Choosing The Right Pool Vacuum System For Your Route

If you clean pools for a living, the vacuum system you choose can either speed up your route or slow you down at every backyard gate. We break down cart-based workhorses like Riptide and Hammerhead and match them against cartless contenders including the Bottom Feeder, Shrimp, Power Vac’s relaunch, Riptide XP, and the Hammerhead Remora. You’ll hear clear pros and cons on power, maneuverability, durability, price, and real access issues—stairs, narrow side yards, and HOA choke points that make or break your day.

We start with first principles: how a cart changes your workflow, the real benefits of carrying chemicals and accessories in one trip, and the headaches of transport racks, tailgate access, and rear visibility. Then we get practical about mounting: class III receivers, T-bar configurations, swing-away solutions, and anti-wobble plates that keep your setup solid. From there, we shift to non-cart freedom—why a 12-pound Bottom Feeder with no cords can outpace heavier systems on most routes, and when the compact Shrimp becomes a durable replacement for disposable plastic spot vacs.

• cart advantages, access limits, and transport racks
• T-bar mounts, swing-away options, anti-wobble plates
• Bottom Feeder portability and Shrimp use cases
• coquita alternatives and durability trade-offs
• Power Vac relaunch, Riptide XP, Hammerhead Remora
• maneuverability on vinyl, spas, and steps
• power comparisons across brands and heads
• mixing systems for heavy debris and tight yards
• micron bag choices for dust vs leaves
• practical buying tips and vendor sources

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Chapters

• 1:53 What This Guide Will Cover
• 2:33 Coaching Program Invitation
• 2:33 Cart Vs No-Cart: First Principles
• 2:58 Pros And Cons Of Service Carts
• 5:08 Transport Racks And Mount Options
• 6:36 Bottom Feeder Cart Alternatives
• 7:10 Best Non-Cart Options Overview
• 7:54 Bottom Feeder And Shrimp Details
• 8:48 Coquita Comparisons And Longevity
• 10:20 Power Vac Relaunch Without Cart
• 11:27 Riptide XP And Portability Tradeoffs
• 12:42 Hammerhead Remora Wearable Battery
• 13:25 Maneuverability And Head Design
• 14:29 Power Rankings And Durability
• 16:47 Matching Systems To Debris Levels
• 17:22 One System Or A Combo Strategy
• 18:45 Micron Bags And Filtration Choices
• 19:54 Final Advice And Resources

