Long on Fun, Short on Durability - Updated 2002
Written: Jun 30 '00 (Updated Aug 07 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Lots of activities, good buy for the price
Cons: Long inflation time, poor durability
The Bottom Line: Too much fun to ignore, and repairs are easy if you are prepared.
|
|
|
| mkaar's Full Review: Playground Pool |
See the bottom of this review for our update...in the meantime, read the history...
We purchased the Playground Pool about two weeks ago, at our five-year-old's insistence...she had seen it in the store in early May, and knew she had to have it.
We were in the market for a soft-sided pool, as our two-year-old would be sharing it. Our thoughts were more to the affordable (relatively disposable) smaller pools, but seeing the features on the box, and the look in Emily's eyes, we knew the decision had been made (without us!)
Observations:
The kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE this thing! Easy access (with the exception of the slide, which pushes the limits of our son's height and strength at age 2 next month), multiple activities, and relative safety (cannot be over-filled) make this a great afternoon-filler.
The sprinkler (connected to your garden hose) offers a neat way to fill the pool, as well as expanding the play area to well outside the pool, if you have decent water pressure.
The basketball hoop again expands the play area, and provides a sometimes welcome diversion from wet activities. The supplied balls automatically enlarge your wiffle ball arsenal so you don't have to run and get them so often... :-). The balls are poor quality, thin-wall plastic...probably for cost savings, but they are actually softer, and probably less painful, if inadvertantly thrown at a toddler, rather than the basket...
Drain plugs make emptying easier, but only with time -- at about 3/4" each, it takes a while to empty the 50-60 gallons of water...and they get easily clogged with grass clippings, etc. I have learned the fine art of working with the undulations of water to empty the pool 5-10 gallons at a time --- not an easy task, considering the size and ungainliness of this thing.
The slide is the most attractive feature for both kids (again, 5 and soon-to-be 2), but also the most concern for parents. It can be tough for the little ones to scramble up onto, and they can easily come down sideways (or even head first). If your lawn is not relatively thick underneath the landing area, the shallow water does very little to absorb the impact...
The slide is also now the first piece to develop a hole, that requires a daily re-inflation -- patches don't hold well on this heavily used item.
Last, but not least (and actually FIRST!) this thing takes FOREVER to inflate! We used a canister vac with the hose on the exhaust side, and it still took nearly an hour (remember to take the bag out to increase airflow and decrease motor strain!)
We don't expect the pool to last all summer, in fact it may not make it beyond the 4th of July, if it remains hot and dry, but my wife and I have agreed that we'll probably have to suck it up and buy another one just like it...All things considered, and as difficult as this thing can be for the parents to deal with, if I were to judge it through my kid's eyes, I'd have to say 5 stars...after all, whose toy is it anyway?
UPDATE 2002
As expected, this pool lasted just a season - primarily due to the fact that a raccoon got into our shed over the winter and made a nest of it!
Our second pool, purchased again at our kids' insistence, is the same one, and holds their interest just as well.
Here are a few things we've learned:
1) Boogie boards on the slide have a tendency to overstress the pool! Be prepared, the weakest link in this entire construction is the corner welds on the slide bottom. When you purchase the pool, be sure to purchase a large-size repair kit (we bought an underwater pool liner repair kit for about $5). When the corner welds inevitably rip, causing 2-4" long holes in the bottom, you'll be prepared to make repairs - the pool liner repair kits have large 12" X 24" strips of plastic material that can be cut to size. Once these corner repairs have been made, they don't appear to rip again - you'll be a hero! Be sure to allow the full 12 hour period for drying, though - a large repair like that takes a long time for the glue to set up.
2) Emptying the pool is much faster if you simply stand on the corners, and let the warm water run over your feet (duh, Dad!). Brings back memories of childhood mud pies, with the mud squishing between your toes
3) If folded neatly at the end of the season, this thing will fit in an empty drywall bucket (with a cover!) to ensure years of use and protection from raccoons and other critters
Happy Summer!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
mkaar
|
|
Member: Marko Kaar
Location: Connecticut
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 15 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.