booster pump. Both Viper & Polaris cleaned our pool effectively. Both hang up in corners and back out when a valve cycles, but the Polaris needs the optional in-line valve. The Viper bag lasts longer, but its 6-yr old pressure hose has burst 3 times recently near fittings. A friend in the pool business has adverse comments about all models on the market, but I will get either another sweep when this one fails. Hopefully an improved Hayward or Polaris"

"This pool cleaner aka "creepy" was recommended to me as one of the better automatic pool vacuum's and cleaners on the market. I bought a new unit in April and have been fighting with it ever since it left the box. I verified the pressure I am sending the unit and the proper hose length for my pool but the unit continues to disappoint. If I take my eye off of it for 5 minutes, it will either 1) hang up in a corner, 2) sit motionless on the bottom with proper water psi (I haven't figured that one out yet) 3) the mechanism that causes random jets on the viper to fire (to keep it from getting hung up in corners) will stop working at random. I disected the Viper to see if debris was in the system but found none. I thought I could throw this thing in the pool for a few hours a day to clean the bottom of the pool without worrying about it but, definitely not the case. If anybody could recommend a better unit, I'd be greatful! UPDATE 07/16/07 I took the Viper to a Hayward dealer. When I explained the problem to the dealer, he said he knew what the problem was and replaced some Hayward supplied internal parts for free. The unit works much better now but is very tempermental. The hose length, float spacing, and water pressure have to be very close to spec or you'll start having more problems."