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:03

Hey, welcome to the Pool Green Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to talk about vacuum systems with the cart, without a cart, and the different vacuum systems that are available on the market out there today. You can kind of compare and contrast when you're looking to upgrade or maybe add a vacuum system to your pool route or to get one for an employee. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. I'll start with if you should get the vacuum system with or without a cart. Of course, there are some vacuum systems that you wouldn't need a cart for or don't have a cart for sale as part of the vacuum system. The cart does come in handy in situations where you can actually use the cart and it does make it easier to transport the vacuum system back to the pool for sure. The two main companies that have a vacuum system with the cart are the Riptide vacuum system and the Hammerhead. And both of these you can get with the service cart or without the service cart. And I'll touch on those models later. But the vacuums with the cart, the convenience factor of this is that you have your vacuum system and the battery on there, and you also have room, at least in the riptide cart, for chlorine and a lot of accessories. The hammerhead cart is a little bit limited, but it's actually a really well-balanced cart as well. The limitation is mainly in what you can put in there compared to the riptide cart. We can load it with a bunch of stuff. So it's a very versatile cart itself. Now, some of the drawbacks with the cart are that not every single account is accessible with the cart stairs. Maybe there's areas where you can't get the cart through because of narrowness of the backyard entry area. So it's not gonna be for every account for that reason. Plus, you have to get the transport rack, which comes with the cart, and put it in the back of your truck. And this in some situations may limit your tailgate, how low you can if you can lower your tailgate or not. Oh, the riptide does have a swing-away hitch mount that you can use just to kind of move the cart out of the way to open the tailgate. Otherwise, you'll have to take off the transport rack to access the back of your truck. If you're putting in a filter or something large like a heater, you'll have to remove that to put it in your truck. So that is one drawback with the transport rack on the back of the truck. The other drawback, of course, is the fact that it could obstruct your some of the views out of the back of your truck. And of course, it could fall off if you don't secure it properly, which is not very common, but there's safety pins, and of course, you can strap it. But there has been instances of the carts falling off the back of the truck. It does give you the visual edge in pool service. What I mean by this is that having that cart on back does make you look very professional. Now, especially if you get the T-bar mount from Advantaged Manufacturing, just go to advantaged manufacturing.com and there's a T-bar mount. What's cool about this is that it's designed so it goes into the receiver in the center of the back of your truck, and then there are two other receivers for two hitches, either a vacuum system transport rack or the advantage um hitch for their service cart. You can have a vacuum system on one side and then a regular pool service cart on the other side. Now, of course, you can go to a welding shop, uh, auto welding shop, muffler shop would be specifically what I'm thinking about. If you can find a muffler shop in your area, they can actually weld two receivers onto the back of your truck. That's kind of the old school method of doing it, but I think it's much better just to buy to have a receiver put on if you don't have one. It's a class three, you can get that at U-Haul or at a muffler shop installed, and then use a T-bar mount in the middle. And with the anti-wobble plates on that and also the other two mounts, it's going to be a really smooth way to transport your vacuum system and your service cart in your truck at the same time. So there's really nothing better than the cart and the convenience factor. Now, of course, if you have a bottom feeder, Advantage Manufacturing does make a bottom feeder cart. This was created by a pool service pro that wanted to have a cart for the bottom feeder, so it's very similar to their regular service cart, but it has a special compartment for the bottom feeder. T Doula can also make you a bottom feeder cart as well. They're in Orange County. You can go to tdoula.com, I believe that's their website, and you can have a cart for the bottom feeder. So you can carry back your chlorine and all the accessories with that. But specifically, it's really not made for a cart, and it may not be necessary. So let me quickly transition to the vacuum systems without a cart. Now, of course, the bottom feeder would be number one on that list for a number of factors, but one of them being that it's very lightweight, weighs about 12 pounds with the battery itself, and it's really convenient to use and just attach it to your pool pole, and there's no cords or batteries to drag back to hold on and bring back there as well. So it's like an a complete system itself. So you're you're going to find that to be, in my opinion, the best non-cart vacuum system. And of course, it's probably up there with the best cart systems if you get the advantage bottom feeder cart for it. Now, the price point of the bottom feeder, and it comes with the battery, is about 1500. But if you use my discount code DVB100, you'll save$100 on there, and it'll bring the price down. They have a new model called the Shrimp, and that sells for about$1,200. And that that is a smaller version of the bottom feeder. It's got a 5-inch throat versus the 6-inch throat on the bottom feeder, and it has the same battery runtime. Now it does have a little less power, but you won't notice it because the 5-inch