Well it looks like after waiting for close to 3 weeks, my neighborhood Mr. Fixit is coming saturday to "hopefully" level the yard for the 24 foot Matrix I want to put in. So assuming he doesn't run into any problems with the area(rocks) I will be ordering the pool this weekend. I'm planning on a foam cove mainly for the uniformity around the bottom and was wondering what everyone thought about wall foam? Does it make a difference in temp retention or is it mainly for the feel of a softer wall.

Any and all opinions are greatly appreciated

No difference in heat retention, others may disagree but there simply isn't enough insulation value there, any "evidence" to the contrary is simply anecdotal.
It can be nice for a softer wall feel though.

Matrix is a great pool!

Thought about the foam..But,would put a pad in for sure..

I was at your spray painted circle! I'm sitting here looking at mine as our pool installer arrives tomorrow. I can't speak to what it's like to OWN the products, but I can tell you what we chose, and why:-)

We opted to do foam cove and Gorilla Pad. The foam cove was thrown in by the pool store as a freebie. The pad we paid for but for two.

1. We have crawfish in our suburban midwest backyard. I'd like to discourage them from coming up and getting my liner!
2. There's a lot of 'stuff' in the yard compliments of a lazy builder -- glass, rocks, etc

We chose Gorilla pad because of 1. cost 2. one piece construction. It'll be installed tomorrow so I can let you know then. We didn't do wall foam because my engineer hubby said it wouldn't have much insulating effect and we'd already committed to spending enough!

Congrats on the new pool, hope the ground work goes smoothly for you!

I'm with cramer on this one, no significant insulating value. If your wall was rough on the inside, it would protect the liner, but rough walls are not normal unless a lot of repair has been done.

Thanks for all the replies, really appreciate it. You all confirmed what I was pretty sure about but wanted to be certain. I'd already planned on a pad, ArmourShield is what poolsupplyworld sells but I'm still researching the differences in brands.

@Bethy - Hope you install goes perfectly and please post up some pictures.

@Cramer - I've looked through your build threads so many times, thanks for all the information. The Matrix wasn't my first choice but we ended up wanting the 54 inch depth and the extra cost for the Matrix was nothing.

Glad the pics helped!

I have Gorilla Pad, if you go that route just be aware that that is absolutely no insulation or padding value to it, it is a very thin geotextile type fabric whose sole purpose is to prevent tears to the liner. I'm not endorsing that brand over a different one, just putting it out there that there is no padding/insulation value to it, and I don't believe the company claims it either.

Thanks! We've already had a call and a pretty significant change before 8am, including not using our Gorilla Pad Guess the good news is we're getting a bigger pool for no $ upgrade and they are throwing in the perfect bottom in exchange for my gorilla pad since it's their error.... Here's a link to my build thread: pool-change-on-install-day-need-quick-advice-t47841.html