VINGLI 21 Feet Pool Cover Reel Set, Aluminum Solar Swimming Inground Blanket Reels (Upgrade)

Really good. Pay attention to the set up. Layout the pieces and fit them with the straps so the cover rolls up evenly. If you do so this is great and their customer service is awesome. Like responses next day and help when needed. Unusual these days. My set up is 20 ft wide by 40 feet long and the cover rolls up perfectly.

This reel works good. For single person operation you need to get creative about anchoring the non-wheel cranking end as it will tip over. (I really can't see a small child rolling up our 17x30 foot solar cover.)I do need to get in contact with the seller. I stored the solar cover over winter on the reel. The yellow cover clips bent, and you can purchase more, but the anchor clips that slide into the grooved reel all broke (plastic). First, they should be made out of the same material as the reel (for salt pools) and I need to buy replacements. I hope the company monitors these reviews.

I was skeptical due to reviews that said it was difficult to understand the instructions, but I found them clear and watched a YouTube video of someone installing this unit, which was helpful. I was able to adjust it to make it wider than my pool to ensure that is rolled up without snagging-just make sure to leave at least a few inches on with side so that it is wide enough. Drilling the holes in order to assemble using the included self tapping screws is easy provided you use a bit for metal and not wood, just capture the shavings for easy clean up. It does tend to want to fall over if you pull the entire cover at once, so I unwrap 1/2 and met it fall into a pile, then cover the pool, making sure I overlap the end of the cover so that pool water doesn’t run over the cover, then the rest comes unwrapped easily and the unit doesn’t fall over. I like the screw handle lock. For another pool I had another reel that was lower to the ground then this one and more stable, but prices for one of those was four times this one, so I took a chance and bought this model. I’m glad I did because it’s well made, all stainless steel and aluminum, with a plastic insert between the two to avoid galvanic corrosion. Good design, great price, easy to install, and looks good. Would definitely buy again.

We chose this reel based on the reviews, ability to adjust to the size we needed and descriptions. The assembly instructions were clear enough for someone who already had a reel so I can't speak to anyone that's new to cover reels. We were able to set it to our desired size, placed the straps in, put the self tapping screws in to secure it and put the ends on. The system is very sturdy with absolutely no sign of sagging and we have the heaviest clear cover on the market for our 18'x33' pool (well over 50lb) I ordered the reel size I did specifically to have the amount of overlap we have for extra strength. We didn't want it on our deck so did modify the base to retrofit an existing off-pool reel system that had finally bit the dust after 19 years. This reel system rolls up and back out so smoothly and I do it by myself. I love the screw/knob that tightens it down to keep it from unrolling while off-pool. This system is 100 percent a thumbs up for us.

The whole thing is hard because none of the parts that are numbered on the instructions have numbers on the bags or the actual part. The screws don't fit in the holes, so I had to use different screws ( wood screws I had on hand) but it would have helped if the instructions were explained better.

Updated 6/21/24: and now we have another 2 screw that have ended up in our pool. It is dangerous for the people swimming to have sharp screws and our pool liner bc it can get ripped. Design is VERY poor!! If I could give it 0 stars I would but I had to give it at least 1.Updated 5/30/2024: I normally don't update my reviews, but feel this is warranted. Since getting this pool reel, we have lost 4 screws out of the metal piece and one almost falling out. One came out within a week and luckily was on the cover. A few weeks later another fell into the pool. When we opened our pool this year we found a screw at the bottom of our deep end and there are 2 screws missing (so one is still MIA) and one that was about to fall out. Understand that this was cheap, but also not expensive. The design of the metal reel and the screws are VERY POOR quality. It's dangerous for the screws to fall out into the pool for both the people swimming, the liner, and the pool equipment!So my very handy husband (who built our in wall bookshelves) had a very difficult time putting this together. First the instructions are horrible, not proper English and not even visually easy to follow. The "self-tapping" screws didn't work so he still had to pre-drill the holes. Then the instructions stated "the buckle line had to be absolutely straight" which is not physically possible, so don't follow those instructions. We put it together and then took it apart and tried to make the buckle line "absolutely straight" as per the instructions, but it was physically impossible. It works, but we've only had it up for 2 days, so I cannot speak to durability. I do wish the clips were white instead of yellow.