What a beautiful day here on the Gold Coast — I'm standing next to my pool, the waterways behind me, Surfers Paradise just over there. And this is the brand new Aiper Scuba V3. If you follow the channel you'll have seen me test the Scuba S1 Pro and the Scuba X1 in this exact pool, plus the Surfer S1 and S2 up on the surface. The V3 is different. Aiper has put a camera, AI vision and a dToF sensor in the front of it, so it can actually identify debris in the pool and change its cleaning path to go after it.

Today we're testing the Aiper Scuba V3 — 4,800 gallons per hour of suction, dual roller brushes, floor, wall and waterline cleaning. Aiper reckons it detects debris from up to 2 metres away and recognises more than 20 different types. So we're going to test it on the floor, the walls and the waterline, have a proper look at the app, open up the filter afterwards, and work out whether it's worth upgrading from the Scuba X1. Real pool, real leaves, real twigs, real fine debris — not a clean demo tank.

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01What Is the Aiper Scuba V3?

The Scuba V3 is a cordless robotic pool cleaner that handles the floor, the walls and the waterline on one charge. Underneath it's got two roller brushes and caterpillar tracks, pulling 4,800 gallons per hour of suction. That's the ordinary part. The interesting part is bolted to the front.

Aiper calls it VisionPath — a camera, two LED lights and a dToF sensor working together. The camera identifies debris and obstacles; the sensor helps the V3 map its route around the pool. Aiper claims up to a 2-metre detection range, recognition of more than 20 types of debris, and up to 10x faster debris cleaning. I can't verify the 10x figure — nobody really can — but I can absolutely test whether it sees debris and goes after it. That's what this pool is for.

02Unboxing, Weight & Charging

In the box you get the Scuba V3, the charging dock and adapter, a retrieval hook, two foam inserts and the manuals. But the first big difference isn't in the box — it's the moment you pick it up. Look at this: I can hold it one-handed while I'm filming. The V3 weighs 8.2 kilos. The Scuba X1 was around 12. That's nearly 4 kilos lighter, and you feel it carrying it down to the pool — and a lot more when you're lifting it back out full of water.

Charging is simple: drop the V3 onto the dock and it starts charging, with a full charge taking around 5 hours. Aiper claims up to 180 minutes of cleaning in standard modes and up to 210 minutes in Eco. In my pool I've been able to finish the entire thing on a single charge with battery left over — it came out sitting at 91%.

On top of the unit there's one-button operation cycling through floor, walls, waterline and auto modes. There are more modes inside the app, which I'll get to.

03The Floor Test: Does AI Patrol Actually Hunt Leaves?

This is the test I wanted. There was plenty of debris on the floor already, so I gave it a stir, held the button to power it on, selected the mode that does the lot — floor, wall and waterline — connected it to the app, and dropped it in. Because it's light, that bit's easy too. Down it goes, and off it went.

Then the moment that sold me. There were leaves sitting over on one side and the V3 was on the other side of the pool. The camera picked them up, it changed direction, drove straight across to the leaves, and they were gone. That's the real difference between this and the older units I've tested: the S1 Pro used Wave Path 2.0, the X1 moved to Wave Path 3.0 — both following a route. The V3 uses the camera and the dToF sensor to spot debris and rewrite its route on the fly.

Watching it work for ten minutes was genuinely impressive. It stops, it searches, it goes after the debris. And underneath, the two roller brushes work with the suction to lift the leaves and the fine stuff as it passes over them.

04Climbing the Walls

Next, the walls. Straight up off the floor and onto the side it goes. The two caterpillar tracks hold grip while the brushes keep cleaning all the way up, and it gets right to the top. The transition from floor to wall was so smooth you could barely see it happen — no stalling, no sliding back down.

If you've got tiled walls and yours needs a hand climbing, Aiper includes two foam inserts in the box that fit to the unit for extra buoyancy. I haven't needed them in this pool.

05The Waterline & JetAssist

Once it reaches the surface, JetAssist kicks in. Side-mounted jets push the V3 horizontally along the waterline while the brushes scrub the edge. It comes up, turns, and travels straight along the line. It did a very good job on the build-up around my waterline — and honestly, that's the bit most pool cleaners have been rubbish at for years. Getting one to properly scrub that band at the surface has always been the hard part.

06The App: AI Navium, Modes & Scheduling

I pulled the cleaner out and opened the app. There it is — Scuba V3, 91% battery after the full clean. You get the mode list: Auto, AI Patrol, Floor, Wall, Waterline and Eco, and every one of them has the AI built in, which I like. You can set duration too — say 45 minutes a day — and pick which days it runs.

Then there's AI Navium, and this is the clever one. It uses your pool size, your cleaning history and your local weather to build a cleaning schedule automatically. Weather analysis, self-adaptive cleaning and usage pattern analysis all sit under it. You set the pool up once — pool type, pool volume — and it works out the rest. Out here on the Gold Coast, where the weather does what it likes, that's genuinely useful.

Dig into settings and you've got cleaning settings, the bottom cleaning path, device information and device health monitoring. There's also a work log showing cleaning cycles, modes, duration and battery use, plus notifications when the cleaner starts, finishes or hits a problem. It's a very good app and a proper complement to the hardware.

On privacy: Aiper says the camera system is TÜV-certified for data privacy, with zero image storage and zero upload. Worth knowing when there's a camera pointed around your backyard.

07Retrieval & the Micro-Mesh Filter

Here's a nice touch. When the cycle finishes and the notification lands on your phone, the V3 comes up to the waterline and waits for you — it sits there around 10 minutes before sinking back down. Miss that window and there's a retrieval hook in the box that fits a standard pool pole.

Out it comes, let it drain, then push the release and take the basket out. Open it up and you can see exactly what it's collected — twigs, leaves, plant matter, the lot. Inside the basket there's a micro-mesh filtration layer that catches the fine stuff: sand, dirt, pollen and sediment. That's a big part of why the floor looks as clean as it does afterwards.

Cleaning it is straightforward — main basket out, little basket out, hose it through, pop it straight back in. The honest downside is that the micro-mesh takes a bit more effort than a plain basket. It's the trade-off for catching the fine debris, and I'd take that trade every time. And again, at 8.2 kilos the whole handling job is easier than it was with the X1.

08Aiper Scuba V3 vs Scuba X1: Should You Upgrade?

Here's where it gets interesting, because the Scuba X1 actually has more suction — 6,600 gallons per hour against 4,800 on the V3. On paper that looks like a downgrade. In the pool, honestly, you can't see the difference.

Having used both in this exact pool, I'd upgrade to the V3. The reason is the AI vision and the targeted cleaning. I watched it identify leaves, change its route and drive straight at them — the X1 never did that, it just followed its pattern. The navigation is excellent, the floor, walls and waterline all came up beautifully, and at 8.2 kilos it's considerably easier to handle.

The X1 is still an excellent pool cleaner and did a fantastic job in here. But the V3 is the better overall cleaner. Rather than simply cranking the suction up, Aiper made it smarter and lighter — and that's the more useful upgrade.

One more thing worth knowing: you can pair the V3 with the Surfer S2 I tested previously. The S2 collects debris off the surface while the Scuba V3 handles the floor, walls and waterline. Run them together and you've got the whole pool covered.

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