I got the 12' round pool as it is the only thing that will fit in my yard. I got it last year and did not winterize it, was easy to break down and set up again. This year I added a $60 solar panel to increase the temp a bit. I want to put a bigger panel on the roof of the garage where it can catch more sun, and I know that the toy pump that came with it, does not have the head to pump that high, but I cannot find any static head information for the Intex pumps, their only rating is in GPH I need to go up about 16'.
The solar panel was a rip. it consists of 6 black 3/4" hoses 10' long and a manifold for each end (plastic) and some pleated black plastic (garbage bag material) to fish the hoses through. It took a couple of hours to put it all together. The nice part was the quick disconnects at the end of the ¾ hoses to connect to the manifold. I then spent $50 at Lowes hardware for pipes and valve for necessary bypass system. One thing that you don't think of is a solar heater becomes a radiator at night, so you need to either bypass or turn the pump off. Either way you need to bleed that air out so it either needs to be below the water line of the pool, ir you need a pump with good static head.
Right now I have the heater about 6' off of the ground, on a shelf attached to a fence, and the stock heater is pushing the water through it once it gets bled.