Side by Side Comparison of: Intex vs PLAYMOBIL®

I have two boys, about 2 and 4 and they LOVE this pool. It's pretty big, so having an air pump really helps with inflating it. It's big enough for them to paddle around in, and even Mom and Dad can cool off in it too. The only drawback is that if you live anywhere with trees or bushes, it can get dirty fairly quickly. We had a fair amount of vegetation land in it. But, the boys didn't care, so we didn't have to clean it out too often (it takes a lot of water to fill). Very happy with it because it made my sons' summer that much more fun.

This was simply put, one of the best buys I have made recently. We inflated it (you will want a pump), put water to about the halfway mark and could not get our child out of it. I can not quantify hours of enjoyment to price, but in two or three sessions with the pool it more than paid for itself. On the plus side, it is easy to clean, the bottom drain works but will close itself, and it doesn't take long with a cheap electric pump to fill. Not really any downsides. I should also mention, it is kind of big.

Great for two to four adults. Just enough to keep you cool while you BBQ and have some drinks. Set up took 10 minutes, from box to fully ready. A lot of fun for a low price.

Love this pool-- bought it as a playard for our little one. Would definitely recommend it!

this is a great pool.. I watch my grand kids three days a week so I wanted one that was easy to take down for the mowers... I am not sure why some people said it does not have a drain plug because mine does and it drains easily and quickly... in reading the reviews they suggested using a bed sheet to cover it with.. that was a complete disaster.. with three of us it kept popping off and I am sure my neighbors got quite a laugh out of it...I finally just gave up.. it actually doesn't take that long to fill and is no different than filling a garden tub so water could be changed with each use. Of course I have a well and don't pay for water so that would make a difference...I use a heavy duty tarp under it so nothing will puncture it. Is great for the kids to cool off on a hot day...intex has a quick fill air pump that inflates it quickly... (5-minutes)...

I thought I would post both a review and my suggestions for solutions to the issues with the cover and pool clarity.Firstly, the pool: check the dimensions when buying as it is quite big - perfect for my three young children to jump around in and it would easily fit 4 adults as a lounge pool. It fills to about 1ft depth, but you can put a lot less in for small children. The sides are quite strong when inflated, so it does not need water volume to remain in shape. You must ensure it's level and not near any 'head cracking' dangers as the floor of the pool is slippery even when the water is clean.Secondly, the set-up: I did not fancy having to empty this frequently as it takes a lot of water (max capacity is around 200 gallons). I therefore made the following set-up: (1) exercise mats to go underneath the pool. I bought two packs of 6 x 24" square 'jigsaw' exercise mats and they create a perfectly-sized base for the pool. This will protect your kids and the pool from any hard or rough surface under the pool. (2) footbath to keep the gunk out. I bought an 'inflatabuffet', which does the job nicely. (3) cover - tricky! The reviews of the covers are very mixed and they're very expensive. I bought an 8ft by 10ft piece of garden mosquito netting and 1/8 inch 25ft shockcord. The pool has a ridge halfway up, which means the shockcord will stay snug to the pool, then you simply lay over the mosquito net and tuck it in for a perfect seal all round. This keeps the bugs and leaves out, but lets the rain in - so no sagging in poor weather. I would not recommend this if you have dogs as the neeting is not strong, however, it's cheap and easy and works to keep the pool clear overnight. (4) water quality. I use a small amount of household bleach and bought the Aquacheck test strips. The manufacturer website will give you bleach dosage and the test strips will ensure your pool is OK for your kids at each use.This set up cost just over $100 in total. My kids are delighted!

Great set, many play features and can go with almost anything. I added this behind the hotel suite because I don't have the actual hotel so the suite is a house. Great for anyone.

Fun!My kids love Playmobil. My daughter has been playing endlessly with a boat set that we've got a couple of years ago. And now she asked for this set, it took me a couple of days to decide because it is pricey, but I am so glad we cave in. It is one of my favorite sets. Very easy to set and fun. The shower pump is great, she loves it. IT is expensive but I have sold used playmobil on ebay for a good money so it is worth it.

I ordered this item for my daughter's 4th birthday. This was one of our first Playmobil purchases and it was a huge hit! The attention to details is great...flip flops, poolside radio, shower that actually pumps water, a towel...she played with it for hours as soon as she opened it. I would definitely recommend. The only warning is, if you have little ones around, this has very small parts...we put some of the items (sun tan lotion, flip flops, etc) away so that my 9 month old can't get a hold of them. Still lots of fun without the little parts!

