soooo confused, which to buy???

Hi all, I'm new.. been lurking for a day or two looking at information, and I'm totally confused... maybe someone can give me some simple advice.

I'm looking for an oval or square pool, as big as possible.... hoping to come close to matching a standard 20x40 inground size. I live in Utah, so we have cold wet winters, and hot desert summers... I have a nice flat yard, etc...

Basically what I'm looking for is information on what to buy... There seems to be no good info online (other than this site), and all of my local dealers instantly try to sell me a $50k inground pool, so I don't trust their advice.

I'd like to stay around $5,000 total expense or less, but I want something quality that will last a good long time and has a decent warranty.

Can anyone give me some advice? Please don't flame me for posting such a stupid question, but with so many options, it's hard to identify what's good and what's not.

Feel free to ask me any other questions you want to narrow down choices. I'll do my best to answer.

No reason to flame you, that is a very good question. If it was me, I would go with a Fanta Sea or a Kayak Pool. Both VERY nice rectangular ON ground pools with the look of inground. Check the AG Pool gallery, you will see some nice pictures of both types. Not sure if you can get something that size at $5,000 though...maybe. I think they are both worth the extra expense if the criteria you listed above is important to you. Check posts by CarlD, he has a Fanta Sea and it looks to be great.

Otherwise, there are many very nice ovals in larger sizes, including those with deep end options, such as Doughboy, Seaspray, Tahitian, etc. With nice decking, etc, you can have a great looking pool that looks IG, but is AG for a lot less than IG. Go to the AG Pool Gallery and browse...once you find a BRAND you like, then Google and you will find dealers, both brick and mortar and online. Check the Better Business Bureau for complaint record, reputation and reliability of the dealers you choose. There is a BBB online version too for the net dealers.

Thanks for the help... I saw some of the info on Fanta Sea and they look great, but I think Carl said his was $8k or more.... That's a little out of my range right now....

The more I look, the more I'm drawn to Artesian... Quite a few people here have great things to say about them and I think they're within my price range. I'm also curious about Doughboy and Esther Williams products.

What I'm struggling with is figuring out which pool models have which features. I'm reallly having a difficult time figuring out which models are aluminum vs steel vs resin, as well as which I should use, given my locale. Got any advice for me?