opening creates more thrust. So I don't think that will be something that will be noticeable. But it is smaller and more nimble, and it is a great option if you're using those Coquita vacuums all the time and you wanted something a little smaller than the bottom feeder. And since I'm I just mentioned the Coquita vacuums, they're pretty popular. They they have them at SCP and Superior pool products, other outlets. I think Heritage also sells those. Get them on Amazon, and they're anywhere from two to three hundred dollars for these little vacuums that are made out of plastic. A lot of pool guys like these things, they don't have a huge lifespan, but for two or three hundred dollars, it's something that you can use to spot vacuum things out. The shrimp is kind of designed to fit into that category, but to be a lot more robust, of course, because it's made out of metal and it has a real motor on there and it has a real battery pack on there. And so it's it's more expensive, of course, but if you go through three or four of these coquitas in a season, it may be worth just to get the shrimp that's going to last you many, many years of use. I mean, if you baby the coquita, you could probably get nine months. Some people have gotten over a year with them, but they do break, they're plastic, they have all mostly all plastic parts. There's some that come with an aluminum swivel handle, but it's just a plastic cleaner that is not technically meant for pool service use, but they are pretty effective, they're light, and they do actually pick up debris in the bags that come with them. But again, the shrimp would be a great direct replacement for these because it's got that the small footprint as well, and you can use it in as little as four inches of water effectively to vacuum out the leaf debris in a pool. Now, the other portable, I guess somewhat portable non-cart vacuum systems, the original power vac, they've changed it, redesigned it, and relaunched it without the cart, so you can no longer get the cart with the power vac to put on the back of your truck, which really, in my opinion, is a shame because I thought the power vac cart was the best service cart of the three vacuum systems with the cart. It was the most refined cart, and it did have a lot of space for everything, but it was extremely well balanced and a really great cart vacuum system. But the cart's no longer available, and it's just basically the power vac with the battery box, and you can bring it back to the stop. They redesigned the whole thing, it still has the kind of office chair wheels on there, but they're more robust. And that one sells for about$1300, so pretty close to the bottom feeder price point, and then you have to get a battery for it as well. So, with the battery, you're gonna get close to what you would pay for the bottom feeder, and the bottom feeder, in my opinion, is a lot more convenient to bring back to the pool. The next one would be the Riptide XP, which is basically the Riptide vacuum head with a battery box as well, and that one sells for about$11.40, and then you're going to have to buy the battery. So that one's probably the lowest of the lowest priced of the non-cart vacuum systems. It's pretty heavy because the riptide vacuum head is heavy, and then you have the battery. So, out of all the portable ones, it's probably the heaviest, but the riptide power, it you can't really say anything negative against how powerful the riptide vacuum is. And with the XP version, you'll get the power of the riptide without the cart. So it's an option out there that you may want to look into. And Riptide Customer Service is probably the best customer service out there for the vacuum systems. Then you have the hammerhead Remora, which is a hammerhead that you wear battery pack on your waist. A lot of people like this with a small cord that goes to the hammerhead. So a lot of people like this cleaner, but again, I think the bottom feeder is much easier to use. It's this is the closest thing to the bottom feeder because you have the battery you wear, and then you just have a short cord to the hammerhead vacuum head itself. But it's one of those things where you have to really weigh the pros and cons of having a battery on your waist and the portability of the remore compared to just purchasing something like the bottom feeder, which is all inclusively portable. Let me transition real quick and talk about the power of these vacuum systems and I and the power and use, I should say. I did a video, I think it's called the Ultimate Vacuum System Guide back in 2021, where I show using the power vac with the cart, the original one, and then the hammerhead, the riptide, and the bottom feeder, and basically I go over all the all of this in that video, and it's a really it's a video that you may want to watch if you're comparing these systems, even though the power vac has changed somewhat, but it goes over the use of these things. And if I was gonna say the cart vacuum systems, even though the riptide is like indestructible, I think the vacuum head has a 10-year warranty, it's heavy, and it's it's not as easy to maneuver in the pool as the hammerhead vacuum head, in my opinion. The hammerhead moves pretty smoothly through the pool, it's more elevated than the riptide, and so if you have vinyl pools, I think the hammerhead is much more suited for that. The riptide, of course, wins in the power category because of the way it just pulls all the debris in. So it is the most powerful, in my opinion, even though the thrust motors I think are very similar or the same between the hammerhead and riptide, the way the riptide is designed generates more power, in my opinion, after using these systems, and so I think the riptide wins in that power category. And if you have employees, the riptide, again, it's pretty indestructible. If the employees don't treat it well, they're not gonna break it. I think the bottom feeder also is a great employee vacuum system because of