Agree with you Bob, I've been hard plumbing bits and pieces of mine, and the difference is amazing.
With the parallel carts and twin returns, the "safety" flaps on the bottom of my Intex joke skimmer are open, which has the effect of getting more crud out of the water.
I don't have to vacuum as often, a good sweeping gets the dirt up off the bottom, and is caught in the filter now.
The flow is so much better, even with the original pump running the whole system. before I close this fall I will have a TTW skimmer and at least 1 suction port, all valved so I can balance the flow a bit. I still need to install a pair of "master" valves to isolate the pump and filter set for cart changes. I do have an extra pair soaking all the time for a quick turn-around when needed.
If you haven't looked at it yet, purple link in my sig......