We've only had this pool for a week, so I can't speak to its lasting interest - but my 3.5 year old has played with the pool for at least four hours every single day of that week. She has played with it inside and outside (we leave the small parts inside when we take the pool out). We also put the small parts away and let my one-year-old play with it - that's a mess, but so much fun for her. Both girls have spent hours just putting Playmobil people down the slide, swimming characters around, taking showers, etc.Some of the features of the pool make it stand out, even among Playmobil products:1. You can put water in the pool! It's kind of messy for inside play, but so worth it. (We just put a towel under it and my daughters play at the kitchen table.) So the kids are combining the joy of water play with the fun of Playmobil. The pool doesn't hold THAT much water, so it's not too crazily messy - a beach towel underneath absorbs most of what spills. I let my daughter keep a pitcher of water nearby so she can make the slide "a water slide." She doesn't seem to get bored of pouring water down the slide and watching people go with the water.2. The shower is so fun for kids. All the Playmobil people are constantly taking showers in this pool.3. The pool comes with plenty of characters - I think six in total - two adults, a baby, and three kids. All of them are wearing swimsuits, and all but the baby come with the most darling flip flops. Putting flip flops on Playmobil people has been a big activity in our house - as always with Playmobil you have to be strategic about storing them. (We use ice cube trays for things like flip flops.)4. Putting it together is pretty easy.5. The slide! The ladders! The rails at the top where Playmobil people can do handstands! And most of all, the swimming... my daughter has the kids zoom back and forth underwater, just as she practices doing at our town pool. Even my one year old taps the people along the bottom of the pool to make the people swim.If you're looking for one toy that will entertain a preschooler for many happy hours, I'd recommend giving this one a try.

I bought this for my granddaughter's 4th birthday and, after my son and me has set it up, she and her brother of 2 started to play right away. The toy is really well made considering the small parts. Every one of the 133 pieces fits perfectly and the shower really works! There is so much detail, even a book, towel, sunscreen, etc. My granddaugter's friends aged 2 to 13 enjoy it too. You have to listen to the conversation between her and the little people. I also bought the Girl with Swim Ring and it is as much fun.

My daughter, 9, bought this for herself with her own money. She and brother, 12, had a blast setting it up, and they and friends of similar ages have been having a LOT of fun with it. Really surprised me since they seemed too old for it. It is probably too expensive for what it is, but it is well-made, easy to assemble. I asked my daughter if there was anything she didn't like about it and she said just that the little items floating in the pool float into the area for the shower intake, and she has to take it apart some to get to them - she suggests they should put a barrier like a real pool would have.

Good size for my kids (age 7, 5 and 4) though we are not a tall family. They couldn't all play at once in it but the water got deep enough that they had fun. I bought it with the air pump to fill it fast and it worked well. I also bought a tarp to put under to keep from sticks poking it and it did not get broken this whole summer. My dogs even jumped on the edges with their paws and no punctures. It's a good value for the cost (about $25 I think).

Great pool for the money. So many reviews already talking about how great this thing is inflated, so I'm just going state how wonderful this pool is deflated! Our first kiddie pool was one of those preformed plastic pools, that was the worst. Our second was a rigid sided pool with a soft bottom. That pool was better, but didn't fold up very small and the hard plastic eventually cracked.This pool deflates and stores away in about 3"x16"x16". Highly recommend!

This pool is nice for the kids to play in on those hot days but it takes forever to blow up. I highly recommend doing it in the early morning (before the sun is out and you're ready to use it). It's a decent size so I'm not surprised it took so long, it just made it stressful when my son was chopping at the bit to get in and I was still blowing it up. I probably should have planned better. Overall, the pool is great though.

It is pretty deep about 2 feet and the inside dimensions are 6' x 3'. You will need a motorized air pump with a large head on it. The opening is 2" in diameter.

My three year old and six month old had the best time in this pool. It was large enough for them to move around but still small enough to keep them at arms reach. It's durable and made to last. For the price I purchased this a a throw away pool but was pleasantly surprised by the quality. I could see this lasting for at least two summers if it were cared for correctly. Over all it was worth every penny.

This is a great pool for the price and it easily accommodates a couple of adults or numerous young children. I've read so many reviews talking about the need for an air compressor but one brilliant person suggested a hairdryer with a cool setting. This worked like a charm and the pool was inflated in less than two minutes.

THE PLAYMOBIL OPEN AIR POOL WAS GREAT. THE IMPORTANT THING WAS HOW DIDOUR GREAT GRAND CHILDREN RATE IT? THEY DIDN'T REALLY SAY BUT THEY PLAYWITH IT CONTINUALLY AND IT IS STILL IN ONE PIECE. THAT MEANS IT MOST SATISFACTORYAND THE PROCESS BY WHICH WE GOT IT WAS GREAT TOO.

