Solar Pocket Cover Holder 5-Piece Set | U-Shaped Hooks Keep Solar Blankets Off The Ground | Easy Storage & Retrieval | for Steel-Wall Above-Ground Swimming Pools (Stationary/Non-Swivel)

This isn't a bad product (yes it is - update below). It's exactly what I ordered, and it came on time and packaged well. It just isn't as helpful as I was hoping it would be. We just got a new solar cover for our 24-ft round above ground pool. I really wanted a reel for it, but they're all so dang expensive, and the reviews aren't great for any of the large ones, so we went with this instead. It does what it says it will - holds the solar cover off the ground - it's just very inconvenient to use.For starters, I had to go to Ace Hardware and get different screws to mount it. It comes with two lengths of screws for attaching it to the pool, but neither of them was even close to long enough. If you've got a metal cap on your pool edges, it will probably work fine - not plastic caps though. It seems they didn't think about the fact that plastic caps have support ribs on the underside to keep them from bending. The longest included screws were just long enough to almost reach the bottom of the support ribs, not long enough to go through the bracket they're for, and certainly not long enough to have any threads left for the nut to grab.Those support ribs made them a bit difficult to install too. You have to mark and drill holes for the screws to go through. Unless you really trust your measuring skills to be accurate within 1/4", you can't do that from the top to make sure the bracket will be centered properly. With the ribs underneath, you can't really mark it from the bottom unless you've got a really skinny marker. I had to just hold the bracket in place and drill up through it from the bottom. Manageable, but not particularly easy.Also, no matter what your measurements say, install the endmost brackets closer than the rest. I centered each set of brackets on the next panel are of my pool. I measured a couple of times to make sure, and used a 24-ft long string to wrap around and make sure it wouldn't be too far, and it all checked out. However, I didn't think about the fact that only a few inches of the cover are 24-ft since it's round. When I pulled the cover off and into the bracket, it did reach past the end brackets, but not far enough. There wasn't enough cover hanging past the brackets to keep it from falling down in between the brackets. Now my only choice is to leave it as is with the cover hitting the ground on the ends, or put more holes in my caps to move the brackets closer. That's my own fault. The instructions do mention something about possibly needing to mount the end brackets closer. I just thought I had it all figured out and was wrong.After all the work of installing it, the big disappointment is trying to use it. When a solar cover is used properly, the bubble side is down, and the smooth side is on top. To get the cover off the pool, you have to drag it up and over the side, then back down again into these brackets. Trying to do that without ripping the bubbles off as they catch on the edge of the pool while also keeping it fairly centered and straight so it will lay in the bracket is a big pain-in-the-butt. I'm a pretty big guy, and it was a struggle for my 16 year old son and I to do together. I can't imagine how tough it would be for the kids and my small wife to have to do it themselves while I'm at work.Then, pulling the cover back out of it to lay on the pool is the same process, but even harder because of all the kinks it gets in it as it tries to unfold from the brackets. It would take at least three people for it to be an "easy" job: one in the pool pulling it across, and one at each end outside the pool constantly lifting it up over the edge of the pool and untangling the kinks. Seriously, it's a pain-in-the-butt. It's a "$400 for a good reel isn't looking so bad" kind of pain-in-the-butt.Other than the hardware, I can't fault the product itself. It seems to be decent quality capable of doing what it's designed to do. However, it's just not very practical for how difficult it is to use. I'm already starting to work on building my own reel out of spare bicycle parts instead.UPDATE:I've now downgraded this to just 1-star and removed it from my pool. It's pretty much useless. On top of all the other difficulties I already mentioned, another one we've discovered is the way it holds water. Since the cover just folds over itself, all the water that was on the cover after laying on top of the pool just pools up inside the folds where the cover sags between the brackets. That means the third person who has to be under the middle of the cover to make sure the cover slides smoothly over the outside edge of the pool is guaranteed to get soaked with cold water and all the crud that was laying on top of the cover. We ended up not using it and just laying the cover out on the grass while using the pool - much easier in every way.I finally uninstalled this and bit the bullet and ordered a reel. While uninstalling, I found a couple of bent brackets and several bent bolts. Due to the flexibility of the plastic top caps on the pool, and the way the folded cover would kink and get stuck in the brackets all the time, things got bent and twisted a lot - and we are definitely not the abusive types that just yank things around. I also found that despite having the rubber caps on them, the pipes had water inside them meaning they would surely have eventually rusted out too.Overall, my assessment is the same: it's a decent idea, but it just doesn't work in execution. It may be good for smaller covers on smaller pools, but not a 24-foot round.On a positive note, I was able to use the U-shaped brackets to replace the broken plastic hand rails on our steps. That saved us a couple hundred dollars on replacing the steps at least.

I like the idea to keep your solar cover off the ground when the pool is in use. However, they seem flimsy. They are sturdy metal but they twist side to side in the mounting bracket. Personally I think the price was entirely too high for what this is, and to be this “wobbly”. But it serves its purpose.

Purchased these to keep solar cover off the ground and bc they were metal, not plastic. I have a 27' round pool. Installation was fairly easy. Took about 45 minutes. The trouble I had was clearance under the rail. I had to put them close to the posts due to the curvature of the pool. Also, my top rail is not flat, it has stamped high and low ridges so I shimmed the gaps with washers so it played flat and didn't bend the rail. The design could be improved by reversing how the tubes go together. Instead of the female end on the bottom, the male should be on bottom, preventing water from seeping inside the assembly. I fixed that with some white duck tape. One last critique, be careful you don't move them side to side too much. I bent my top rail a little from the weight of the solar cover. Overall, I think they will be worth the money. Keeps the cover clean and is pretty efficient for cover removal and putting it back on. I think 40 to 50 dollars would be more appropriate for a price point, which is my main reason for 4 stars.

We have a 27 ft round pool and always used a roller before. Over the years, I've probably bought 3 different rollers, with the last one being considerably more expensive.The size we needed was the largest roller they made. But it was so wabbly with a solar cover rolled onto it and it was a huge hassle every spring to put the straps on and get them just right, etc.So, after our last roller got ruined last fall we decided to try these hooks instead....considerably cheaper than a roller!!So far, I like them. It's usually just me removing the cover so it takes 5-10 min but sometimes it could take that long to deal with a roller also.I would recommend these hooks, but after using them for a month now, we are going to space them differently. Right now they are evenly spaced. But for a round pool, that doesn't work with the hooks on the ends. The cover falls off of those 2 hooks. We are going to move the outer hooks (both of them) about a foot closer to the one middle hook, and maybe move the two hooks in between, closer to the one middle hook as well.

They were easy to install and work well

When I opened the box to check the parts I realized the blue caps were missing. I sent an email and received them within a few days. It was super easy to put the pieces together and to install. Having this is so much better than throwing the cover over the edge and getting full of grass...plus it's way easier to put the cover back on now.

I had to drill another hole in the top of the hook so I could turn the bracket sideways for it to fit my pool. If anything I would recommend they have four holes drilled out so anyone can use their bracket. Other than that these were the only thing I could find that works and looks good.

For a 30 FT round pool, I needed 2 more hooks and it would be a perfect fit. The only problem we had with it so far was that two of the pieces came without holes so we had to drill our own.