Sun2Solar Clear 16 ft x 32 ft Rectangle Solar Cover | 1200 Series | Heat Retaining Blanket for Rectangular Inground & Above Ground Swimming Pools | Use Sun to Heat Pool | Bubble Heating Blankets

Picked up the 1200 series in March of 2023. It's been on the pool summer 2023 - summer 2025. It does exactly what it's supposed to - maintains and keeps heat in the colder evenings, prevents evaporation in the warm ones. In Northeast Ohio - so this is a short-use season (May through Sept); Just started to notice the blue bubble failure and had my first edge tear during closing. 3 summers is what I anticipated to get out of this. It is not a permanent solution - you will need to buy another. We picked up a cover for it, and I think that made a difference. the prior homeowner left his in the sun and complained they only lasted one season. Note - The 1200 is heavy for a 20x40 pool - buy an appropriate reel. the 1600 is likely overwhelming. I will buy another in the winter of 2026 - this is a no-brainer for us.

We keep coming back to this same solar cover every time we need a new one. It lasts about 3 seasons before starting to break down and become brittle, and we use it for one more season past that. It seems such a waste to keep throwing away this much plastic, but it makes such a difference. Not so much in warming up the water, but it really helps to prevent heat loss overnight and also saves water by preventing evaporation. It is easy to cut to fit our free form 18x36 pool and works well with a solar reel. We have tried other solar blankets that claim to last longer, but they aren't worth the extra money. Additionally, the extra weight of thicker mil plastic makes the blanket heavy to roll up and makes the reel bend down. This one seems to be the happy medium of longevity and ease of use.

When the cover arrived (January 2024) it looked OK. Perhaps a little thin, but I knowingly bought a 12-mil thickness (I'd had 12-mil before, and they lasted 3+ years). First year, all OK. It was only on the pool for 6 months (FL winter months), then stored indoors. The next year, it was still OK when I installed it in November 2024. By April 2025, there was some deterioration, but still usable. I kept the cover on the pool in April 2025 (for the summer, and did not remove it ever) to prevent evaporation loss. But by late June, it was in tatters. About half of the bubbles had separated, leaving thousands of 1/2" blue discs in the water. The seams were separated, much of the blue color had bleached out, and the surface tore like toilet paper when I tried to move it. A pool solar cover should last more than 1.5 years (1 year of actual on-the-pool use). It's apparent that the material was low quality, and was not sun tolerant -- a real shortcoming in SOLAR pool cover. The manufacturer should have indicated that the expected life was only 1 year. Don't buy this cover due to its short life. And I'd be leery of anything from this brand.

Update: So this lasted 2 1/2 season. It was fine up to 2 summer...about 1/2 way on the third summer, bubbles started to disintegrate and finally the cover ripped. I did keep the cover on during the day time on 3rd summer which caused algae bloom. Learned that the hard way and should uncover it in the morning from now on. 2nd cover so far and these cover don't seems to make it over 3 years. I use a pool reel and do put them away after swim season. I had 14 mil for my cover before and used it for 3 years before I decided it needed to be replaced. I accidentally purchased a wrong size (bit smaller) that the 14 min left a bit of gap toward edge of the pool, but it was able to get the temperature above 90 if I kept the cover on for a week during summer. I decided to give 12 mil a try since it was bit cheaper, and to test out the insulation. I did get correct size and trimmed away to make it fit my pool. I put it on the reel right away to make it easier to cover and uncover. Per a recommendation, I attached retractable dog leash on one side for covering of the pool for end of the night when it retracts to covers the pool (sort of). The cover extends the swim season by warming up the pool before summer starts and keeping it warm toward the end of the season. I did notice some difference between 12 mil and 14 mil cover. Mainly weight and temperature. 14 mil is definitely heavier. But it puts more weight on the reel and heavier when pulling it to cover the pool. 14 mil keeps the temperature warmer. In So Cal, when 14 mil covers the pool for a few days it'll raiser the temperature quickly. Keep it on for a week, it'll raise the temperature of the water to 90 degrees and possibly warmer if I kept it on longer. There were nights when I left the cover off since the water was too warm and needed to be cooled off. I left the cover on during and after a rain. With warmth and not mixing with chlorinated water, I had an algae bloom that started on the cover and spread. Lesson learned, take cover off after a rain. 12 mil I've kept the cover on for a week and it hasn't quite reached 90 degrees. But I am able to keep the cover on for days when I'm not using the pool and not having to worry about getting too warm to swim. So for me I do like 12 mil better since I do not have to keep covering and uncovering on days I don't swim, but 14mil may be useful for people in bit cooler climate. 14 or 12 mil, I would highly recommend getting a solar blanket. Even in Southern California summer, water is still pretty cold (some where in 70's) but the blanket will make it much more enjoyable for everyone. I'll be more diligent in putting away the pool cover after summer to see if that will stretch the life of the cover and write a follow up