I purchased this for my niece as a birthday gift. It was on her wish list. My brother says that the playmobil products are good quality and well made.

We bought this toy as a birthday present and we are very happy with the fun the birthday girl is having with it!

Like all Playmobil products, this is imaginative, fun, and well-constructed. The details--pool toys, little flip-flops--are fantastic, and the pool works very well as a bath toy. (We balance it on a waterproof stool.) My one complaint is that the side portion (baby pool and grassy area) don't snap in as well as I'd like, and need to be put back on every time the pool is moved.

I am German and grew up with Playmobil. I have always loved their toys. Now that I have two daughters (5 and 7) I wanted them to experience them too. I got this pool for my 5-year-old, but she just makes a big mess with it and there are parts everywhere. I just don't think she is at the right age yet.And I wish Playmobil would find a way to not send every little flower separately but already have them glued on, same with other minute parts. It looks amazing, but if not played with carefully all that comes off.

I was a little skeptical at first but my daughter insisted this was what she wanted to ask Santa for Christmas. She owns several Playmobil sets, including the church wedding set which was a pain in the butt to assemble and keeps falling apart when you need to move it somewhere. I was hoping the pool set didn't fall apart as much as the church set and I was pleasantly surprised. It took me less than 15 minutes to assemble and the pool set hasn't fallen apart yet, despite all the tugging and pulling she's been doing. And yes, it actually holds water!! No leaks! The only reason why I've given it four stars is because I wish there was an easier way to empty out the water. I'm always worried all of losing the tiny accessories (flowers mostly) when I tip it over the sink to drain.

It's a decent pool, of a good size, but it, of course, came with a nice slow leak that has it collapsing on itself within a few hours of inflation. That seems to be an unavoidably common problem and if it weren't impossible to repack a pool after inflation, I might have tried my luck on another one. At least my toddler enjoys sitting in it.

You get what you pay for. I bought this to float in during my third trimester in the Virginia heat. No kids even rough-housed in it, no dogs were in it...my point is, my using this pool was as gentle as it gets. I used this one time and upon inflating the second time, it had holes and wouldn't hold air. We tossed it out and headed to Walmart and got a comparable/bigger pool for the same price.

Not a bad price. But this thing keeps deflating causing me to have to buy the fourteen dollar pump that wasn't included. Seems part of the game plan to have you buy a pool at a good price. Then when Dad realizes what a pain in the butt it is to blow it up, he's back online looking to buy the pump they make.

Easy and quick to inflate with a mattress pump or a hair dryer (on low cold! ) as suggested by another reviewer. Unfortunately, the bottom ring has a slow leak SOMEWHERE. We set it up in the afternoon, by the next morning it's half flat and we have to refill it. I mention this only because it seems to be a common complaint. The drain plug likes to suction closed when draining, so put something in the hole to prop it open. I stick a pencil in the ground,in the hole. It does the job for our week end uses but I won't be buying another one when it's time to replace it.

I just made a review on my second pool "Intex Swim Center Ocean Reef Inflatable Pool". Because of the bad experience on my second pool, it motivates me to write a review on this pool which is my first pool and it survives for 3 months.When I inflated the first pool, it could stay inflated at least for 1 week. I used "Intex Quick-Fill AC Electric Air Pump" to inflate it and it only took less than 1 minute to complete. After 2 months, it started leaking air. We found the hole and used the patch came with the pool when the hole was still small. We had fun for another 2 weeks and only inflated it once a week. After that, the hole became bigger and bigger. We tried to use tape to seal the hole but we inflated it once a day and each time took about 2 minutes.Compared with my second pool which I gave it 1 star, I think this pool (my first pool) is okay and give it 3 starts.

So the pool is absolutely humongous and it took a solid 2 hours with an air compressor to inflate it. We were super excited once the pool was inflated. As we began adding water, I noticed a leak. There was a one inch hole on the seam between the bottom of the pool and the side wall. This caused a fairly minor water leak. We drained and dried the pool to affix the patch. We followed the instructions to patch the pool. We crossed our fingers and began adding water again. Alas, the patch didn't work. We decided to exchange the pool for another one. I desperately tried to get the pool back into the box, to no avail. Amazon sent us a new pool. We haven't had time to inflate the new one, but we've crossed all of our fingers and toes that there isn't a leak.

The pump for shower in the Playmobil 4858 does not work. My grandson has had this playmobil for one month.

got a leak the first time we used it. ( we were in it for less than 5 minutes when we noticed) We didn't over fill it with air. Patched it and its still deflating within 2 days

Really bummed out on this pool. It will not hold air! Since its past the return window, we now have this unusable non-recyclable "pool" Buyer beware.

