Binder makes three counter-current systems, and the honest truth is that the decision between them is almost always settled by two questions: what stage is your pool at and how long is it. The technology inside the turbine is the same family across all three. The difference is how and where it gets installed, and how much water it moves.
The short answer
If you're building a new pool, pick Binder HydroStar. If you're retrofitting an existing pool and you can't — or don't want to — cut the shell, pick Binder EasyStar. If your pool is compact, wellness-sized or an awkward shape, pick Binder LittleStarlet. That covers roughly ninety percent of buyer decisions before any spec conversation happens. The rest of this article is the detail behind the decision — pool length, flow, power, exclusion criteria and a Cyprus-specific note on where each one lands in the kind of homes we work in.
HydroStar — the new-build answer
HydroStar is Binder's built-in system. The turbine lives behind the pool wall in an installation shaft, with only the flow-optimised outlet plate visible from inside the pool. Because it's engineered into the pool during construction, it's the cleanest-looking option and the one that scales the furthest.
The range is eight models — from the BGA 160 at 1,350 W drawing 6 A, through the S, M and L series, up to the PRO-class BGA 1200 at 6,800 W drawing 32 A. Flow ranges from 50 m³/h at the low end to 1,200 m³/h at the top. Minimum pool length is 4.5 m. Every unit runs on 230 V, which matters in Cyprus because you don't need a three-phase supply upgrade just to put a turbine in the wall.
Who HydroStar is for
- You're building a new pool (or doing a full rebuild) and the civil works are still open.
- Your pool is 4.5 m or longer.
- You want the turbine hidden — nothing visible on the coping, nothing bracketed to the edge.
- You want the option to size up later, or you want a serious training-grade current from day one.
Who HydroStar is not for
If your pool is already built and tiled, retrofitting HydroStar means opening the wall. That's rarely the right call economically — EasyStar exists precisely to avoid it. HydroStar is also overkill for a 4 × 2 m plunge pool; the smallest model in the range still works from 50 m³/h, but the engineering overhead of a built-in installation doesn't pay back on a wellness-scale pool.
EasyStar — the retrofit answer
EasyStar is the bracket-mount sibling. Instead of sitting behind the wall, it hooks onto the pool edge with a bracket, so the only thing the pool has to provide is structural edging and a 230 V socket within reach. No cutting, no re-tiling, no civil works. For an existing Cyprus villa pool, this is almost always the shortest path from "we want a current" to "the current is running."
The EasyStar range is six models, sharing the same turbine chassis family as HydroStar from BGA 160 up through BGA 550 — 50 to 550 m³/h, 1,350 W to 3,400 W, 6 A to 16 A. The minimum pool length is 5.0 m. Warranty is two years as standard. It uses the same BOB touchscreen control panel and BINDER24 app as HydroStar on the matching BGA sizes.
Who EasyStar is for
- Your pool is already built and at least 5 m long.
- You don't want to open the shell or redo the coping.
- You want a flow profile comparable to HydroStar at the mainstream sizes (everything up to BGA 550 is shared).
- You want a 230 V install that an electrician can complete in a day.
Who EasyStar is not for
EasyStar doesn't go into the PRO range — if you need BGA 600 or BGA 1200 flow (lap-pool or lazy-river territory), that's HydroStar PRO. It also isn't the right choice on a brand-new pool you're still designing: if the walls are open, you may as well specify HydroStar and get the cleaner integration. And it's not the right answer for a compact wellness pool — that's LittleStarlet.
LittleStarlet — the compact and plug-and-play answer
LittleStarlet is the smallest Binder. A Ø 25 × 40 cm body, a standard 230 V / 8 A plug, 180 m³/h of continuously adjustable flow, and silent operation. Binder describes it as the smallest Binder built like the biggest, and in practice the positioning is right: it's the unit you reach for when the pool is too small, too shallow, or too irregular for a wall-mounted turbine.
It runs on the same BINDER24 app as the larger models, with a slider for intensity and the ability to save custom training programs. It has an integrated LED ring at the outflow. Crucially, because it's plug-and-play, it can be installed in places the built-in models can't — including integrated into a pool staircase.
Who LittleStarlet is for
- A compact pool, a plunge pool, a wellness pool or a spa.
- A DIY retrofit where you'd rather plug in than wire in.
- An oddly shaped pool where wall integration isn't feasible.
- You want training and fitness swimming, not competition-grade training.
Who LittleStarlet is not for
If you're a serious lap swimmer with a 12 m pool, 180 m³/h will feel soft next to a HydroStar BGA 275 or BGA 320. Binder also doesn't publish a fixed minimum pool length for LittleStarlet, which cuts both ways — suitability depends on geometry, so we'll tell you directly whether your pool is a realistic fit before you commit.
The Cyprus picture
Three pool archetypes cover most of what we see on the island, and each one lands naturally on a different model.
The Limassol or Paphos new-build villa — a 10 to 14 m private pool specified during construction, a pool builder already on site, civil works still open — is HydroStar territory. Specify the BGA 215 or BGA 275 at M-series, hide it behind the wall, run it off the existing 230 V circuit, and you have a full-length swim current with nothing visible on the coping.
The existing pool retrofit — an older Nicosia or Larnaca villa pool, tiled and in use for years, where the owner wants a swim current without breaking the shell — is EasyStar territory. The bracket hooks to the pool edge, an electrician brings 230 V to the spot, and the turbine is running the same afternoon. This is the single most common Cyprus scenario we see.
The compact wellness pool — a rooftop plunge pool in a Limassol apartment, a courtyard spa in a traditional stone house, a hydrotherapy pool in a clinic — is LittleStarlet territory. Plug it into a standard socket, control it from your phone, and you have a training current in a pool that a full HydroStar would overpower.
All three systems use standard 230 V power and brushless DC motors rated for continuous operation. Cyprus doesn't have the winterisation problem that colder markets deal with — pools run year-round, and the turbines have no frost-sensitive pipework to drain. That's one decision you don't have to make.
How to decide in ninety seconds
Ask three questions in order:
- Is the pool already built? If no, default to HydroStar. If yes, go to step two.
- Is the pool 5 m or longer? If yes, EasyStar is the path of least resistance. If no, go to step three.
- Is it a compact, wellness or irregular pool? LittleStarlet is the answer.
Ninety percent of the time the decision resolves on those three. The other ten percent is where the conversation gets interesting — pool geometry, how you actually swim, whether you want to sit a BOB control panel on the wall, whether the electrical supply needs an upgrade for a larger BGA size. That's what we're here for.
Where we fit in
Reon Living is the Cyprus distributor for Binder. We're not the manufacturer — Binder engineers and builds the turbines in Germany — but we handle the specification, installation planning and warranty on the island. When you buy through us, you get a single local point of contact for the turbine side of the project, working with your pool builder (for HydroStar) or your electrician (for EasyStar and LittleStarlet), and support that doesn't require shipping anything off Cyprus.