Automatic Pool Cover - Which One - HELP!

We are looking at an automatic pool cover (turn the key and it opens/closes).

What brands have you used and/or researched?

What do you like about automatic pool covers and what do you NOT like about them?

Thanks!

We bought a Coverstar, 6K installed over a 16x32.

Big Mistake, should have stayed with the Loop Loc. The Pool looks terrible in winter with all the dirt and debris on it.

We now no longer cover it at all. Just a Leaf net on at end of season, Scoop out leaves as necessary, pump runs 24/7 during cold months so I don't need to be concerned about frozen pipes.

Pool looks great all year round now.

I didn't think you were supposed to use the auto safety covers over the winter - we're getting both a Coverstar as well as a solid vinyl safety cover to stretch over it in the winter (could be a geography thing but the coverstar wasn't meant to support snow). As to the dirt and debris, isn't that just the difference between a solid and a mesh cover? We're probably going to go solid for the winter cover since we'll have a cover pump anyway and I'd rather just blow the cover clean a couple of times in the winter than deal with the cleanup from the mesh cover. We also have a bunch of pine trees around the pool and the needles would just love to get stuck in a mesh cover.

I believe the coverstar is running us ~$9k for a 20x40 but I'm sure a good portion of that is dealer markup as it's generally pretty high in the DC area for pools.

Quotes we are getting are running about 12K total (including instalation). This seems really excessive - but I assume there isn't much choice if we want one....

Are you just getting a basic model on a rectangular pool or one of the fancier systems that can go over a freeform (where the costs can get really astronomical depending on what you're doing)? Also, are you getting the aluminum deck lid or one of the custom lids with the coping buckets to match the rest of the coping (would have added 3k to ours so we bailed on it).

We are looking at a rectangular cover - with the base aluminum deck lid. We are looking at above track and encapsulated models - appears there is a $2,000 (give or take) difference between the two. The above track model has bullnose coping so there is no "toe stubbing" and the cover still rolls into the ground so there is no "box" that we have on top of the deck.

I bought a coverstar 4 years ago, 20 x 44. So far it's been great. It's the one with the aluminum cover, not integrated into the coping, but has a track that runs on top of the cement deck right next to the coping. I leave the top on all winter long. Just make sure that you leave a lot of water in the pool before it freezes. My lines are blown out, antifreeze put in, and capped so that the water can remain high in pool. Every spring when I open up, instant perfect pool. The water needs to be left high so that the cover can rest on it all winter long without getting stretched or broken.