There are two things you can do to greatly improve the performance of your sand filter:

1) Add a little DE to it--this is well-covered here. I have a 10# box of DE that cost $8 and I've been using it since late in the season of 2005--very, very cheap for noticable improvement.

2) Skimmer socks. These idiotically simple little miracles pick up SO much junk that never even makes it into your filter are cheap, too. A pack is between $5 and $10 and has 3 to 5, depending on the brand. Since each lasts me a month (rinsing them every day) a pack is good for the summer. They are CRITICAL to me during pollen season, which, thankfully, is nearly over.

The third thing is, of course, to have a larger filter than the "experts" (pool stores and pool dealers) recommend, and a smaller pump, too. Rather than stressing the filter with flow at or above its limit, you run it where it can "loaf" and do a better job. I've long noticed that my 200# sand filter seems to filter better on low speed than on high (And 2 speed pumps are another joy!). And NO dealer would ever recommend a 1 hp Hayward Superpump for a 20000 gallon A/G pool ("it's an IG pump!"--DUHHHHHHH!!!!). Yet I'm into my 6th season with it and the ONLY problem is the gold on the motor has faded in the sun to silver.

But I called Hayward before I bought them (and, no, they don't have a joint base) and they assured me the pump was NOT too big for the filter and it was a good match. Which it has been.

OTOH, my dad ran a DE filter for a zillion years and loved it. He didn't consider it high-maintenance, but he did have one with a bump-handle. I don't know what the experienced ones here think of bump handles but it sure seems to stretch out the time between backwashes. The ONE big maintenance item is cleaning the screens at the end of the season--you can do it yourself or pay your pool store to soak 'em in acid for you. Plus, an empty DE filter can go back into the celler for the winter--as Dad's did. A filter with 200# of sand doesn't move! (so I drain it and cover it).