Blue Wave solar blanket review
A 12-mil blanket that competes on price and size range. In the only published test, it did exactly what the pricier covers did.
Quick picks
The blanket, its closest alternative, and the accessory that does more for your heating bill than either of them.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No photo The pick Blue Wave 12-Mil Solar Blanket 12-mil tier at a lower price, with an unusually wide size range. | Buying on price within the 12-mil tier | |
| 2 | No photo The alternative Sun2Solar 1200 Series Crystal Clear Solar Cover Same tier, clear rather than blue. Buy whichever is cheaper for your size. | Most pools, most budgets — the default recommendation | |
| 3 | No photo Same brand, better purchase Blue Wave Solar Cover Reel If you do not already have a reel, this matters more than which blanket you buy. | Any inground pool with a cover you are not using enough |
#ad We earn a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the ranking. How this site is funded. Prices last checked September 2, 2026.
Where it sits
Blue Wave is a pool-supply brand with a broad catalog, and its 12-mil solar blanket is the value entry in the tier we generally recommend. It was one of the covers in Bob Vila’s hands-on group, listed there as the “Blue Wave 12-Mil Round Solar Blanket”.
Two things make it worth a specific look rather than a general recommendation: it is frequently cheaper than the equivalent Sun2Solar, and it is stocked in a wider range of sizes — including the large rectangles that the premium brands often skip.
What the published record says
The same finding applies as everywhere else in this category, and it is the most useful thing anyone has published: in the only hands-on comparison with a stated method, every cover in the group moved the water the same 4 to 5 degrees in an hour. That group included this blanket alongside a 16-mil Sun2Solar and a 16-mil Doheny’s.
So the value case is not “it is cheaper and you accept less”. On the published evidence, it is cheaper and there is nothing measurable to accept.
The catch, and it is the usual one
Blue Wave publishes no retrievable specification sheet. We tried bluewaveproducts.com on 2026-09-02 and it returns no product text to a plain request. There is no material grade, no UV stabilization detail, no warranty term and no lifespan figure that we can read and cite.
What we have instead is the category’s published lifespan tier for 12-mil film — 3 to 4 years — which is a reasonable planning figure but is not a Blue Wave commitment.
Blue rather than clear
Blue Wave’s 12-mil is a blue film, which is slightly unusual: blue normally dominates the thin end of the range and clear the thick end. It means more of the incoming energy is absorbed at the film and conducted into the water rather than transmitted into the body of the pool.
On the published evidence that difference is not measurable, and our comparison of the two walks through why. Blue does have two genuine practical advantages: it blocks more UV, which slows chlorine burn-off, and it does not let light reach the water, which is the safer choice if you have had algae trouble.
Who it is wrong for
If your pool is soft-sided above-ground, buy the cover matched to your pool’s brand instead — fit outranks material there, and a generic round of the same nominal size does not fit the way you expect. Why that is.
And if you want the longest-lasting cover rather than the best-value one, this is not it. The 16-mil tier has the better published lifespan and the better cost per year; the thickness comparison lays out the arithmetic.
What we could not assess
- Whether the film matches the durability of similarly-priced 12-mil covers from other brands
- Seam and edge construction, and how they hold up to handling
- Whether the finished cut is generous or tight against the stated size
- Consistency between production runs
- Any warranty term, because none is published in a form we could read
None of that stops it being the sensible buy when it is cheaper. It does mean nobody — us included — can tell you it will outlast its rivals.
Every pick, in detail
What each one publishes, what is good and bad about it, and — the section this category usually omits — what we could not judge without owning one.
Blue Wave 12-Mil Solar Blanket
A straightforward 12-mil blanket that competes on price and on the size range it comes in. The interesting thing about it is what it shares with everything else here: it was in the same hands-on group as the Sun2Solar covers and posted the same one-hour temperature change. If the price is better than the equivalent Sun2Solar on the day you look, there is nothing in the published evidence that says you are giving anything up.
Best for Buying on price within the 12-mil tier
| Thickness | 12 milThe manufacturer publishes no retrievable specification sheet; figure is as listed at retail. | Retail listing |
|---|---|---|
| Color | Blue | Retail listing |
| Shapes | Round and rectangular, wide size range | Retail listing |
| Bubble side | Bubbles face the water | Published standard |
4 to 5 degrees F in one hour
Claimed by Bob Vila, measured across all covers in their group. Conditions: One hour under 2pm sun on 89 to 92 degree F days. Source
- Often the cheapest way into the 12-mil tier
- Broad size range including the awkward rectangular dimensions
- Blue rather than clear, so more energy is absorbed at the surface
- No published specification sheet to compare against anything
- Whether the material is meaningfully different from other 12-mil blankets
- Seam and edge durability over multiple seasons
- Consistency between production runs
These need a unit in hand across a season. We do not have one, so we do not have an opinion worth printing on them.
