I bought this pool about two years ago for roughly the same price it's going for now. $650. I've had so many problems with it...where to being:
Design: The pool itself was not at all as pretty as the pictures show. More of an unfinished, drab, gray color with some design. Seriously, it wasn't blue at all. Not light blue, not dark blue, nothing. Gray all around. Not very appealing. I felt quite cheated, but I got over it.
Installation: Installation was fairly easy, with the usual painful tasks of leveling the ground and setting up it up. However, the screws that hold the spines up to the top metal lip do NOT stay in their respective holes whatsoever. They kept, and still do, strip out. I tried to replace them with slightly larger screws, but that didn't help. What helped? Pretty blue duct tape, but I shouldn't have had to resort to that.
Equipment: The wimpy little filter/skimmer system that comes with the pool is horrible. You would be insane to think this little device could filter and circulate the entire pool. I had to resort to buying a nice filtration system that cost me around $250. Not everything needed for my filter system was shipped either. I was missing screws, plates, lids, etc. Swim N Play was nice about sending me the missing items, but I still had to pay shipping on them. Ridiculous.
Also, there is no way on this green Earth to be able to hook a vacuum to your filter. Impossible. Just not in its design. Instead, you will have to buy a hoseless vacuum that runs off of batteries. Which, honestly, I prefer the hoseless, battery powered pool vacuum anyways. I recommend the Pool Blaster Max HD. It is simply amazing. The port hole that comes with the pool is a neat idea until after the first year. You can take off the outer ring and clean it, but the only way to clean the inner surface is to physically remove the liner itself just to get to it. They can become quite nasty after one pool season. For the liner itself, I haven't had one tear or hole or anything in two years. That's one positive aspect of this review. But probably the only one.
Using the pool: Now, this is just personal preference, but if you plan on adults using this pool, I would highly recommend buying a deeper pool. 42 inches is NOT a lot at all. You can't fill your pool up completely, probably six inches below the top. So, in reality, you are only swimming in 36 inches of water. That's just three feet. It barely came to my waist. For kids, however, it would be a perfect size. Adults, however, forget it.
Overall, I'm definitely going to heavily research before purchasing my next pool. I am 99% positive that I will not be purchasing a Splash Pool from Swim N Play again.