Beatbot Sora 70 review: the 4-in-1 pool robot tested for a month

The Beatbot Sora 70 claims to deliver 4-in-1 cleaning. It promises to clean the pool floor, walls, waterline and even the water’s surface. That level of versatility is still uncommon, so we tested it for a month to find out whether it could truly stay afloat.

Summer after summer, pool robots are gradually moving beyond their niche status. That is welcome news, given the size of the French market. France has almost 3.7 million domestic pools, including 90,600 installed in 2025 alone. This makes it Europe’s leading market and the world’s third largest, behind the United States and Brazil.

Once dominated by specialists such as Maytronics and Zodiac, the market is now drawing a new generation of manufacturers. Aiper established itself early as one of the wireless pioneers, while Dreame, Mova and Ecovacs have more recently taken the plunge after building their reputations with floor-cleaning robots and robotic lawnmowers.

Beatbot has taken a different route. The Shenzhen-based brand did not come from either the vacuum cleaner or robot mower markets. Since entering Europe in 2024, it has focused exclusively on pool robots, specialising in putting ever more jobs into a single machine.

The AquaSense Pro was its most striking illustration of that approach. Launched at 2,499 euros, it featured 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 considerable price.

At 1,499 euros, the Sora 70 adopts the core of that formula for 1,000 euros less. It retains 4-in-1 cleaning - floor, walls, waterline and surface - along with two jets that direct floating debris towards its suction inlet. We put this unusually comprehensive package at this price through a month of testing in a 40 m² pool, to see whether trying to do everything caused the Sora 70 to fall short anywhere.

A substantial machine that is easy to get into the pool

With its miniature tank-like appearance, the Beatbot Sora 70 takes a noticeably different styling route from several rivals. There are no pastel accents or two-tone bodywork to brighten it up. Black covers almost the entire robot, split between the chassis’s matt plastics and a broad glossy lid. It is understated, yet suitably purposeful.

Its plastics are thick and the joins are tight, which inspires confidence in a device destined to spend its working life underwater. For all its solid build, its 10.4 kg weight remains well below the 15.8 kg of the Mova Rover X10. Beneath the chassis, two tracks sit alongside four rollers fitted with rubber blades.

Getting started takes only a few minutes, which is worth remembering for anyone still hesitant about buying a pool robot. The Beatbot app detects the Sora 70 over Bluetooth before Wi-Fi takes over. A short while later, it is ready for its first lap of the pool.

That second connection is not universal: the Ecovacs Ultramarine P1, for instance, does without Wi-Fi altogether. Once submerged, however, it makes little difference. Like every pool robot, the Sora 70 disappears from view and contact while it is underwater.

Wi-Fi becomes useful once it comes back to the surface. The app then automatically receives the end-of-cycle status, battery level, cleaning history and water temperature. This connectivity does not extend to mapping, though. The AquaSense 2 Ultra, Beatbot’s flagship model, displays its routes in the app. This is therefore one of the first refinements sacrificed to reduce the cost.

How does the Beatbot Sora 70 find its way underwater?

Underwater, dolphins rely on sonar while sharks use their sense of smell. Pool robots likewise use different methods. Aiper, for example, has chosen a camera combined with a rangefinder for its Scuba V3.

Beatbot instead relies on 18 sensors, including two ultrasonic sensors to identify obstacles, slopes and changes in level. The manufacturer says nothing about the other sixteen. They are likely responsible for monitoring water temperature, the robot’s balance or how blocked the basket is.

It is nevertheless impossible to declare one technology the winner on paper. Cameras, ultrasound and rangefinders all have their merits, with every manufacturer selecting its own tools. As with robot vacuum cleaners, the real difference is mainly in the quality of the algorithms and how effectively they use the data they collect.

A few exploratory swims, followed by precise navigation

Named SonicSense, the Sora 70’s ultrasonic system is designed to keep the robot away from steps and obstacles. Its first runs in our 40 m² pool were rather messy, 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 apparently learned the pool.

It then became impressively methodical. The Sora 70 climbs walls without hesitation, reaches the waterline and descends neatly. Our four corner steps did not trouble it either.

The robot detects them, settles onto them and cleans them one at a time without falling back to the floor, including the last step, which was only half submerged. That deserves credit, as steps remain a persistent challenge across the sector. If your pool has a large staircase or a submerged ledge, the Sora 70 should handle it without difficulty.

A few mistakes did occur during its dives, however. In roughly one cycle out of four, we found a corner or a small area that the robot had clearly missed. This was nothing serious: the neglected area rarely exceeded 1 m², and a second run was enough to resolve it.

Six cleaning modes, but some settings are missing

As mentioned, the Sora 70’s central promise is 4-in-1 cleaning. In other words, it takes care of the floor, walls, waterline and surface. The waterline is the strip at water level where sun cream, pollen and greasy deposits gather. Over time, particularly in a pool used by adults and children, this can create an unsightly ring.