its durability. But those would be my choices for employees for sure. The hammerhead isn't like a wimp or anything, but you can break the head in the shell, so you have to be careful with it. But it does move very smoothly in the pool. If you were comparing these directly side by side, the riptide and the hammerhead. The power vac I always thought was one of the most maneuverable. I like using that on steps and in the spa. And I think it still kind of pulls a little bit to the deep end, those kind of wheels that are on there from the office chair kind of thing, kind of pulls towards the center, but you'll find it's very maneuverable as well and easy to use. And of course, the bottom feeder with no cords, you just put it in there and you can move it around. It's one of the most convenient and maneuverable vacuum systems you can have out there. The new shrimp is even more maneuverable and more nimble than the bottom feeder, so you may want to look at that. It's on their site right now. If you go to the bottomfeeder.com, you'll see the shrimp as well listed there. And check that one out. I think if you're looking for something compact like the coquito cleaners, that's easy to take back there and maneuverable, but you want something that's more robust, that'd be a great choice as well. So between all the vacuum systems, they all work really well with the riptide probably being the most powerful of them, and the hammerhead probably being a very close second. The power vac I always thought didn't really have the same power as the other ones because of how large the throat is and the shape of it, but it's still very powerful. And the one with probably the least powerful because it has a smaller thrust motor, is the bottom feeder. Not noticeable in my opinion if you're using if you have moderate debris. Now, if your pool has a heavy debris, like earlier in the year we had these fires in California, and the pools got totally toasted with debris, you know, one of the worst amounts of debris I've seen before. The riptide was able to handle it much better. But in situations where you just have moderate or normal debris, the bottom feeder is great for 95% of the pools out there, and the compactness of it is something that is the selling point and why a lot of pool pros gravitate towards that vacuum system. I would say the bottom line is that if you do pool service, you really do need a vacuum system, and you would want to kind of weigh the pros and cons of all of these vacuum systems. Of course, if you wanted a cart vacuum system, you can get the rip tie directly from them. They'll ship it out to you. You get it in like five days. It's pretty crazy. You know, if you're in California, it comes here in like a week, five days or so, and you can get the hammerhead at mostly of your suppliers and pick those, pick that up as well. And I like the cart because again, it's convenient to bring everything back there, and it does work for about 90% of the pools in my area. There are a few pools I can't get the cart back to, and the bottom feeder is perfect for that. I mean, it's not a bad idea to have a combination of vacuum systems. A lot of pros have the riptide or hammerhead, and then they have the bottom feeder, so it's one of those things where having more than one is not an issue. Now, with the new shrimp, it's going to be even more convenient to have like a riptide, and then if you buy the shrimp, you can use that one. And it's something that I think more than one vacuum system, if you can get to that level, is the ultimate solution. But a lot of people will settle on one. And if you don't need the cart, there are there are those options for you for the cartless vacuum systems, and I would really compare all the systems and see which one is right for you, which one's going to make your job easier to bring it back there. If you're looking for something in an area where you have really heavy debris all the time, well, then the Riptide XP would be a great choice, even though it's not quite as convenient. You have the cord, you have the battery box, you gotta bring it back there, and probably you have to go back to your truck for the other supplies for that pool, and the bottom feeder again. You can carry everything back, especially with the new bottom feeder bag. You just put it on your back, like a guitar basically, or an instrument case, and you can just carry the bottom feeder back there. So, whatever is convenient, whatever you're looking for as far as power, cart, no cart, there are a lot of options out there for you, and I hope this was helpful and kind of an overview of these systems. I didn't get into the bags or anything like that, but I can probably do that in a future podcast. And just briefly, the lower the micron bag, the more fine dirt and silt the vacuum system will get. The bottom feeder has a 57 micron bag, the riptide and the other ones generally the 60 micron bag would be the lowest I would recommend. And then you have the higher micron bags, which get less fine dirt but more debris, and they're much more durable. But again, the vacuum systems are something that I think most pool pros should get, and that's a piece of equipment that's gonna really enhance your pool route and make pool cleaning much easier, and it's gonna make your day much better, especially in those areas that get windstorms and get heavy debris in pools on occasion or even all the time, which is unfortunately some service areas in Southern California, it's always windy, it's kind of a tragic thing, but there's areas in the inland empire that every month and every week there's a windstorm of one sort or another. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, SonyProLearning.com, and on the banner click on the podcast icon. There'll be a drop down menu of other podcasts for you. And if you're interested in my coaching program, you can learn more at PoGuyCoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a great rest of your week and God bless.