The Beatbot Sora 70 claims to deliver 4-in-1 cleaning. Pool floor, walls, waterline and even the water’s surface: it promises to leave your entire pool spotless. This versatility is still uncommon, so we put it through a month of testing to find out whether it could stay afloat.
Gradually but steadily, summer after summer, pool robots are becoming less of a niche product. That is welcome news, as France offers a vast potential market. The country has almost 3.7 million domestic swimming pools, including 90,600 new installations in 2025 alone. That fleet puts it first in Europe and third worldwide, behind the United States and Brazil.
For years, the market was dominated by specialists such as Maytronics and Zodiac, but it is now drawing a new generation of manufacturers. Aiper established itself early as one of the cordless pioneers, while Dreame, Mova and Ecovacs have more recently entered our pools after honing their expertise on floors and lawns.
Beatbot has taken a different route. The Shenzhen brand comes neither from vacuum cleaners nor robotic lawn mowers. Since entering Europe in 2024, it has exclusively made pool robots, specialising in putting ever more jobs in the hands of a single machine.
The AquaSense Pro was its most striking example. Launched at €2,499, it used nine motors to clean the floor, walls, waterline and surface, while also dispensing a clarifying agent into the pool. That abundance of features came at a substantial price.
At €1,499, the Sora 70 adopts the core of that formula for €1,000 less. It retains the 4-in-1 approach-floor, walls, waterline and surface-as well as two jets that funnel floating debris towards its suction inlet. We tested this unusually comprehensive offering at this price point for a month in a 40 m² pool, to see whether trying to do everything meant that the Sora 70 fell short somewhere.
A substantial machine that takes to the water effortlessly
With its miniature tank-like styling, the Beatbot Sora 70 takes a notably different approach from several rivals. There are no pastel accents or two-tone bodywork to brighten it up. Black dominates, combining matt chassis plastics with a broad glossy lid. The result is understated, yet suitably purposeful.
Its plastics are thick and the build feels tightly put together. That inspires confidence in a device destined to spend its life underwater. Despite its sturdy build, its 10.4 kg weight remains well below the Mova Rover X10’s 15.8 kg. Beneath the chassis, two tracks sit alongside four rollers fitted with rubber blades.
Set-up takes only a few minutes, which is worth noting for anyone still unsure about buying a pool robot. The Beatbot app detects the Sora 70 over Bluetooth before Wi-Fi takes over. Shortly afterwards, it is ready for its first lap of the pool.
That second connection is not always a given: the Ecovacs Ultramarine P1, for instance, dispenses with it altogether. Underwater, it makes little difference anyway. Once submerged, the Sora 70 drops off the radar, just like every other pool robot.
Wi-Fi becomes useful when it comes back to the surface. Cycle completion, battery level, cleaning history and water temperature are then automatically sent to the app. However, the connectivity does not extend to mapping. The AquaSense 2 Ultra, Beatbot’s flagship model, displays its routes in the app. This is therefore the first refinement sacrificed to reduce the price.
How does the Beatbot Sora 70 find its way underwater?
Underwater, dolphins rely on sonar while sharks follow their sense of smell. Each has its own method, and pool robots are no different. Aiper, for example, has opted for a camera paired with a rangefinder in its Scuba V3.
Beatbot instead uses 18 sensors, including two ultrasonic units to identify obstacles, slopes and changes in depth. The manufacturer says nothing about the remaining sixteen. They are likely responsible for monitoring water temperature, the robot’s balance or how blocked its basket is.
It is difficult to declare any one technology the winner on paper, though. Camera, ultrasound or rangefinder: every manufacturer works with its own toolkit. As with robot vacuum cleaners, the real difference chiefly lies in the quality of the algorithms and how they use the data gathered.
