Cover holes are typically too close to a pool's edge to allow fun things like walk by someone, vacuuming and other pole work, etc... just as my friend, golfgeek has mentioned. Fence hole placement is a much tighter tolerance requirement. A safety cover's hole may be placed a couple inches in any direction from the ideal spot as well as permitting the hole to be slightly less than vertical where fences not only must be placed at a specific distance, but usually must be perfectly vertical. Additionally, when using Baby-Loc with fiberglass poles, a slight lean in or out may be appropriate on curves. To do this properly, a core drill and torpedo level are needed to get the angle desired and the feet of the drill stand all making contact with the deck. This is a time consuming task, especially with paver decks or stamped concrete, where the deck level is different every time you move the drill stand. Drill stands have bolts for feet that get adjusted. Grass is a real PITA to get right and is not, IMHO, a real good surface for a removable fence to be set on. There is a lot more installer skill needed for the fence to be done correctly than for a cover. Fences depend on tension and gentle curves for strength and appearance. A sloppy fence will have waves or be too hard to connect each section to the next. There I go again, rambling on. Sorry. Scott

Loop Loc has Mesh II and Ultra-Loc, their solid cover. The Mesh II lets the water drain in. If you have water line tile, a step pump is a good idea to keep the water off the tile. The solid covers come in two styles, with and without drain panels. Those without drain panels must have a cover pump to remove standing water. Those with drains should be tensioned evenly but softly as the cover material doesn't stretch. The springs and water take the load. All brands of safety covers should not let the water level be more than 18" from the cover bottom. The only pools that need to be lowered are those with waterline tile. It is rare that they need to go 18" down to get there. Keeping the water level off the tiles ensures that when the surface freezes, the expanding ice won't crack or pop tiles. That is the only reason to lower a pool. Using a step pump will ensure that when a snow load presses down, the step pump will remove any rising water. I have never had a problem with Loop Loc's customer service, ever. I have had issues with Merlin. They don't like to listen when I tell them not to put a strap within 12" of a particular location. I have sent covers back because of this. Scott

We have quotes for Meyco pool covers from both of these companies and I'm just wondering if anyone has had experience (good or bad) with either of them? Thanks!

Scott...Remember, I already contacted you first through the board a while ago. You came out, gave us a good price, came back again a month later, were supposed to confirm the price and come back to do the A-B measurements 2 days later. But you didn't come when you said you would, and that was weeks ago. Then nothing. No response to my calls or emails, (and I tried a bunch of times)and we were set to order. I really don't know what happened.