Best time to buy

[fyn409]

First let me introduce myself, I am a noob when it comes to pools. My wife and I bought a small Intex Easy Set pool this spring for our daughter. A friend of mine told me about this site a few weeks ago, so I have been reading and absorbing as much info as I can.

Well, we did not know our daughter was going to love it this much, so now we are looking for something more permanent. We are considering a metal frame intex, as well as a “full blown” AG. One of my concerns about just going with another intex is the need to disassemble and re-assemble each season. We are in Michigan, so we get cold winters. It just sounds like too much of a hassle. Would prefer to close up the pool, leave it up and then re-open in the spring.

Now on to my main question, when is the best time of year to purchase a pool, either Intex, or normal AG? We are not in a hurry as our current intex will be fine for the rest of the season, so we are looking for the best deal. I have visited a few of the local pool stores, including a Watsons and have gotten a variety of information. But most of the answers sounded like a used car sales answer “now is the best time”. Now that may be true but it felt like they just wanted to make a sale. What have been your experiences? Seems like fall might be best, but then some have said stock is usually so limited you probably will not get what you are looking for. So just looking for some insight on what others have found.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

Fall or really early spring is usually the best time. The deals are usually better and you can usually get a really fast installation schedule. There may be some truth about certain models being in short supply at local dealers, but I haven't seen that. If you're planning on buying it online they will usually have whatever model you want.

 

[msgtdan]

Welcome

Also there are several people here from up north that keep their intex pools up all year.

 

[crek31]

Actually, for Intex pools, I think about now is a great time. A week or so ago the large rectangle from Intex was on sale for $999 I think - and it is usually $1500 or so. I don't have any idea on timing for non-Intex pools.

 

[bikerskid120]

I keep mine up all year long. Cove it up & unhook pump. Hoses etc. In South Carolina though

 

[cramar]

If your content to ride out this summer then it's not a bad idea to use the down time in the winter to properly plan everything out, that way you can hit the ground running in early spring.

 

[connie]

Welcome

Also there are several people here from up north that keep their intex pools up all year.

I am one of them. Have left my Intex pools up for 6 years now. (1st one a 15x52 Intex, this one a 20 x48 Pro Series) I make sure I drain it below intake and then winterize and cover.

 

[ugafan]

the best prices i've seen are when they go on clearance at target, sometimes up to 70% off in late august.

 

[fyn409]

Thanks for the information, I appreciate it. For those of you with the Intex pools how many have had leak issues out of the box? When looking at a lot of the reviews online it seems about 50% of the people complain about leaks right after they set them up. Now, could be miss handling during setup I suppose. This is one concern I have with buying another intex now and waiting until next spring to set it up. If I have issues I will be way outside of the store return policy, and fortunately I have not had to deal with intex's support yet so I do not know how good that is.

Just did some searching and there does seem to be some good sales on the intex pools right now. Still debating between metal wall or intex. Wife likes the price of the intex, I like the durability of the metal wall AG's.

-Ryan

 

[Safetybob]

Ryan, I feel your pain. We started out about 4 years ago with a rediculouly small sized Intex and have kept growing in pool size each year. We simply don't have the space for the big AG pool that we would like. I, like you, was suprised that the kid(s) liked the pool as much as they have.

Knowing what I know now, I would recommend to you to get the steel walled AG pool and skip the bigger Intex models PARTICULARLY if you kid(s) can swim now. Part of the reason we went bigger was to have that safety level of having the depth of the pool at the level the kid could stand up and save themselves if in trouble. Of course there is always an adult there monitoring the pool, but I feel better that way then having alot of drama needlessly.

A couple of Intex pools and you will be really close to zeroing in on a nice AG pool PLUS generally you will get a much better, solidly build, and rebuildable pump and filter setup that will last a long time versus having to replace an Intex filter/pump every year once or maybe twice.

Make the committment and don't look back. Don't worry about the winters, there are lots of northern teir guys here who will help you get it right for closing........that is unless you decide to pop a heater on the that pool.......but that's another thread...

Bob E.