Needing Advice on a Good Swimming Pool!

I would honestly spring for the metal frame pool over the blow up ring. We have had both, this year we got the bigger one at Sams (metal frame) and we love it!! The set up was a breeze and despite the fact that it is not perfectly level, it has not been a problem. We had the blow up pool before, and it really was so much more trouble. The ground you set it on really has to be close to perfectly level, and if the kids lean on the sides too much or anything like that, it tends to become a problem. We love our pool so much already, and school has not even let out yet!! Have tons of fun, and regardless of which one you pick, once it is set up and situated, you will be happy you have it. (If for no other reason than GW perfectly stated "healthy rear" situation:)

Whe have had both the one with the ring and the one that has the poles. I dont remember what size the smallest one is with the poles. Ours was like 12' x 4'or maby 15'x 4'. Anyways we loved it and plan on getting a new one this year! The ring kind is ok, but there is so much wasted space that the ring takes up plus anything really sharp could puncture the ring and then no more pool. The pole one is a lot eaiser to clean, and dosent have to be as level.

Ok, we bought one last night at Toys R Us in Lewisville. It is 13 feet round and 39 inches deep so just a tad bigger than what you are looking at. My husband set it up in under 1/2 hour but it took from 9:00 last night until 6:00 this morning to fill it with the nearly 3000 gallons of water it needed. With the chemicals added to the $129 price, it totaled to $192. My nine year old daughter and almost three year old twins plus my daughter's friend and her brother had an absolute blast in it this afternoon! I even enjoyed it :-) All I had to do was slightly adjust the Ph of the water and then shock the pool with chlorine and then I just added a chlorine tablet that will slowly work through the pump all night. According to the directions, it should be as simple as that, let's hope so. I'm already glad we did it so we don't have to load up and pay extra gas money to go to a city pool plus nobody has to see my "healthy" rear in a bathing suit except those I invite to see it! LOL

We had one 2 summers ago and all it was for us was a giant headache! If you do not get it level it will tip over and spill out the water.This happened to us at least four times amd each time it flooded our neighbor's yard. It was always needing chemicals b/c the ph changes so fast b/c of all the bodies and the ratio of water to sunlight. The sun burns up the chlorine. Once we finally got it to where it would stay up at the end of the summer our grass underneath the pool died and rotted and the backyard smelled of rotten eggs. The pool is hard to get completely dry before rolling up and rolling it up is no easy task either. Over all I think that it cost us $98 for the pool, $50 for the cover,$50 in chemicals, $75-100 in water b/c of all the tipping over and $20 to clean up at the end of the season. I hope this helps you make a decision. Last summer we decided to get a real pool and the deciding factor was the pop up pool trouble. Good luck!