Submersible Water Pump Camo, 1/2 HP, Flow Rate 4200 GPH, Max Lift 30 Ft, 6 Hose Kit, Auto-Flo® Automatic Switch, Knock Over Operation

From the description of this pump,you’d get the idea that it’s failure proof. After using it briefly a couple of times I’ve found that hardly to be the case. Despite touting superior technology in the automotive control I immediately became aware of two serious faults—for one, despite being submerged in water the pump failed to move any water until being unplugged and replugged at least once, acting like it was air bound although the motor continues to run regardless. Secondly, it sometimes keeps running despite evacuating water to the level at which it’s supposed to shut off, risking motor burnout if not powered off manually. The pump works well enough when it doesn’t get airbound but this is supposed to work automatically—well, it doesn’t.

Initially I thought I'd need more HP but the numbers advertised for this were consistent with pumps that have more HP and I liked the other features and look of this pump. The key to this little powerhouse is the 2 inch hose compatibility. It's a game changer. I have a drain under my deck that backs up every time there is a heavy rain. Over the years I've had different pumps but in heavy conditions, they cannot keep up. The smart bot turns on when water is at 2 inches and quickly starts moving. I haven't tested this in tropical storm level conditions so that will be the next challenge but for "regular" heavy rain storms that pass in 30-60 minutes - rains that would cause a back up of several inches - this pump has no problem keeping up. Gives me a lot of piece of mind. I have only one suggestion but it's fairly specific, the lights (the "eyes") are always illuminated. I wish they only turned on when in use, or turned a different color when in use. I have a camera under the deck so I can monitor the drain and I would love to have an indication that the pump is engaged. I've recommended this pump to my neighbor and brother and its by far the best pump I've had. If has good reliability over the years this will have been a steal at $200.

Not sure why this pump didn’t work in the latest storm. It was on it’s side and off in a pool of water when I found it (after my water leak alarm went off). Maybe because I didn’t use the right kind of hose. Put on a better hose, hoping it will work next time. Will report back.

We needed to empty our swimming pool fast. This little guy was perfect.

This seems like a great little pump, but beware. Mine stopped working after about a year. It fails to detect water and start automatically, which is the whole reason I got it.

Failed after one use. Purchased to drain pool. Worked fine. Placed in storage for the following year. Took it out today and it didn’t work. Do t waste your money.

It stopped working just like the first one and Amazon stopped selling it but will not refund my money even though they knew it was defective.

This is a review of the "Smartbot Submersible Utility Pump Super 4200 CAM Gray Camo, 1/2 HP, Flow Rate 4200 GPH, Max Lift 30 Ft, 6 Hose Kit, Auto-Flo® Automatic Switch, Knock Over Operation"I bought this with the hope that I honestly never need it! I don't have a pool or water features...but I do have a basement! The house I grew up in used to have flooding issues all the time and ever since I've owned my own home, flooding has always been a concern of mine as a result! About 2 years ago, my sump pump died, and I didn't know and woke up the next morning to about 4 inches of water across the entire basement floor! I ran out to Home Depot and Lowes to look for a pump and guess what? There had been about 24 hours of rainfall and they were entirely sold out of submersible pumps at all the stores in the area! After having to shop-vac out 4 inches of water from an 1800 sq ft basement, I decided that I would be buying a submersible pump the next time my house budget allowed, just in case i ever needed it so that I never experienced that ordeal again!Now with that out of the way, the pump is made in China, it seems to be a solid unit with some heft to it and seems sturdy enough to hold up for a long time. The power cord is built into the unit itself and does not appear that you could ever replace it without compromising the unit being waterproof, so do not ever pull it by the power cord, if you damage that, you're most likely stuck with a dead pump! The cord is about 10ft long, which from my research means it's a bit short for a lot of pool applications (but not a concern for me since I don't have a pool).I tested this by filling up a 5 gallon home depot bucket and fully dunking this guy in it. Within a second or two, it kicked on and started pumping out water! It got down to very little water left in the bucket. I tested this with the garden hose adapter as well as the full 2" hose that I purchased to go along with it and there is a clear difference in speed; the 2" hose is WAY faster, but the garden hose worked as well. So if you're going to splurge on this higher flow unit, you should really also get a 2" hose to go with it if you really want to see the speed at which it can work.As a few others have mentioned in their reviews, I feel like one item that is worth calling out is that this is called the "Smartbot". Well, there is nothing smart about it other than it turns itself off at a certain depth, but as far as I can tell, almost all submersible pumps do this these days. There seems to be nothing actually smart about it. Thats not a bad thing, just a bit misleading as you put the name "smart" in it and you expect that maybe there is some sort of Wi-Fi functionality or Bluetooth app or something like that to communicate with the device or get stats from it or something; but no, nothing like that here at all.