Beatbot Sora 70 Review: Cordless Pool and Surface Cleaner

The Beatbot Sora 70 is a cordless pool robot designed to look after the whole pool rather than the floor alone, treating the floor, the walls, the waterline and floating debris at the surface. Surface cleaning is the feature carried across from the brand's more expensive machine, and it is the main reason a single robot can stand in for several appliances.

The Sora 70 is aimed at pools of up to 300 m2 and carries a 10,000 mAh battery, a 6-litre basket and a 150-micron filter. The manufacturer quotes up to five hours of runtime for floor cleaning and seven hours for the surface. It can also deal with submerged shelves and shallow platforms from 20 cm of water, an area cordless pool robots have generally struggled with. The promise, then, is to reduce manual intervention as far as possible, from the net to the brush.

The Sora 70 takes a fairly conventional shape for a cordless pool robot. At 10.4 kg it is easier to manoeuvre than the brand's flagship machine, and the difference is felt when lifting it out of the plant room or putting it back into the water. That does not turn it into a beach accessory, but it is manageable.

The handle on top gives a proper grip. Underneath, tracks drive it across the floor and up the walls. The robot is supplied with its charger and a hook to fit on the end of a standard pole. It can also be commanded directly from its mode switch, which turns the machine on and moves quickly between the different modes without having to reach for a smartphone every time.

Unlike the brand's higher-end model, the Sora 70 does not come with a charging dock, so the cable has to be plugged straight into the robot. That works, but it is less convenient day to day, and the cable is fairly short, which means giving some thought to where the socket sits. It is not a disaster, though a charging station would have made handling feel more natural on a product at this level.

The filter does not use the usual basket shape but has a chimney at its centre, and it lifts out simply thanks to an integrated handle. Getting the robot into the water is well judged: once placed in the pool it starts on its own, gradually fills and sinks slowly, rather like a small personal submarine. It takes a few minutes to settle before it genuinely begins work.

The Sora 70 connects to the Beatbot app over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Pairing causes no particular difficulty, and a few tips are offered before the robot's first dive. The settings are not extensive, and most owners will only open them to check for updates or to deal with the occasional maintenance task.

The interface follows the logic already seen on the brand's other models. It allows the cleaning modes to be chosen, shows certain information and lets the duration of a cycle be capped. That last option is welcome, because not every pool needs an interminable clean to deal with a few leaves and a little sand. There is also an Eco mode, in which the Sora 70 runs 45-minute sessions every two days while staying at the bottom of the pool, coming back up when the battery runs down.

Behaviour can therefore be adapted to what the pool needs: floor, surface, a fuller cycle or a custom mode. That flexibility is welcome, although it is less far-reaching than on the brand's flagship. It would have been good to be able to build a genuinely bespoke programme, for instance combining the floor and the surface only.

On the floor of the pool the Sora 70 moves in an organised way. It does not simply bounce off the walls at random, and it covers the area coherently. In the pool used for the recorded runs it worked its way across the floor properly and never gave the impression of going round in circles, which is the minimum expected of a robot in this category.

Behaviour is a little less rigorous on the walls and the waterline. The robot climbs without difficulty, but its movement becomes less methodical. That is a criticism that can be levelled at most pool robots: the floor is their favourite ground, the walls are covered more randomly, and the waterline remains an area where manual cleaning keeps an advantage once dirt is ingrained.

The Sora 70 does score points on submerged shelves. It manages to climb onto shallow platforms provided they sit under at least 20 cm of water. Its movement there is not always perfectly intelligent and the coverage is not as tidy as on the floor, but the progress is real compared with models that simply ignore those areas or treat them as an obstacle.

Obstacle recognition is more disappointing. The test objects were not identified as well as might have been hoped. The robot did not become stuck as a result and carried on cleaning, which avoids the most irritating outcome, but the result is less convincing than on other models.

On the floor the Sora 70 does the job properly. During the recorded runs it collected leaves and the mixture of sand deliberately dropped into the pool. Its organised movement lets it cover the area efficiently, even if some light debris can be pushed around by the water flow before finally being drawn in on the next pass.

Filtration relies on a 150-micron filter. It is effective for routine upkeep, particularly leaves, small debris and visible particles. It is not backed up by a finer filter, however, and that shows on the lightest material: some very fine debris was visible to the naked eye coming back out of the outlet. That is not disqualifying for regular cleaning, but a tighter filter would have completed the package.

The waterline is handled correctly, provided nothing impossible is asked of it. The robot passes through the area well, but its lack of physical pressure limits what it can achieve on ingrained marks. For a genuinely dirty waterline, manual cleaning keeps the advantage.

The real good surprise is surface cleaning. The jet system pushes leaves, dust, pollen and insects efficiently towards the suction inlet, and the opening closes automatically so that what has just been captured is not released again. The result is convincing and genuinely reduces the need for a net, especially where trees or planting surround the pool.

The robot only communicates with the app when it is at the surface. Once underwater the connection drops, which is normal, but it means a session cannot be ended from the phone. To interrupt a clean before the end, the hook has to be used.

When the Sora 70 comes back up, it regains its connection and can be driven from the app. It can then be steered towards a convenient spot for lifting out. That function is genuinely practical, particularly when the robot finishes its cycle on a side of the pool where retrieval is awkward.

The large 6-litre basket is one of the Sora 70's strong points. That capacity allows several cycles to be run without emptying it too often, which will be appreciated in pools exposed to leaf fall or after a windy spell. Access to the basket is simple and rinsing it out takes very little time.

Beatbot quotes up to five hours of runtime for floor cleaning and up to seven hours for the surface. In mixed-mode running, the Sora 70 still showed 66% of its battery after two hours of operation. The observed values are therefore consistent with the manufacturer's claims and confirm that runtime should not be a limiting factor, even for a good-sized pool.

A full recharge takes around four and a half hours, which sits in the average for this category. Since the robot has no dock, the charger simply has to be reconnected directly to the machine after use.