Clean Like a Pro with THE Shrimp KIT by The Bottom Feeder

Looking for a faster, lighter way to vacuum pools without hauling a cart? We break down the new Shrimp kit and stack it against the trusted Bottom Feeder to help you decide what actually fits your route, your pools, and your budget. From first impressions to field use, we get specific about size, throat diameter, runtime, handling, and durability—so you can choose based on results, not hype.

We start with why compact vacuums are trending and where plastic mini units fall short for pros: limited lifespans, hard-to-find parts, and hidden replacement costs. Then we dig into the Shrimp’s pro-grade build—LiFePO4 battery rated for 1,500 to 2,000 cycles, about 2.5 hours of runtime, a sealed magnetic switch designed to beat water intrusion, stainless threaded parts, and brass-plated connectors. You’ll hear how a five-inch throat keeps suction feeling strong, why the smaller footprint is a win on steps, spas, fountains, and water features, and what changes when you pull backward with a lighter head.

If you’ve relied on the Bottom Feeder, you’ll appreciate the context. Its wider head covers more with each pass and stays planted, making it a great match for routes with moderate to heavy debris. The Shrimp trims size without losing effectiveness, trading coverage for agility and making quick spot vacs painless. We also cover runtime versus charge time, the included 120-micron bag, the carry handle and 20-foot pole extension, and the current $1,199 price point—plus when that investment beats a cycle of disposable plastic vacs.

• compact versus coverage and how size affects speed
• battery tech, runtime, and charge times
• magnetic switch design and durability gains
• handling differences on forward and back strokes
• ideal use cases for steps, spas, and features
• why plastic compact vacs cost more over time
• pricing, what the Shrimp kit includes, and longevity
• how to choose based on debris level and route needs
• where to buy and pickup options in Las Vegas

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Chapters

• 1:50 Why Compare Shrimp And Bottom Feeder
• 2:18 Coaching Program Invitation
• 2:37 Bottom Feeder Evolution And Size
• 3:54 Rise Of Compact Plastic Vacuums
• 5:37 Where The Shrimp Fits
• 6:15 Battery And Runtime Details
• 6:51 Dimensions And Power Comparison
• 8:23 Handling Differences In Use
• 9:21 Ideal Use Cases For Shrimp
• 10:40 The New Magnetic Switch
• 12:29 Kit Components And Charging
• 13:52 Price And Buyer Considerations
• 15:22 Which One Should You Buy
• 18:05 Where To Buy And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

