Polaris 280 revisited

[dalehileman]

If you're familiar with the device I have a couple of questions. As our 380 is wearing out after some 7 years of 3-hrs/day service I am considering replacing it with a 280 which gets better grades by Amazon customers than any of its predecessors or successors and whose price remarkably has dropped in half so

1. Can the 280 be used with the same booster as the 380

2. Would you happen to know if its bag-assembly base (two concentric plastic rings) comes apart in the same way as the 380's so when the fabric wears out you can easily substitute a home-made bag and

3. Can you guess why the price of the 280 has dropped so; for instance (a) has it been discontinued and if so (b) whether this bodes ill for the continuing availability of spare parts

Thanks all

[dalehileman]

Having meanwhile acquired some guidance from another source:

1. Can the 280 be used with the same booster as the 380-Yes

This being most fortunate if you're in the market because 280 price has dropped from something over $500 to something approaching $400 (Amazon, where a new price seems to be posted daily)

2. Would you happen to know if its bag-assembly base (two concentric plastic rings) comes apart in the same way as the 380's so when the fabric wears out you can easily substitute a home-made bag--Yes

For anyone contemplating one of these two units: They clean up pretty well if you're willing to occasionally reset the rear jet for more random coverage though with some 30 moving parts difficult and expensive to maintain owing for instance to a bad choice of materials (metallic screws for example that are dissolved by chlorinated pool water)

--where the bag (on the 380) costs $33 to replace, you can fashion one in a few minutes for a few cents worth of material. After some experimenting I food that rug non-slip is nearly ideal while It's available in range of weaves and is easily sewed flat like the original it's replacing

and

3. Can you guess why the price of the 280 has dropped so; for instance (a) has it been discontinued and if so (b) whether this bodes ill for the continuing availability of spare parts

No response yet so I am wondering if any of you fellas might be able to provide some insight into this critical issue

Thanks all