Okay let me tell you how I finally stopped scrubbing pool tiles like a caveman this summer. It started when I dipped my goggles in the water and nearly gagged – the grime lines looked like some weird modern art. Enough hand-scrubbing nonsense. Time for machine help.

My Crappy Tile Situation

First step? Stared at my ugly pool edges. Greenish-brown gunk growing between tiles near the waterline. Felt like brushing a hippo's teeth trying to scrub that mess with old brushes. Wasted two weekends doing that garbage. My back still aches thinking about it.

Research Mayhem

Jumped online typing "best machines to clean pool tiles" like my life depended on it. Got blasted with fifty thousand options. Almost gave up until I decided to compare only the top 5 everybody kept raving about in forums. Printed specs and just dumped them on my kitchen counter like a mad scientist.

Test Drive Time

Borrowed two units from neighbors first because no way I'm buying blind:

• Model A: Felt like pushing a dying lawnmower. Shook so bad I thought it'd jump in the deep end. But damn it scraped off the thick calcium deposits near the ladder like butter.
• Model B: Quieter than my AC unit but kept getting stuck on rounded corners. Had to baby-sit it constantly. Good for flat surfaces though.

Said screw it and rented three others:

• Model C: Lightweight wand thing. Perfect between small tiles but took three passes per inch. Felt like watching paint dry.
• Model D: Absolute tank. Ate algae for breakfast but heavy as hell. Needed breaks every 10 minutes.
• Model E: Weird little UFO-shaped gadget. Zoomed around corners by itself but skipped spots like a drunk Roomba.

What Actually Worked

After a week of testing like some pool-cleaning lab rat:

• Thick crust demons? Model D destroyed them. Felt like bringing a shotgun to a knife fight.
• Basic scum lines? Model B on straight walls + Model C for tile gaps made quick work.
• Wanna ignore it while drinking beer? Model E actually got decent once I adjusted the floaters. Mostly.

Ended up buying Model C cause my tile gaps were nasty. Added Model E later just cause I'm lazy. Took photos after – waterline looks like glass now. Still can't believe I used to scrub that crap manually like some medieval peasant.