Pool pads? Are they helpful?

I am getting ready to install a AGP (21x43) and found this site too late to help with alot of questions, but I am wondering if putting down a pool pad is a plus or just added expense. I could have ordered one with our pool for $380.

I am not an installer, but when my liner was replaced a few years back, the guy did put some kind of pink pad down under it and then duct-taped the seams of the pad. The pad was not specifically a pool product, but something that either went behind paneling or inside drywall or ?????? I can't remember. I does make the floor of the pool nicer than without it but one problem I do have now is that dirt wants to settle in those slight indentations where the duct-tape is under there. Not a huge issue and easily vacuumed up but even when I vac every day, any dirt that settles back down always settles in those lines. Does the pad you are looking it come in pieces where you would have to have multiple pieces or is it one large piece that goes down? Maybe one of our members like maybe Waste (a.k.a. Ted) who install liners can give you some advice about this.

Is this your first pool? You're gonna love it!

We just checked & it does come in sections, so would probably have the same problem you do. Yes, this is our 1st pool & I wish we would have known about this forum when we started looking. I will spend hours & hours on here in the coming months. We ordered a 21x43 x54" Diamond Star from Sun Enterprises & found an installer about an hour away from our small Southern Illinois town. We are just starting prep for dirt work ( have a 3-4ft slope to level) for site prep. Pool should come in 7-10 days. Also looking forward to viewing the photo gallery on here, but not able yet. Thanx again!

Don't let my comment about the lines of dirt be the deciding factor against getting some type of pad. The pad does make the liner feel nicer underfoot. As for the lines of dirt ---- the dirt would still be in the pool regardless. Actually, having it in the lines makes it easy to vacuum up I guess. So don't throw the idea of a pad out. See if some others chime in here with opinions.