A few exploratory swims, then precise navigation
Known as SonicSense, the Sora 70’s ultrasonic sensors are intended to keep it away from steps and obstacles. Its first runs in our 40 m² pool were nevertheless somewhat erratic, as though the machine needed time to warm up. The S-shaped routes promised by the brand only appeared after several cleaning sessions, once it had seemingly learnt the pool.
Its performance then became impressively methodical. The Sora 70 climbs walls without hesitation, reaches the waterline and descends cleanly. Our four corner steps caused no difficulty either.
The robot detects them, settles onto them and cleans them one at a time without dropping back to the floor-even the final, half-submerged step. That deserves credit, as steps remain one of the category’s greatest challenges. If your pool has a generous staircase or a submerged ledge, the Sora 70 will handle it with ease.
A few mishaps did occur during its dives, however. Around one cycle in four, we found a corner or small area that the robot had clearly missed. This was nothing serious: the overlooked section rarely exceeded 1 m², and a second run was enough to put things right.
Six cleaning modes, but some settings are missing
As stated, and this is its headline promise, the Sora 70 offers 4-in-1 cleaning. In other words, it looks after the floor, walls, waterline and surface. The waterline is the band at water level where sunscreen, pollen and greasy residues collect. Over time, especially in a pool used by both children and adults, this can form an unsightly ring.
Six modes cover these areas. “Pro” handles all four in a single cycle, while “Standard” cleans everything except the surface. Three dedicated programmes let you target the floor alone, the surface alone, or the walls and waterline together. An Eco mode completes the selection. The app also shows the status of consumables and sends a notification when a cycle ends. These alerts only arrive once the Sora 70 has surfaced, though, as it cannot be reached while operating at the bottom.
Over the weeks, we found the feature set a little sparse compared with the competition. There is no weekly scheduler for setting cleaning days and times. It is also impossible to adjust suction power, whereas the Ecovacs Ultramarine P1 provides three levels, or alter travelling speed as Mammotion allows on its Spino E1.
Finally, while the six modes cover the essentials, they never let you create your own combination. If, for example, you want to clean the floor and surface without doing the walls, you will need to run two separate cycles.
Strong suction, but no ultra-fine filter
The Sora 70 relies on eight motors to do its work, divided between propulsion, brushing and suction. Two independent pairs of rollers, at both the front and rear, loosen dirt from the liner while the pump draws it in through a 17 cm-wide inlet. Its quoted flow rate reaches 25.7 m³/h. This is not the fastest in the sector-the Mova Rover X10, for example, reaches 38 m³/h-but that is a more expensive pool robot. Within its price bracket, the Sora 70 remains among the better performers.
Nothing escaped the basket on the first pass, from fallen leaves and small stones to sand. The 6-litre basket is also a welcome size. For comparison, the Aiper Scuba V3 makes do with 3.5 litres. It is removed from above with a press on the lid, then emptied in seconds with a hose.
The mesh reaches its limits when it comes to fine particles, however. Its 150 microns are roughly equivalent to the diameter of a fine grain of sand. Anything smaller-pollen, microscopic algae and mineral dust that causes milky water-passes through the basket and straight back into the pool.
For finer filtration, Beatbot sells an ultra-fine kit capable of reaching 3 microns for €60. First, that is very expensive for this type of accessory. Second, it is surprising that it is not included at the Sora 70’s price. To make the contradiction even more striking, the brand regularly gives it away with the robot during promotional periods. Frankly, it should simply be included from the outset.
JetPulse, the Beatbot Sora 70’s defining feature
Cleaning the water’s surface normally means spending more than €2,000 or adding a separately sold skimmer. Beatbot does neither, instead addressing the issue with its JetPulse system.
Two side jets push water towards the front of the robot, creating a converging current that pulls floating debris towards the suction inlet rather than pushing it ahead. In this mode, the robot no longer dives. It floats and patrols the surface, with its two jets creating a continuous draw of water in front of it.
That distinction matters. A robot that merely moves forward pushes drifting debris ahead of itself: a flower petal or a dead bee can be sent spinning to the other end of the pool by the turbulence from its body. Here, the current guides them back towards the suction inlet.
