I have been lurking on this website since last summer when I bought my first house and got the pool bug, but it was too late in the season to do anything about it until next year. Now that the new year is here and spring is right around the corner I decided to go ahead and register today so I could eventually get help from the TFP community about what equipment I should buy, so this thread is of particular interest to me too. So, I thought this might be an appropriate thread to go ahead and make my first post.
At any rate, I've learned a lot lurking on this site for a while. It seems to me that people on this site are a big fan of the Intex Ultra-Frame pools for a temporary setup, but for a more permanent rig I have seen many people talk about the Sharkline Matrix. Also, more recently, I've seen people talk about Doughboy pools, of which I know nothing about.
I am curious too as to what the TFP community think is the best above ground pool out there. I am looking for a more permanent setup than an Intex pool. If I were to buy today, I'd buy a 24' Sharkline Matrix round pool (at one time I was looking pretty hard at the 26' Intex Ultra-Frame), but I won't be ready to buy until well into April or May, so I still have plenty of time to get informed and hopefully make the best decision possible.
Also, I wanted to thank zea for mentioning the wood grain trim kit for the Intex Ultra-Frame pool. I had never heard of that before.
Looking forward to hopefully becoming a contributing member of the TFP community!