San Juan Fiberglass Pools Vs Viking Pools

Here is a great repost of an article that was written by Marcus Sheridan owner of River Pools

Viking Fiberglass Pools vs San Juan Pools Reviews / Ratings: Which is Better?

By Marcus Sheridan

Two of the most prominent fiberglass pool manufacturers in the industry are Viking Pools and San Juan Pools. Having installed both pools during our 8 years in business at River Pools, as well as working with pool owners across the country through PoolSchool, I’ve established opinions regarding the two lines over the years. Each company has their individual pros and cons and so this article will review both companies and see how they stack up against each other.

Category 1: Innovation

Long have both Viking and San Juan Pools been two of the most innovative fiberglass pool companies in the country. When one compares their pools today, they will find that both companies offer quite a large selection of pool shapes and sizes, but in recent years San Juan Pools has surpassed Viking due to some very innovative mold designs. For example, San Juan Pools was the first fiberglass pool manufacturer to produce a vanishing edge fiberglass pool. Although just about any fiberglass pool can be made into a vanishing edge, San Juan Pools has made models specifically for that purpose with their iPool models. Also, San Juan Pools was one of the first companies to introduce Hot Tubs that were built into the pool. In fact, their Barcelona model has a spa literally ‘inside’ of the pool. You’d have to see the model I’m talking about to fully understand, but clearly it’s a very innovative design. In terms of benches and ledges within the pool, San Juan Pools and Viking Pools both have a variety of models with excellent seating and tanning ledges. Another impressive innovation of San Juan Pools has been their development of swim up bars. Needless to say, San Juan Pools has been on the cutting edge of fiberglass pool innovation and design for a long time.

Advantaqe: San Juan Pools

Category 2: Shapes and Sizes

Both Viking Pools and San Juan Pools have a very large amount of pool designs to choose from, especially if you count Viking’s multiple lines that they offer with Composite Pool Corporation and Crystal Palace Pools. I definitely give San Juan Pools the edge when it comes to large fiberglass pools. They have 6 models alone that are over 42′ long. This is very impressive. Viking though, has the edge when it comes to the amount of pools they have under 30′.

Advantage: Push

Category 3: Warranty

I have spoken heavily on this subject regarding fiberglass pools, with my emphasis always being placed on the Surface / Finish Warranty of the pool shell and not so much on the structure warranty of the shell. I say this because just about every fiberglass pool manufacturer boasts a long structure warranty, anywhere between 25 years and lifetime. Both, to me, are speaking the same language. But where one will find a significant difference between manufacturers is with the finish warranty, especially now that all manufacturers are using colored finishes, and not just white, with their pools.

Viking Pools has a 7 year warranty on their finish, but if one actually reads the warranty (which as far as I can tell is not listed on their website) they will find that the warranty is only 3 years full and 4 years prorated.  San Juan Pools, on the other hand, displays their entire warranty on their webpage (http://www.sanjuanpools.com/ColorSamples.pdf), which shows a 10 year, non prorated surface warranty.

Advantage: San Juan Pools (this one is not even close)