And welcome to the Pool Grey Podcast Show. I recently got the shrimp cleaner or the shrimp kit from the bottom feeder, and I wanted to go over some of the features of it here in this podcast to kind of expand on the review that I put up on YouTube to give you a better idea that if you would want to go with the bottom feeder or with the shrimp kit cleaner, and they are different, so I'm going to go over some of those here for you today. 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, of course, have been using the bottom feeder almost since the inception, and it's gone through many generations, it's changed configurations slightly. It's been basically the same vacuum through the years with some upgrades, a new switch, and there's going to be a new manic magnetic switch coming for the bottom feeder as well. The shrimp already has that magnetic switch, and I'll touch on that in a minute. And the selling point of the bottom feeder is the compact size of the bottom feeder. It's pretty compact to begin with, and the shrimp is even more compact than the bottom feeder. It's one of the more or less small vacuum systems that you get on the market. The bottom feeder used to be the smallest one. It's 18 inches long, 11 inches deep, and then there's it's kind of weird how it's shaped, but it's a pretty small vacuum compared to say the Riptigite or the Hammerhead, Ramora, you know, anything that are the I should say the Riptide XP, it's much smaller than those two vacuum systems without the cart. It weighs about 18 pounds, so it's very lightweight with the battery and everything included on the bottom feeder, and so it's the most portable vacuum system out there. So was there a need for an even smaller version of the bottom feeder? The shrimp kit. Was there a market for it? And I really do think the market actually had emerged while Glenn, the owner of the bottom feeder, was making the shrimp. It's been in the works now for quite some time. He first mentioned it to me a couple years ago, and during that period of time, the Kokito cleaners have really BWT and Kokito came out with Kokito, came out with these small plastic vacuums that almost look like a miniature power vac. If you remember the old power vac vacuums, actually, they redesigned the power vac, so they have a new version of it. But it looks like they took the power vac and they shrunk it down into this tiny little body. And it's of course smaller than the shrimp still. The coquito cleaners are smaller than the shrimp, but they're all plastic. And you know, for two or three hundred dollars, you're getting a plastic piece of equipment that's really not designed for commercial use, and or pool service use, I should say. And so they'll last maybe a few months, maybe you'll get a year out of one of them, and then you have to buy another one. The parts are hard to find, so if you break apart, you're pretty much out of luck on that. And is there a market for the compact vacuum systems? I think there is because even Pool Corp is stocking the coquito vacuums now because the pool guys like them so much, and they're really effective because they're really lightweight, you can bring them back there, and you can vacuum out or spot vacuum a pool or spa with really little effort or issue, and that's kind of the emerging market, these little plastic coquito cleaners. And so, where does the shrimp fit in? Well, the shrimp is, of course, a really well-made product, it has professional components, so it's gonna last more than six months, and you're not gonna have to get a new one all the time. Now, of course, they try to keep the price point under a thousand dollars, but it's nearly impossible with the cost of products and the actual technology that's put into the shrimp itself. I'll go over some of the components to get an idea of the amount of technology that they put into this thing compared to, say, those little plastic coquito vacuums that you can pick up on Amazon or your supplier. It has a real battery pack that gives you two and a half hours of runtime. Very similar battery that's on this, it's on the bottom feeder. So it's a LIFE PO4 battery, and this is a very stable lithium-ion battery, and it is rated for about 1500 to 2000 discharges and recharges. So that's quite a lot of charging ability before you see this battery degenerate, and it's one of those things where you're actually buying a product again that's going to last you a very long time. Let me give you the dimensions of the shrimp, it's 12 by 8 by 9, so width, height, and depth. And you kind of get the idea of the size of it by comparing it to the bottom feeder, which again is 18 by about 11 by about the same 9 inches in height. So it is definitely much smaller than the bottom feeder, but it does have the same build quality as the bottom feeder. In fact, it looks like a bottom feeder that's just kind of been cut down to size. Now the throat is 5 inches, and you may be wondering, it has a smaller battery, it's got a smaller throat, it's a more compact cleaner. How does the power compare to the bottom feeder? And I would say that the power is almost exactly the same between both machines because of the fact that the shrimp has a five-inch diameter opening or throat. The bottom feeder has a six-inch one, and you need the thrust ring in there to kind of create more thrust, also. But since the diameter of the throat is smaller on the shrimp, and it has a little bit less power than the bottom feeder, technically, you don't feel it because of the smaller throat and the more thrust you're getting. So it picks up debris really with no issue, and you wouldn't really even notice the difference in power. I've used both interchangeably. I've used the shrimp and then the bottom feeder right after it, and you really don't notice too much. Now, what you do notice with the shrimp over the bottom feeder are a couple of things based on the size of the vacuum head of the shrimp with the bottom feeder. So the bottom feeder, of course, is larger, it has a larger vacuum, a larger area that it can vacuum as you're going forward and back. Now, as you're moving the shrimp backwards, you'll have to keep pressure on it, downward pressure, because of the way it's designed, and it could lift up a little bit when you're pulling it backwards. You get used to it probably within a minute or two, and you can make the corrections on usage pretty quickly. If you're used to the bottom feeder, it's pretty heavy, and so it stays you know on the ground pretty easily. Where the shrimp tends to lift up a little bit, nothing dramatic here, it's just a difference in the fact that the bottom feeder is wider and longer, and the shrimp is more compact. Now, the shrimp actually is perfect for step areas and spas because of the compact size, you'll be able to vacuum steps really easily, and it works in as little as four inches of water. Now, the bottom feeder works in two inches of water. It's mainly because of just a little bit of design differences. Even though the shrimp is smaller, it won't work in as small of a body of water as the bottom feeder would. But four inches is pretty much the depth of any area that you're vacuuming. If you're doing water features or if you're doing fountains, it's not really a deal breaker, in my opinion. Because of the compact size, I think this would be much better to use in fountains and water features and things of that nature over the bottom feeder, which tends to be a little big sometimes for those tight areas and those fountains and water features. Let me talk a little bit about the new magnetic switch that they've designed. This is something that they've been working on forever and sounds like forever or feels like forever, but it's been a long time since their first switch. Now, if you're like me and you use the first generation of bottom featers, there really was no switch. You just unhooked the cable and that turned off the machine. Kind of hokey, and so the switch was created to give it more of a real product feel, I