Finally bought 15 solar rings after dithering for several years whether or not to buy them for my 16X32 inground pool. Here is my experience:PROS: they actually heat the water, swam yesterday Sept 23 which is late for Long Island NY. And they are much easier to remove than a full size solar blanket. Easier to clean leaves off too as you can reach them. The water anchors work, have not lost one in spite of quite windy days.CONS: They are not all that easy to remove, the water anchor must be drained, but they can be removed by one person standing in the shallow end. And they were a pain to inflate properly.About that prep - it was QUITE a project to unpack and inflate 15 of these! Luckily my DH bought a small handheld electronic bicycle tire pump ($35 on Amazon) that has a rechargeable battery, and that made it doable. Forget "2 breaths to inflate inner ring" - maybe for Godzilla, not for any mere human! Get the pump and save your breath. And they do need periodic re-inflating - they lose air.Are they better than just a solar blanket? Yes. Are they better than a solar blanket on a reel? Maybe not... I think that option might be better IF you either don't mind looking at the reel all summer or have a way to hide it; and if you have a place to store the huge and heavy reel for the winter that is easily accessible, which I do not. So for me they were a good choice. BTW I also bought a step solar cover made of the heavy duty bubble that's blue on top and black underneath - which heats much better than standard solar cover - so go with that if you go the solar blanket route.