As one who has used pool covers for the past ten years, I can attest that this is an excellent product. I know that your thinking "how is one pool cover better than another?" Two main reasons: One is that the seams are well sealed. I've had covers where the seams started to become unsealed within a few weeks. Second, it is a precise rectangle. That may seem unimportant but for someone who has rolled up a pool cover at least a thousand times, I can tell you from experience that covers that are off by even a couple inches makes the process of rolling up the cover rather tedious and time consuming. This one I can roll up in maybe 60-75 seconds. Rolling up a pool cover is a pain in the first place but if you know you can do it quickly and efficiently then it makes that spur of the moment midnight dip in the pool that much more likely! For those of you on the fence concerning a pool cover, let me tell you the benefits I've noticed. 1. You can heat your pool easier. The numbers I see thrown around of up to ten degrees are for the most part true. Before I started using pool covers, I could hope for a summer time high water temperature of 80-82 degrees. With the pool cover I can keep it at about 85 with ease (too warm for my taste but that's how my wife likes it. I was gone last weekend and when I took the cover off on Monday, the water temp was 90 degrees! I had to keep the cover off for a couple days to get it back to a suitable temperature. 2. It saves on chemicals. Now of course, the higher your water temperature the more chlorine you go through, but with the cover on it keeps the chlorine from leaking away into the atmosphere allowing it to work in your pool longer. 3. It saves on water. The way you heat water is by evaporating it, but with a cover, that evaporating water goes right back into the system. During the summer I can lose maybe a quarter inch of water a day without the pool cover on versus a quarter inch every couple days with it on. In fact the only time that I'm losing water is when I take the cover off to swim. 4. It keeps the pool cleaner. I honestly haven't used the automatic vacuum in nearly a month. I pick up the few leaves that get in by net but I haven't had to clean it in any other way. That in itself is a real time saver. All told, it is a bit of an outlay for the entire reel system and the covers last only about perhaps 18 months at best, but overall I would consider the pool cover system to be one of the better purchases I've made. And as for the pool cover, this one has been an excellent purchase and value. I will surely, 100% buy my next cover from them.

I have a pool heater that is expensive to run, and takes forever to heat the pool. This past season I got this product (1200 Series) to see if it would work. Wow, what a difference! Some days it worked TOO well, and I had to add cold water to bring the temperature down a bit. It heated the pool quickly, and retained the heat overnight. I didn't use my heater once this past season, and I kept my pool open until the leaves started falling faster than I could scoop them out of the pool. It lasted the entire season with no issues. I did also get a cover reel and rinsed it occasionally, which I think helped with the durability. I should get at least another season out of it. Even if I had to buy a new one every year it would still be worth it in the money I save from not running the heater.

Buyer beware!! I ordered this product in April 2022. It did a good enough job (hence two stars) but it completely disintegrated by the end of 2023. I bought another in May of 2024 and here we are again, at the end of year two, and it is completely disintegrating. You can see from the pictures it has holes and tears, and all those little white dots are where the air pockets fell off, leaving little blue dots clogging up our skimmer. We use it for about a month in the spring and a month in the fall. Otherwise it is cleaned and kept in a climate controlled garage. In other words, I get about three months of usage before it starts to fall apart. The worst part? Since I ordered the second one before I requested the warranty reimbursement, they wouldn’t honor it. So I’m out $400 dollars for essentially 6 months of usage. I will not order again. Overall, it was a terrible product and even worse customer service. I will not waste my money on this product again.

It came rolled up nice and neat but was very hard to separate alone because it sticks to itself like Saran Wrap. Its a little cheap so I don't expect it to last very long either. Also it had a tear in the material when I received it.