guess. I still like using it, which is untwisting the cable. But the switch, creating an underwater switch is harder than you think. And this new magnetic switch, very similar, I think, to a lot of the switches on the plastic cleaners. The Kyokito has a magnetic switch on the back as well. So this magnetic switch, you just push down on it, like a little gray tab, and it turns on the cleaner. You pull up on it and it turns it off. So it's definitely going to make this switch much more durable and long-lasting, and you're not going to have any of the issues with water getting in there or anything like that with this new magnetic switch, which is coming for the bottom feeder as well. So if you have a bottom feeder with the old switch, don't worry, you can order the new manics magnetic switch eventually for the bottom feeder as well. Now there are a couple of 3D components, printed components, that are used in the shrimp to connect the switch to the battery, and so it kind of makes it a complete unit. It's actually pretty cool and pretty effective, and you're gonna love this new switch, and it's one of the things that again they've been working on for a long time. And this is one thing that actually delayed the launch of the shrimp. They didn't want to use the old switch on it, so they kind of delayed the launch until the new switch was ready so they can launch the shrimp in a complete form. Basically, you have the compact battery pack, you have the new magnetic switch, you have the upgraded stainless steel threaded parts on the vacuum head and on top of the battery, and you have the brass plated connectors. You really have a refined product here in the shrimp. It also comes with one vac bag, it's a 120 micron 22-inch tall vac bag, and they're pretty good bags. The vac bag makes a pretty decent bag there, and it comes with one of those. It also comes with the charger. Now, the two-way battery charger does take about six hours to charge the shrimp. The bottom feeder, of course, has the new charger that charges it within two and a half hours. The shrimp has a slower charger like the old bottom feeder used to have. So in six hours it'll be fully charged, but you do have that two and a half hour runtime, which is a pretty incredible runtime for a portable vacuum system. It also has a real motor, like the bottom feeder, with a real propeller on the bottom. So, unlike the plastic Coquito cleaners, you're gonna get a lot more life out of the shrimp than you are gonna get out of one of those devices. You're just getting an all-around, well-built product that's gonna last you a very long time. Also, the kit comes with a handle, so you can put that handle on and carry the shrimp back easily. It also comes with a 20-foot pole extension, and this is really nice also because it's basically like the bottom feeder portability kit that came out a few years ago, and it's all built into the shrimp kit. The retail price right now is$1,199, and there may be a discount available in the future. I think he has to get some of these products out and make some money first before the discounts start coming in. But you're going to find that if you are using those plastic coqueto vacuums, that the shrimp is something that you may want to consider, you know, do the math and figure out, you know, is this something that I want to invest in? Do I want to invest in something that's compact and portable and long-lasting with a real battery and real workmanship? Or am I going to just buy these cheap plastic little vacuums and keep using them until they break? And so that's something that you have to decide on for your business and your business model what works best for you. But now there's another option out there. Besides the bottom feeder, you do have the smaller baby bottom feeder, it's called the shrimp that can be used in conjunction with the bottom feeder, of course, or with the riptide vacuum system, or with what any other vacuum system, it kind of has its own little category of its own, in my opinion, because now it is the smallest vacuum system or professional vacuum system on the market today. Would I recommend the shrimp over the bottom feeder? That's really hard to say, and I think, of course, they know that they're gonna probably lose some butter feed em bodter feeder, bottom feed em boder, bottom feeder sales, I can't say the word now. They're gonna lose some bottom feeder sales to the shrimp over time. I think that's what's gonna happen. Is that you know, for the price point, if you're a homeowner looking for a vacuum system, this is perfect for you. If you're a pool pro looking for a compact vacuum system, this is also perfect for you. And it's going to definitely cut it into some sales of the bottom feeder, which I think still is the premier portable vacuum, cordless portable vacuum system that's on the market today. It's actually perfectly balanced, in my opinion, the bottom feeder is, and it has good power. It's really good for about 90% of the pools out there that have large leaf debris. You know, there's some times when you have really heavy winds and huge amounts of debris where the bottom feeder may struggle, but in most cases it's perfect. And the shrimp is probably a smaller version for those pools out there where you don't really need to use a larger vacuum system in. You know, maybe the bottom feeder is even too big for you for your pool route because you don't have a lot of debris in the pools, and you're looking for something compact you can use in spas and water features, or to spot vacuum pools on occasion, well then the shrimp is perfect for you. So I think there's actually two categories here. You have the bottom feeder users that are going to use it for pools that get hit by a fair amount of debris, and then you're gonna have the shrimp users that are using it under pool routes for pools that really have very light debris, and they want something they can use in spas again, and water features and fountains, and of course the shrimp fits that perfectly. So, back to the question I asked myself: would I recommend the shrimp over the bottom feeder? I still like the bottom feeder, but I also like the shrimp, so it's really hard for me to say one is better than the other now because both are good and both serve a purpose, and both are cordless, easy to use, and there's something to be said about the ease of use of both the shrimp and the bottom feeder. It's just something that you're gonna have to decide for yourself, you know, what size cordless portable vacuum system do you want? Something as small as the shrimp, which isn't really a lot smaller than the bottom feeder, but it is smaller than the bottom feeder, or do you want to invest in the bottom feeder, which is the all-around portable vacuum system, and it's one of the best vacuum systems on the market today. If you're interested in getting the shrimp, you can go to their site, of course, is the the bottomfeeder.com and go to the store, and it'll take you to the storefront where you'll see the shrimp there. Again, that's the bottom the bottomfeeder.com, and you can get the shrimp directly from them. It ships within like one to five days, I think. So you get it pretty rapidly once you place your order, and you can actually pick it up if you're in the area where they actually have their storefront. Let me give you that real quick. It's um in Las Vegas, 6672 Boulder Highway, suite six. So if you're in Las Vegas, Nevada, you can actually stop in and pick one up yourself, uh, which is really convenient if you live in the Vegas area. If you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swingpoollearning.com. And of course, on my website are quick links to the bottom feeder site itself. And if you're looking for more podcasts, you go to the banner, click on that. There'll be a drop-down menu of 1800 podcasts for you there. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at PoolGuyCoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have the rest of your week. God bless.