REVIEW: The iGarden Swim Jet X PRO 10 – If you have a pool this is a must-have gadget

The winter months are behind us and summer is just poking it’s head up. If you are lucky enough to live in Queensland, its already warm enough to go for a swim. At least the kids around my suburb are brave enough.

But as it warms up our pools are going to get a good workout. If you want to get a good workout as well many will agree, laps are boring, plus most pools aren’t long enough to get a few strokes in before having to turn around again.

Let’s just get this out of the way. Whilst the iGarden Swim Jet X series of is designed for swimmers to swim laps without ever leaving one position in the pool, it is a whole lot of fun too.

What is it?

The iGarden Swim Jet Swim Jet X PRO 10 in this review is difficult to classify as a device. It is a swim jet but the average person probably would then ask, “What is a Swim Jet?”. Other names are “Counter-Current swimming systems” or “Endless pool machines”.

Essentially these devices are placed at the end of your pool to create an artificial current for you to swim against. If they are powerful enough the kids can also enjoy themselves challenging the power to ride the water on their chosen inflatable or boogie board

iGarden make two styles of these units. The P series is designed to be more of a permanent fixture in your pool with the power supply mounted on a wall or fence.

The X Series which is featuring in this review are more portable and battery powered.

When I say battery I mean a real battery.

What’s in the box?

Well for a start there are two boxes. One for the battery and one for the main unit. As we are looking at the top of the range Swim Jet X PRO 10 (X35-P60) the first box contains a charging cable plus the battery which weighed in at a massive 12kg. In order to run the main unit for up to 10 hours it needs to have a huge capacity. In the case of the review unit that is 60Ah. Yes that’s right – TEN HOURS

The main unit comes as one device plus a safety tether. More on that later.

Assembly

Assembly is simple in theory. Just remove the mounting frame, reverse it to face the proper way and put in the locking clips.

I think this is the only thing I can truly criticise. Those clips are impossible to push in and twist 90 degrees. There simply isn’t enough room to get purchase on. The clips hold the frame in place which determines the height above or below the waterline the jet unit sits. Therefore once you set this up you are probably not adjusting it again.

Another slight criticism is that there are no instructions. I had to rely on searching the internet for answers.

The App

Controlling the Jet can be done in one of two ways. Either on the battery unit itself or using an app. The app is very easy to use but you need to be in Wi-Fi range to start, stop or adjust the speed so if your Wi-Fi signal is weak where your pool is situated then it is pretty simple to cycle through the modes on the battery unit itself.

Here is where I could have used some instructions. I wanted to set up the app pairing in my house before I took it outside but had visions of this this roaring to life in my family room, nowhere near the water. I had nothing to fear as the smarts are in the battery box, not the Jet unit. I know that now but when I was wildly pressing buttons I didn’t.

So you go through the normal pairing procedure that you would for any device

It’s a nice touch that you even get the weather forecast in the app so you can plan your swimming sessions

One last thing. The big orange button on the battery box is a master switch. You need to depress it in order for the Jet Swim to work. Again, instructions would have been nice.

Mounting

The jet unit comes with wheels so it is extremely easy to roll over to your pool. Once you are ready to tackle those troublesome locking clips you simply drop the Jet over your coping and lower into the water. The positioning of the outlet will determine what sort of current you get. Below the water it is strong but little turbulence and just above you get that surf effect.

The cable from the battery unit is about 1.7m long so it can be away from the Jet. The battery is rated IP65 so a few splashes is fine. It is as easy as that. The beauty of the X series is that you can take it anywhere.

Time to crank it up

First thing first – safety, The Jet Swim X comes with a tethering cable that should be secured to a fixed item such as a fence before you start this up. However I can’t see it moving when all the force of the Jetstream is pushing it towards the wall of your pool

Using the app is easy. You can choose between 6 power levels. The lowest is still pretty powerful and ideal for a leisurely swim. You can really get some serious speed as you toggle up through to level P4. And to really get the current there is an option for a level E (the highest speed) but that activates an automatic timer to shift down a gear after 5 minutes continual use.

A final setting is Level F which fluctuates between speeds to simulate open-water conditions.

The speed ranges from 0.5m per second to 1.2m sec from level 1 to level E. That equates to a swimming pace of 1.8 km/hr to 4.32 km/hr pushing out 250 cubic metres of water per hour

So unless you are challenging Ian Thorpe or Ariarne Titmus you are going to struggle to keep yourself from being pushed to the back of the pool.

Timers count the amount of time you spend in each session and a summary is given at the end. This is where the app is useful as in bright sunshine it is quite difficult to see what mode you are in on the battery box but I guess it is just as hard to reach for your phone whilst you are swimming

Testing

This was the fun part. I suffer for my art but I drew the line of diving into a freezing pool too many times. Instead so I did the clever thing and recruited the neighbours to volunteer their kids to test it out. Those kids feel no pain

And the verdict? They loved it. First to try was 5 year old Thea who is an adorable kid who although she was shivering relentlessly throughout the session she jumped in over and over again to test out the Jet Swim X PRO 10 on a boogie board.  

Thea took to it like a duck to water despite it being a bit confronting at first. It went to prove that the iGarden Swim Jet X PRO 10 is more than just an exercising tool. It is meant to be fun and it was.

Next up was Harry who is an accomplished swimmer who had no problem adjusting to the various speeds we threw at him. He also got to try out the boogie board and we managed to crank it up to give him a decent workout. Harry was kind enough to try various jet positions, below, on and above the waterline. Essentially the higher the machine, the greater the turbulence but the power remains constant. The lower the positioning just reduces the turbulence but does not reduce the power

Then it was my turn so if you have a weak stomach avert your eyes. This thing can really pump out the water. I struggled a bit to stay directly in the flow but once there it was a good experience, although a nose clip may be a recommendation as the jet stream goes straight in your face.

There are three models of the Swim Jet and although we were testing the highest model I think even the base unit would still be suitable for most people.

Specs of all models in the series

Battery life

So there is no use buying such an expensive machine if the battery only lasts a short time. I found that the claimed durations quoted were quite accurate. On the lowest speed the 10 hours battery life was achievable. Even at that lowest speed where you could swim leisurely it produced a pleasant effect on the water that just felt relaxing. Sort of a horizontal waterfall.

Once you use the higher speeds that battery life from the 60mA power supply would be around the 1.5 hr – 2 hour mark,

Recharging

A big battery takes a long time to recharge and the large battery took a good 8 hours to recharge so that is an overnight job but after you wear out the kids all day, it will be ready the next morning. The long battery life is also perfect for a pool party

Summary

Who is it for? Swimmers who want to do “laps”, yes. But if you want to be the cool parents with the backyard that your children’s friends want to hang out at in summer then this might be the answer. Or why not just take it to any place that has a pool? It’s so portable and easy to move you can take it anywhere.

The good

• Portability (wheels to move it around your home but light enough to throw it in the car to take the party with you to any pool)
• Power
• App control
• Running time
• Safety cutout feature when the battery is disturbed
• Fun, fun, fun

The not so good

• Lack of instructions
• Adjusting the mounting frame is difficult and frustrating
• Without the app the display is difficult to see in the bright sunshine
• The price

The iGarden Jet Pro series Swim Jets are available through the iGarden website or their local distributor Advinsys

So I honestly struggled to find the cons on the pros and cons list except the glaring one. The price. This unit is not cheap. At a RRP of $6,499 for the top model it is an expensive piece of kit.