I had an automatic (electric version) pool cover installed last spring, and a month later had it uninstalled. The sales material on the cover touted "less work, more swimming," but I found just the opposite. Yes, it did act as a solar cover, keeping the water temps higher and as well cutting down on the amount of bleach used, and it would be great to use when tropical winds from coastal hurricanes are in the area (I'm a couple hundred miles from the gulf coast), obviating the need to have a 2nd hand to put the manual cover on when these huge storms roll in.

After it was installed last year, we had a very rainy period, getting some rain every day. It is much more time consuming to clear the cover of debris and water than doing so in the pool directly. Anything not cleared from the cover gets dumped back into the pool when you re-cover it. Since the cover pump cannot pump out all of the water (can only evacuate down to a certain level), you have to use a bucket to bail the water out or, alternatively, wait for it to evaporate. If you get a bit of rain on an ongoing daily basis, of course it never evaporates.

I got my money back, except the $2,000 that it cost to run the underground electrical, so now I have a $2,000 spare electrical outlet.

Total cost was about $7,000. It would've cost another $1,000 to have a nice cedar box built to cover the unsightly reel. Honestly, the exposed reel, at least in my application (beautifully landscaped, lots and lots of trees, etc.) very much detracted from the beauty of the pool.

My two cents worth!