Zodiac Cyclonic Leaf Catcher, CLC500

Works well

When I saw this, I wasn't sure but I took a chance. So glad I bought this product! Adds one more level of pump protection so that big chunks of leaves don't go into the filter. Easy to use. A little cumbersome getting it to stay hooked into the dedicated backboard in the pool, but it eventually does stay in place. So worth it!

Picks up all the leaves and keeps my pool sparkling

this is one of the best leaf catchers I've ever tried, I've read reviews of different ones and have come to the conclusion that this one is the best heavy duty plastic easy to install comes with all hardware easy instructions. but it states that you need to install it between two hoses this is not true my intex above ground pool has the suction port below the water level about twelve inches, and being that I'm using an automatic cleaner which includes all hoses this canister tends to float in the wrong position so instead of going by the instructions I installed this directly into the suction port using the adapter that came with the cleaner, it keeps this below water level and it does not move in any direction yet it does the job! no air will get into this unit so you will not lose suction on your pump, this unit is easy to clean and the company has all the parts if it should need to be fixed if you have a lot of debris that accumulates in your pool then this is the unit to buy, the unit will stop any debris before it goes into your pump basket forcing you to shut down and clean, and it will not clog your valves going to your pump this unit has got all the bells and whistles you will not be disappointed.

We recently purchased a home with a pool which had an older version of this canister; we bought this new canister to replace it and have used it now for about five weeks. My review consists of (1) the PROS, (2) the main CON, and (3) a super simple fix you can do to eliminate the CON. With the con fix in place, I love the product; before the fix, I was about to get rid of the thing. Five stars, minus one for having to do the fix. PROS: When it works properly, it's great. Captures leaves, debris, long hair, etc. which would otherwise go directly into the side suction and clog up the filter over time. The observable cyclonic action of the captured debris clearly indicates a strong suction. Easy to rotate and pop off the lid periodically, remove the trap, and dump out the leaves. Visually, looks nice and clean. CON: As at least one other reviewer has noted, the canister does not want to stay upright in the pool. On several occasions I have come out to see it inverted to the point that part of its bottom gasket is above the water line; this sucks air into the system and causes our priming pot and pump to run dry. Bad news. Here's why this happens: as the pool vacuum moves around the floor and the suction line follows along throughout the day, the hose twists and untwists; this also causes the hose to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise ever so slightly where it joins to the canister. That imperceptible rotation, over time, moves the canister out of its upright position. Left unchecked, it can rotate so much that the canister partially inverts above the water line. The company's suggested solution for a less-than-vertical orientation: gently rotate the coupling hoses so that the canister floats vertically again. Yeah, OK, but I don't want to do that multiple times a week, nor do I want to obsess about the canister inverting itself and running my priming pot dry. Annoying. CON FIX (see pics): With the pump running, I made sure the canister floated upright; as needed, I rotated the white suction hoses ever so slightly in either direction to get the canister as vertical as possible. Once satisfied, I turned off the pump and pulled the canister up just above the water line. Using a screwdriver tip, I lightly scored a small hash mark on the hose ends and canister connectors to mark the matching locations of each. (I did this so that in the event the hoses twisted when I took the canister fully out of the water, I would know where again to line them up properly.) Next I took the canister of the pool completely with the hoses still attached. Having ensured the hash marks still lined up, I then screwed two small stainless sheet metal screws to join the white hoses to the blue connectors on each side. Soft plastic, easy to drive in by hand. This cheap and easy fix makes it virtually impossible for the white hoses to rotate and keeps the canister upright all the time. Problem solved. Great product with this simple solution in place.

Works great!

When I was ordering my pool vacuum for a new pool, I saw this item and knew that I needed it. I have a large oak tree near the pool, as well as plenty of shrubbery. It also gets quite windy at times. This item catches the leaves and other debris before they can make it to the filter, saving stress on the machinery and quite helpful for my pool guy as well. The amount of leaves that were prevented from going into the filter was impressive. I'm very happy to have spent the extra money when setting up my equipment; definitely worth it!

It's a proprietary accessory for a Zodiac pool cleaner. The cleaner works well, if it can get water pressure. Unfortunately, unless you modify every single proprietary accessory, it cannot! Everything (especially this piece) sucks air! The hose floats and the joints suck air. This Leaf Catcher is somehow able to suck air through BOTH SIDES at the same time! I've used my glue-gun to make the catches fit tighter and put on an o-ring to make the top fit tighter. It's not fun to clean, either. It's even less fun, now that it's tighter. I would NEVER buy another Zodiac product. This one gets to stay with the house when I move.

Worked great and avoided plugging the skimmer and pump baskets. My pool start up cleaning was much easier with this unit. Works as described

The MX-8 Elite and Cyclonic Cannister attachment make for a perfect cleaning system for small/medium-sized pools. They perform exactly as described for a reasonable price. Highly recommended.

It works well. Easy to install. Saves me time with not having to constantly clean the filter at the pump. Would recommend it to others.

Our pool

Unit works well, very easy to clean. It saves a lot of time as I no longer have to shut off the pool pump to clean the basket. What I didn't like is for almost $100 the unit doesn't come with the necessary fittings and adapters I required. Lucky I had some old pool hose that I had and a Piece of PVC tubing to make it work. Otherwise fittings are about $20 each on Amazon, so the filter would cost $140 total which isn't acceptable in my opinion.