Six modes divide up these tasks. “Pro” handles all four areas in one cycle, while “Standard” cleans everything apart from the surface. Three dedicated programmes target the floor alone, the surface alone, or the walls and waterline. 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 after the Sora 70 has resurfaced, as it cannot be reached while working at the bottom.

Over the weeks, though, we found it slightly less generous than competing models. There is no weekly scheduler for setting cleaning days and times. It is also impossible to alter suction power, whereas the Ecovacs Ultramarine P1 offers three levels, or adjust travel speed as Mammotion allows on its Spino E1.

Lastly, while these six modes cover the essentials, they never let you create a custom programme. If, for example, you want to clean the floor and surface but not the walls, you will need to run two cycles.

Strong suction, but no ultra-fine filter included

The Sora 70 uses eight motors for propulsion, brushing and suction. Two independent pairs of rollers, positioned at the front and rear, lift dirt from the lining while the pump draws it in through a 17 cm-wide inlet. Its stated flow rate reaches 25.7 m³/h. It 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 is therefore among the better performers.

Nothing escaped the basket on the first pass, from dead leaves and small stones to sand. The 6-litre basket is a welcome size, too. By comparison, the Aiper Scuba V3 offers only 3.5 litres. It is removed from the top by pressing the lid, and a quick rinse empties it in seconds.

The mesh reaches its limits with fine particles, however. Its 150-micron rating is roughly equivalent to the diameter of a fine grain of sand. Anything smaller - including pollen, microscopic algae and mineral dust responsible for cloudy water - passes through the basket and immediately returns to the pool.

For finer filtration, Beatbot sells an ultra-fine kit capable of reaching 3 microns for 60 euros. Firstly, that is very expensive for this type of accessory. Secondly, it is surprising that it is not included at the Sora 70’s price. To make the contradiction even greater, the brand regularly gives it away with the robot during promotional offers. Frankly, it should simply be supplied as standard.

JetPulse, the Beatbot Sora 70’s defining feature

Cleaning the water’s surface would usually mean spending more than 2,000 euros 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, producing a converging current that draws floating debris to the suction inlet rather than pushing it ahead. In this mode, the robot no longer dives. It floats across the surface, with its two jets continuously pulling water in front of it.

The distinction matters. A robot that merely moves forward drives drifting debris away, sending a flower petal or a dead bee swirling to the opposite end of the pool in the turbulence from its body. Here, the current brings them back towards the suction opening.

Our surface-mode sessions produced convincing results. Everything floating on the water disappeared over the course of its passes, without the robot needing to cover the same place three times. The waterline benefits from the same treatment.

To test it properly, we spent an entire afternoon applying an unreasonable amount of sun cream. The following morning, after letting the robot work for 2 hours, there was almost no trace left. The Beatbot Sora 70 had pressed itself 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 looks impressive. It still needs to be put into context, as it must power eight motors, two pairs of rollers and a 25.7 m³/h pump. That explains why claimed battery life is limited to 5 hours on the floor and 7 hours on the surface.

Each mode has its own duration options, set according to the scale of the task. Pro mode starts at four hours, Standard and Surface modes at two, and Wall mode drops to just one hour. A MAX setting allows the robot to run until the battery is empty. Even so, these figures do not tell the whole story. A pool robot does not drain its battery in a predictable way: it depends on the selected mode, the size of the pool and, above all, its condition. The key is therefore knowing your pool well.

In our 40 m² pool, runtimes varied considerably. After a blustery 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 job in under an hour. In every case, battery life never let us down.

It then takes four and a half hours to recharge fully, thanks to 65 W fast charging. That is a welcome turnaround, especially considering its endurance. There is one minor disappointment, though: no charging station is included, even though cheaper robots can offer one.

Beatbot Sora 70 price and competitors

Launched at 1,499 euros, the Sora 70 is a mid-range robot. Above it, the AquaSense Pro cost 2,499 euros at launch and added a fifth capability: 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 give up that all-important surface cleaning. Released at 1,299 euros, the Dreame Z1 Pro relies on its 30 m³/h flow rate and a map that can be viewed in its app. The Aiper Scuba V3, launched at 1,099 euros, uses a camera and artificial intelligence intended 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 trade-offs. Its suction is effective on everyday debris, and walls hold no fear for it. It even handles steps better than many rivals, which still often struggle with this task.

Surface cleaning is what really sets it apart from models limited to the floor, walls and waterline. The JetPulse feature genuinely skims the pool and collects floating debris, rather than simply floating around for show.

The savings compared with Beatbot’s premium models are visible elsewhere. There is no mapping, the app offers limited customisation, small areas are occasionally missed and, above all, filtration stops at 150 microns. It is difficult to understand why the 3-micron filter, charged at 60 euros, is not in the box as standard, along with a charging station.

None of these shortcomings matters greatly in pools that become dirty quickly. 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, sun cream and sand increase dirt at every level. Its 6-litre basket and very good battery life also allow it to tackle larger jobs without repeated trips to the mains. In this type of setting, it is hard not to recommend it without hesitation.

Beatbot Sora 70

1,499 euros

8.9

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 has no weekly scheduler or suction adjustment
• No pool mapping