Joe Skipper gives one of the few super dead-honest reviews of the Endless Pool that he got, best review I’ve seen on it, ever.
Quick spoiler summary: Friggin’ expensive - likely not worth the cost, particularly if you’re in a high electricity cost area. And lots of logistical challenges on install and even use.
Worth a watch even if you’re not even in the market for one!
it is a luxury item and should be viewed as such.
it is a luxury item and should be viewed as such.
In his case, it’s seems even more extreme than a typical luxury item. With heating and the electric prices in his area, he reports that a single swim could work out to $200 - that’s a ton even if you can afford luxury items!
So were going to listen to Skipper now for swim training advice?? (-;
I had one of these and I thought it was great. Used gas instead of electric to heat it, a lot cheaper. And for me I never really got bored with it, although Dan did pretty early on and just avoided it. I really just liked the ability to be able to turn off my brain and swim at a steady pace, like the feeling I get running in a forest. You never get that in swimming, so I really dug that part of the endless pool…That and the immediate stroke changes I could make looking into the mirror, that was fun to play with…
Estimates:
Gym memebrship with pool: $50/mo or $600/yr
10 miles to/from pool daily =140miles/wk*$0.655/mile=$91.7/w or $4,768/yr
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
Total= $0 upfront, $12,648 worst case scenario for daily swimming for 1 year
Endless pool = $50,000 upfront
150GBP=$190USD/month unheated cost or $2,280/yr
Normal pool upkeep (chlorine, cleaning, etc) = $100/month, $1,200/yr
Total= $50,000 upfront, $3,480/year
5.5 years to break even, with a heck of a lot of assumptions (no major pool repairs, water costs if needing to refill, living +/-10miles/20 min to gym pool). Plug in your own numbers and solve for x.
Or just buy a big cattle trough and retrofit a swim jet to it.
Joe Skipper gives one of the few super dead-honest reviews of the Endless Pool that he got, best review I’ve seen on it, ever.
Quick spoiler summary: Friggin’ expensive - likely not worth the cost, particularly if you’re in a high electricity cost area. And lots of logistical challenges on install and even use.
Worth a watch even if you’re not even in the market for one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBXbRfl17x0
It is never economical on straight dollars and cents to build any pool if you have a community pool within reasonable distance.
It’s possibly worth it if you value your time more than your money.
I’d lean to being opposed to the endless pool from the perspective of the against the current swim effect on your technique. It’s not replicating an open water swim, so much as swimming upstream in a river. I assume there is a benefit and a place for that type of training, but it seems like it would be a mistake to exclusive swim in one.
over the years, i had a good 5-6 athlets that purchased them. Everyone got bored and stop using them within the first month. For most, it s not a fun tool and it dosnt get used.
For someone willing to use it with the right frame of mind… it s definitly a very convenient way to get swim training in.
So my take on it; lots of $$$ for very little return on investement
Well you never know when they’re going to pull one of them lock down things on us now, so may still come in handy!
Estimates:
Gym memebrship with pool: $50/mo or $600/yr
10 miles to/from pool daily =140miles/wk*$0.655/mile=$91.7/w or $4,768/yr
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
Total= $0 upfront, $12,648 worst case scenario for daily swimming for 1 year
Endless pool = $50,000 upfront
150GBP=$190USD/month unheated cost or $2,280/yr
Normal pool upkeep (chlorine, cleaning, etc) = $100/month, $1,200/yr
Total= $50,000 upfront, $3,480/year
5.5 years to break even, with a heck of a lot of assumptions (no major pool repairs, water costs if needing to refill, living +/-10miles/20 min to gym pool). Plug in your own numbers and solve for x.
Or just buy a big cattle trough and retrofit a swim jet to it.
Thanks for the calculations
I think I know but want to make sure
What does this mean?
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
I am afraid to ask as my travel time is 6 hours per week yikes!
How much to install a 1 lane 50 yard pool?
Years to break even?
Estimates:
Gym memebrship with pool: $50/mo or $600/yr
10 miles to/from pool daily =140miles/wk*$0.655/mile=$91.7/w or $4,768/yr
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
Total= $0 upfront, $12,648 worst case scenario for daily swimming for 1 year
Endless pool = $50,000 upfront
150GBP=$190USD/month unheated cost or $2,280/yr
Normal pool upkeep (chlorine, cleaning, etc) = $100/month, $1,200/yr
Total= $50,000 upfront, $3,480/year
5.5 years to break even, with a heck of a lot of assumptions (no major pool repairs, water costs if needing to refill, living +/-10miles/20 min to gym pool). Plug in your own numbers and solve for x.
Or just buy a big cattle trough and retrofit a swim jet to it.
Thanks for the calculations
I think I know but want to make sure
What does this mean?
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
I am afraid to ask as my travel time is 6 hours per week yikes!
How much to install a 1 lane 50 yard pool?
Years to break even?
Just a back of the napkin estimate for opportunity cost. Most people considering buying one of these probably makes decent money, lets say $30/hr take home. That’s a good enough guess for how valuable their time is to them. Imperfect, but good enough for first pass guesses like this.