Thought this would be a great way for the kids to keep cool this summer and not have to spend a fortune on a big pool. It was great for about 1/2 an hour after filling the pool. The pool began to loose air and collapse. The plugs would not stay fully closed. We ended up glueing one of the plugs shut to try to keep it from looking air. Unfortunately this pool just was way more of a hassle than fun for me.

Well, it's a nice sized pool, just what I was looking for for my dog. Too bad it constantly leaks air from the bottom chamber. I may still get her a pool, but it will not be inflatable.

lasted a week with NO use and it developed a leak.

This pool is a good size and looks great - unfortunately I only got 1.5 uses out of it before it was leaking air so badly I had to scrap it!I don't have kids, but bought this looking for a pool to primarily just kick back and relax in with a book. On first use, it inflated quickly (less than 5 minutes) with an electric compressor. A friend and her two daughters were over, and we were all able to fit comfortably. On that occasion we only used the pool for about an hour, and did not fully fill it with water- and everyone was gentle on the pool, there was no jumping or rough play that would have damaged it. After use, I emptied, deflated, and stored it.Over 4th of July weekend, I went to use it again, just for me. Again, it inflated easily, and this time I filled it all the way. I spent a few hours in and out of the pool on Saturday afternoon, and planned to use it again Sunday. But by Saturday evening, I noticed that it looked like the upper chamber had deflated quite a bit. By the time I woke up Sunday morning, the upper chamber was almost completely deflated and about 1/2 the water had spilled out. I reinflated, and inspected for holes/leaks, but couldn't find any. I did use the pool a bit on Sunday afternoon, but had to reinflate it by that point every 1/2 hour, and the lower chamber had also started leaking air too. Since I couldn't find any holes or anything to patch, I scrapped the pool at that point. I know it's cheap, but I expected to get more than just a couple of uses out of it!

Thought I'd be in good hands with Intex because I've used their air mattresses, but sadly that same durability hasn't been carried over to their inflatable swim pools. Two 3-year-old had two tears in it within a week. Patched the first one which happened where the kids got in and out of the pool by climbing over the edge. The second tear happened in the bottom section below the water surface so it filled up the air section with water and the pool wasn't usable after that.

Great pool for a day. It's the second day that you'll see this pool sucks. Goes flat for no reason. I have ordered three of these pools hoping the other ones were defective. First one got a hole immediately, second one came with a large hole in it, and the third is sitting in my back yard slowly deflating for some strange reason....oh yeah, probably another hole

We have bought several of these over the years and they always last through the summer with moderate use by one child which is why I always order it. This one clearly had a hole. I inflated it and as I began to fill it I noticed the top champed was deflating. I tried to reinflate and make sure the stopper was fully in but it deflated in a matter of two hours. Going to try to figure out how to get it replaced.

I have purchased Intex products for years. Perhaps they are using a new manufacturer. Could never get this one to hold air, wasted lots of water, never was able to use it and couldn't figure out how to return a wet, dirty, large piece of plastic. Bummer for summer!

I'm updating my review because after only three weeks of use the pool has deflated due to multiple holes in the seams of the bottom ring. The pool always had a slow leak and I would have to refill the air every few days, but this morning the entire bottom ring was flat.I've had so many issues with this pool I am entirely furious that I wasted my money on it!!! I could cry!IF YOU WILL NEED TO DRAIN THIS POOL REGULARLY.... DO NOT BUY!!!!!!! This pool is easy to set up. Easy to inflate and fairly sturdy once up and filled with water. However, it is a total pain in the butt to drain!!!!!!! The drain hole is in an odd place and the flap that closes the drain hole is at such an angle that as the water flows out, the flap shuts, thereby stopping the draining process. You also have to sort of lift the bottom of the pool up to get it to drain....once the pool has water in it, it is so heavy that even if the drain is open, it does not drain because it is pressed firmly against the ground. I had prop the bottom of the pool up and put a heavy bucket over the plug flap. All in all the draining process took over an hour. That would not have been a big deal if I could have opened the drain and walked away, but that is not the case here.

This is the second pool I have ordered. The first pool would not hold air at all. This pool held air and after two hours was deflating. Not a good thing when your having a party for grandkids again. This will be the second party held and for a second time I will have to tell kids the pool is flat!

The toy has so many assembly parts, it is more of a headache than what it is worth, don't waste your money!

"This is a very boring toy" so says my four-year old grandson who I gave this to for his fourth birthday. He said, "The slide does not have real water running down it like the picture shows! It is a fake!" I thought it was cute - but he was the one it needed to impress - it failed. He thanked me anyway for thinking about him with a cool idea.

How do you expect children to swim if they cant even fit inside the pool...... this needs to be at least three times bigger.