I have an oversized 4-cart cartridge filter with 340 square feet for my 16,000 gallon pool. There is no question that it's a pain in the behind to disassemble and clean, but I only need to do it once a year. That's the tradeoff for a cartridge filter -- you either get an oversized one that's a pain to clean but you do it infrequently (this is what I do), or you get a smaller one you need to clean more frequently but is easier to disassemble (this is what waterbear does). It still won't be as easy as backwashing a sand filter, however. On the other hand, with the cartridge filter, you don't get a lot of wasted water which is why it was required where I live since we are sometimes under water restrictions.

Richard