Upgrade Classic Reel

I was skeptical due to reviews that said it was difficult to understand the instructions, but I found them clear and watched a YouTube video of someone installing this unit, which was helpful. I was able to adjust it to make it wider than my pool to ensure that is rolled up without snagging-just make sure to leave at least a few inches on with side so that it is wide enough. Drilling the holes in order to assemble using the included self tapping screws is easy provided you use a bit for metal and not wood, just capture the shavings for easy clean up. It does tend to want to fall over if you pull the entire cover at once, so I unwrap 1/2 and met it fall into a pile, then cover the pool, making sure I overlap the end of the cover so that pool water doesn’t run over the cover, then the rest comes unwrapped easily and the unit doesn’t fall over. I like the screw handle lock. For another pool I had another reel that was lower to the ground then this one and more stable, but prices for one of those was four times this one, so I took a chance and bought this model. I’m glad I did because it’s well made, all stainless steel and aluminum, with a plastic insert between the two to avoid galvanic corrosion. Good design, great price, easy to install, and looks good. Would definitely buy again.

I think that this Reel is very well made. It does come with lots of parts to put together and not sure that the instructions were as clear as they needed to be especially for how to put the straps on. As for the non-wheeled side of the cart, very unstable. When rolling a pool cover onto this reel,the footed side falls over. I hasto put a cinderblock on he footto keep from flipping over, or have someone hold it down.however...works great for storing cover

I haven’t had the reel too long but so far so good. Assembly was straightforward, and using it couldn’t be easier. The reel makes removing and replacing the pool cover simple, and it’s lightweight enough to wheel off the pool deck with no hassle.

The VINGLI 18 Feet Pool Cover Reel is fantastic! It was very easy to assemble, is incredibly sturdy, and works flawlessly—even for one-person operation. The only drawback I noticed was the plastic endcaps on one of the stands; they shatter easily and would be better if made of rubber. Thankfully, it’s an easy fix, as 1.5" rubber endcaps are widely available and work perfectly as replacements. Overall, this reel is a great buy and has made covering and uncovering my pool so much easier. Highly recommend!

This item ships in two separate boxes. And, unfortunately, I never received the tube. So I had to return..it's a shame since the stands, wheels, large crank, etc looked to be of good quality.

Updated 6/21/24: and now we have another 2 screw that have ended up in our pool. It is dangerous for the people swimming to have sharp screws and our pool liner bc it can get ripped. Design is VERY poor!! If I could give it 0 stars I would but I had to give it at least 1.Updated 5/30/2024: I normally don't update my reviews, but feel this is warranted. Since getting this pool reel, we have lost 4 screws out of the metal piece and one almost falling out. One came out within a week and luckily was on the cover. A few weeks later another fell into the pool. When we opened our pool this year we found a screw at the bottom of our deep end and there are 2 screws missing (so one is still MIA) and one that was about to fall out. Understand that this was cheap, but also not expensive. The design of the metal reel and the screws are VERY POOR quality. It's dangerous for the screws to fall out into the pool for both the people swimming, the liner, and the pool equipment!So my very handy husband (who built our in wall bookshelves) had a very difficult time putting this together. First the instructions are horrible, not proper English and not even visually easy to follow. The "self-tapping" screws didn't work so he still had to pre-drill the holes. Then the instructions stated "the buckle line had to be absolutely straight" which is not physically possible, so don't follow those instructions. We put it together and then took it apart and tried to make the buckle line "absolutely straight" as per the instructions, but it was physically impossible. It works, but we've only had it up for 2 days, so I cannot speak to durability. I do wish the clips were white instead of yellow.

We use these straps to attach our solar cover to the pool reel, and they work great. They’re easy to adjust, feel sturdy, and keep the cover securely in place when rolling and unrolling. Made installing the cover on the reel quick and hassle-free. Would definitely recommend to anyone with a solar cover setup!

It came with seven extension tubes but I only used five of them for a 14 foot wide pool. You have a choice of two different levels of overlap between tubes and I think, in hindsight, I went with less overlap by mistake as the instructions were not clear but after reading the description on Amazon again I see I probably made a mistake. I do have a bit of sag, probably due to this but it doesn’t seem to be a problem, if it does become a problem I can rebuild it. This could probably accommodate a slightly wider pool using all the tubes, not sure how much sag there would be. I am happy with the quality vs the price. There are predrilled holes that line up in both tubes for more or less overlap, the shorter screws fit in these and if you want it to be more secure there are holes in one tube and not the other for self-taping screws (which are included) to make the connections even more secure which I chose to do using a power drill. The only complaint I have is that there is a knob which turns a screw next to the reel handle (see photo) that is supposed to lock the tubes to prevent it from turning but no matter how tight I turn this locking screw it doesn’t hold the cover up and it unrolls a bit but if you get a reel cover or use some Velcro straps or something like that it should not be a problem.