D.E or Sand?

Hi,
I have a 28,500 gallon in-ground pool. I had a D.E filter and it went out last year. I was loaning (the insert) one from a pool care company. But from them taking the old one out to instaring the loaner it got " misplaced" by the company. So I am out the whole inside filter components of a PAC-FAB Nautilus FNS filter. I have two quotes of 600-800 some odd dollars. I also found some for 200 on line but I thought that was "too low". I am also thinking this might be the time to switch to sand. So, I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
Thanks,
Rick

You will get lots of opinions about this.

DE gives the best filtration and will filter out smaller particles. Every time you backwash, you have to replace the DE.

Cartridge also gives pretty good filtration but for most people are a pain in the patootie to clean.

Sand is by far the easiest to use and I think gives very adequate filtration. Backwashing is simple with a sand filter. Turn the handle a couple of times and 2 minutes later you are done. The sand does not have to be replaced. I am on my 11th season with my sand and many people have had theirs for much longer than that. Many of us add a little DE to our sand filters and it improves its filtration capabilities. More about that here:

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=3742

I can't see the link, it says that i don't have permission???

You can see it now.

Thanks Any other suggestions ? Any brand recommendations?