During our surface-mode sessions, the results were convincing. Everything floating on the water disappeared over successive passes, without the robot needing to go over the same area three times. The waterline benefits from the same treatment.
To test it properly, we spent an entire afternoon applying an excessively generous amount of sunscreen. The next morning, after leaving the robot to work for 2 hours, there was almost no trace left. The Beatbot Sora 70 had stayed just beneath the surface and removed virtually everything in its path.
Battery life depends more on the pool than the battery
On paper, the 10,000 mAh battery is impressive. It must be put into context, though, as it has to run eight motors, two pairs of rollers and a 25.7 m³/h pump. This explains the quoted runtime of 5 hours on the floor and 7 hours on the surface.
Each mode offers its own duration settings, calibrated according to the size of the job. Pro mode starts at four hours, Standard and Surface modes at two, while Wall mode drops to just one hour. A MAX setting lets the robot run until the battery is exhausted. Even so, these figures do not tell the whole story. A pool robot does not drain its battery predictably: it depends on the selected mode, the pool’s size and, above all, its condition. The key is therefore to know your pool well.
In our 40 m² pool, runtimes varied considerably. After a windy night, the Beatbot Sora 70 spent 2 hours skimming the surface before deciding it had done enough. On another day, with cleaner water, it completed its task in under an hour. In every case, its endurance never let us down.
Allow four and a half hours for a full recharge, thanks to 65 W fast charging. That is a welcome time, especially given its endurance. There is one small disappointment, however: no charging station, even though cheaper robots can offer one.
Beatbot Sora 70 price and competition
Launched at €1,499, the Sora 70 is a mid-range robot. Above it, the AquaSense Pro cost €2,499 at launch and added a fifth skill: water clarification. The Mova Rover X10 is priced the same and also cleans the surface, with 38 m³/h of suction.
Below it, direct rivals abandon that all-important surface cleaning. Released at €1,299, the Dreame Z1 Pro focuses on its 30 m³/h flow rate and a map available in its app. The Aiper Scuba V3, launched at €1,099, features a camera and artificial intelligence designed to refine its behaviour over the weeks.
Our verdict on the Beatbot Sora 70 pool robot
After a month of watching it dive, the conclusion is clear: Beatbot has made the right compromises. Its suction is effective against everyday debris, and walls hold no fear for it. It even outperforms many competitors on steps, where they are still often awkward.
Surface cleaning makes a genuine difference compared with models limited to the floor, walls and waterline. The JetPulse feature truly lets it skim the pool and collect what is floating, rather than merely bobbing around for show.
The savings compared with Beatbot’s premium models appear elsewhere. There is no mapping, the app offers limited customisation, small areas are occasionally missed and, most importantly, filtration stops at 150 microns. It is difficult to understand why the 3-micron filter, charged at €60, is not included in the box, along with a charging station.
None of this matters greatly in pools that quickly get dirty. A pool surrounded by trees and regularly covered with leaves, pollen or insects will give it plenty to do at the surface. The same applies to a family pool, where children, sunscreen and sand multiply the debris at every level. Its 6-litre basket and very good endurance also allow it to tackle large jobs without repeated trips to the mains. In this type of set-up, it is difficult not to recommend it without hesitation.
Beatbot Sora 70
€1,499
8.9
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Installation and build quality | 9.0/10 |
| Navigation and obstacles | 9.5/10 |
| App and features | 7.5/10 |
| Cleaning performance | 9.5/10 |
| Battery life and charging | 9.0/10 |
What we like
- “4-in-1” cleaning, including the surface
- 6-litre basket and precise navigation
- Excellent cleaning performance
- Convincing battery life and fast charging
- Automatic parking at the surface
What we like less
- Optional 3-micron filter
- No charging station
- App lacks a weekly scheduler and suction adjustment
- No pool mapping
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
Leave a Comment