Hi. Lotsa questions for you to help you find what is right for you. There is no "best" or "worst" (well, maybe a worst....). There are your needs and how they are met.

Is this your first pool? Have you handled pool maintenance before? It's not hard, but you do have to know the rules--and pool stores will give you a load of hooey, even when well-intentioned.

Are you looking for lapping, play, dunking to cool off while sunning? Just a few people or giant parties? All these things determine what is right for you.

The BIGGEST problems with A/G pools are:
1) Having a solid, level site
2) Having a solid, level site
3) Having a solid, level site

That's going to be the biggest cost, depending on your needs.

You may have to run electricity--and it has to be according to code., You'll need to be able to secure the pool--fencing or locking steps.

Our first pool was a little Intex EasySet inflatable donut--15' across, 3' feet deep. I had to build a level platform. I used rock we had torn off our fireplace, rubble, and topped it off with 6" of sand. We used it for 3 years, very happily, while I learned pool maintenance--this site, PoolForum.com, made the 2nd and third years MUCH easier and happier.

Our son was 5--it was perfect for play. Here's a secret: If you want to float around in a lounge chair, in the water, listening to music or a ball game, with a nice cool drink and shades, you can do that in a 15' EasySet just as nicely as you can in a fancy 40' long pool. Been there, done that. You need other reasons to justify a bigger pool!

If you want to just dunk and cool off, the little pool works just as well. Our EasySet is retired now, we are opening our 4th season with our 16'x40' FantaSea built into our deck, but the EasySet doesn't owe us a DIME! We even bought it early, when it was still only a mail-order item and cost far, FAR more than they do now.

That's my opinion.