A fair question would be: Would you trade $4,680 take home pay (3h52wk$30/h) to have your local pool half as far away?
No idea how much a 1-lane pool costs but the math would be the same.
Thank you
Ah ok I missed the $30/hour
Wow your post makes me feel horrible As part of the year the trip to the pool is 2 hours round trip x 6 days per week. X $xx opportunity cost SCARY
Most people considering buying one of these probably makes decent money, lets say $30/hr take home.
$30/hour is decent money? Where???
Most people considering buying one of these probably makes decent money, lets say $30/hr take home.
$30/hour is decent money? Where???
Idk, take home is usually ~2/3rd of ‘salary’, so $45/hr is about $90k salary. Seems reasonable for someone thinking about dropping $50k on a training toy.
Thank you
Ah ok I missed the $30/hour
Wow your post makes me feel horrible As part of the year the trip to the pool is 2 hours round trip x 6 days per week. X $xx opportunity cost SCARY
Yeah I wouldn’t go crazy going down that rabbit hole, it doesn’t always hold true. Like if you’ve got no kids, few responsibilities, and work salary exempt (no OT) then your 2hr round trip is compared to what? Watching Netflix, going out with friends, eating junk food? It’s just an attempt to draw an equivalence between time and money.
A weird outcome that the math doesn’t capture, for example, is that people who work long hours for crappy pay have a higher hourly opportunity cost than the average well-paid office worker, simply because their available outside of work hours are less.
End of the day you’ve got to know what sacrifices are important to you (and what you can justify to your spouse)
Bet they are super happy they gave him a discount now 😂
I want to know how he got it into that tiny back yard!!
my mom has one of these, although it only goes to 1:08 pace, whatever that means to them. It’s not fast enough, and doesn’t really feel like swimming. Would like to try out some of the swim spas to see if they feel more natural.
Estimates:
Gym memebrship with pool: $50/mo or $600/yr
10 miles to/from pool daily =140miles/wk*$0.655/mile=$91.7/w or $4,768/yr
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
Total= $0 upfront, $12,648 worst case scenario for daily swimming for 1 year
Endless pool = $50,000 upfront
150GBP=$190USD/month unheated cost or $2,280/yr
Normal pool upkeep (chlorine, cleaning, etc) = $100/month, $1,200/yr
Total= $50,000 upfront, $3,480/year
5.5 years to break even, with a heck of a lot of assumptions (no major pool repairs, water costs if needing to refill, living +/-10miles/20 min to gym pool). Plug in your own numbers and solve for x.
Or just buy a big cattle trough and retrofit a swim jet to it.
Thanks for the calculations
I think I know but want to make sure
What does this mean?
20 min to from pool daily = 4.66h/wk*$30/h = $140/mo or $7,280/yr opportunity cost
I am afraid to ask as my travel time is 6 hours per week yikes!
How much to install a 1 lane 50 yard pool?
Years to break even?
as a triathlete… why are you even driving to work out? bike or run…
I am afraid to ask as my travel time is 6 hours per week yikes!
.
Yeah,that commute to the pool can be a bitch,I hate having to walk that far…
Here is my local pool.
Lane 4 from my balcony (300meters away) where I can check to see if a bloody school group has taken over the pool.
Daily commute to pool? Most triathletes don’t do that
65 cents a mile? Seems very high. I understand this is the federal reimbursement but I don’t think it’s a fair number to use personally.
My membership is also half the cost you assumed.
Lastly my pool is 5 miles or 1 during the summer
For my 2x a week swim at probably 10 cents a mile that reduces the cost by at least an order of magnitude.
Daily commute to pool? Most triathletes don’t do that
65 cents a mile? Seems very high. I understand this is the federal reimbursement but I don’t think it’s a fair number to use personally.
My membership is also half the cost you assumed.
Lastly my pool is 5 miles or 1 during the summer
For my 2x a week swim at probably 10 cents a mile that reduces the cost by at least an order of magnitude.
Yes, that’s why I said worst case scenario for the inputs. Best case is a neighbor who lets you use their lap pool for free but that’s boring.
The $0.65/mile is generally under-reimbursing the cost to own a car. Average car payment is $700+/month, $150/m for insurance, ~$500/year on maintenance, and gas at $4/gal (or $1 per ~6 miles for ~25mpg). For 13,000 average miles/year that adds up to $12,300, or $0.95/mile. Of course you can be frugal and buy a used, efficient car and do your own maintenance, but we’re talking averages not ideals.
Having a car that operates for $0.10/mile would require a car that gets 40mpg before any other costs are associated. Let’s say you bought the car used for $3,000 and plan to use it for 10 years, you know an adjuster who gets you a deal for insurance at $50/yr, and you change your own oil yearly for $30. You’re still going to need new tires, windshield wipers, brake pads, etc, lets say over 10 years you do all of those repairs yourself for a parts cost of $300. Don’t forget $35/yr registration. That’s a 10yr running cost of $4,450 for an absolute bare bones minimum. Using the same average 13,000m/y you’d need to get 61mpg to reach $0.10/mile. Show me $3,000 car that’s going to go 10y/130,000miles on minimal maintenance.