#ad We earn a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the ranking. How this site is funded. Prices last checked September 2, 2026.
Sun2Solar 1200 Series Crystal Clear Solar Cover
The value pick, and the one whose logic actually holds up. A clear cover transmits more sunlight into the body of the pool instead of absorbing it at the surface, and 12 mil is the point where lifespan stops being the limiting factor. Bob Vila measured this and the 16-mil blue at the same 4 to 5 degrees in an hour, so you are paying less for the same measured result and giving up some years of service life.
Best for Most pools, most budgets — the default recommendation
| Thickness | 12 milThe manufacturer publishes no retrievable specification sheet; figure is as listed at retail. | Retail listing |
|---|---|---|
| Color | Clear | Retail listing |
| Stated lifespan | 3 to 4 years for the 12-mil clear tierSwim University's published figure for 12-mil clear covers generally. | Retail listing |
| Bubble side | Bubbles face the water | Published standard |
4 to 5 degrees F in one hour
Claimed by Bob Vila, measured across all covers in their group. Conditions: One hour under 2pm sun on 89 to 92 degree F days. Source
- Clear transmits more light into the water instead of stopping it at the surface
- 12 mil is the sweet spot: real service life without 16-mil bulk
- Cheaper than the 16-mil tier with no measured heating penalty
- Shorter published lifespan tier than 16 mil
- A clear cover shows algae and debris more obviously, which some people dislike
- Whether clear genuinely outlasts or under-lasts blue in the same thickness
- Real-world tear resistance at a pool with rough edges
- How much the clear material clouds over a season of UV
These need a unit in hand across a season. We do not have one, so we do not have an opinion worth printing on them.
#ad We earn a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the ranking. How this site is funded. Prices last checked September 2, 2026.
Blue Wave Solar Cover Reel
A reel is the single highest-leverage purchase in this whole category and almost nobody frames it that way. Every DOE saving figure assumes the cover is on the pool when the pool is not in use. A cover that takes two people and five minutes comes off on Friday and goes back on in October. A reel turns that into thirty seconds alone, which is the difference between the savings existing and not.
Best for Any inground pool with a cover you are not using enough
| Type | Wheeled above-ground-style reel for inground and above-ground useThe manufacturer publishes no retrievable specification sheet; figure is as listed at retail. | Retail listing |
|---|---|---|
| Why it matters | Converts a two-person five-minute job into a one-person thirty-second jobOur framing, not a manufacturer claim. The published savings all assume the cover is actually on. | Our arithmetic |
- Turns the cover into something you will genuinely use daily
- Keeps the cover off the ground, which is where covers get damaged
- Wheels, so it moves out of the way
- Costs a real fraction of what the cover itself costs
- Takes up deck space permanently
- Assembly is fiddly on every reel in this category
- How the tube and hardware hold up outdoors across seasons
- Whether the width range covers your pool without a wobble
- Assembly quality and hardware fit
These need a unit in hand across a season. We do not have one, so we do not have an opinion worth printing on them.
#ad We earn a commission if you buy through this link, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the ranking. How this site is funded. Prices last checked September 2, 2026.
Questions people actually ask
Is the Blue Wave solar blanket any good?
Blue Wave or Sun2Solar?
How long does a Blue Wave solar blanket last?
- U.S. Department of Energy pool-energy figures (evaporation share, BTU per pound evaporated, cover savings, recommended temperatures, wind effect)Recreonics, reproducing and attributing the U.S. Department of Energy · read 2026-09-02
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Saver: Swimming Pool Covers (archived — the live page now returns 404)U.S. Department of Energy via the Internet Archive · read 2026-09-02
- Hands-on solar cover comparison: 4 to 5°F measured in one hour of 2pm sun on 89–92°F days, with the method statedBob Vila · read 2026-09-02
- Solar cover guide: 0.7°F per hour under noontime sun, 10–15°F held, and published lifespan tiers by thicknessSwim University · read 2026-09-02
- Water density: 62.424 pounds per cubic foot at 39.2°FU.S. Geological Survey, Water Science School · read 2026-09-02
Every URL above was fetched and returned content on the date shown. Where a figure is ours rather than somebody else’s, the arithmetic is on the page and on the methodology page. If you find an error in it, we would genuinely like to know.
Read next
Sun2Solar solar cover review
The 1200 clear and 1600 blue compared, what the only published hands-on test found about both, and a plain account of what we could not assess.
Solar pool covers worth buying
Ranked on the specifications that actually differ between covers — thickness tier and published lifespan — because the only hands-on test in this category found no heating difference at all.
8, 12 or 16 mil: which solar cover thickness
Thickness buys years, not degrees. The published lifespan tiers, the cost per year of service, and the case for 12 mil on a large pool.
Clear vs blue solar covers
Clear transmits into the water, blue absorbs at the surface. Same energy budget either way — and the only published test measured no difference between them.
Solar cover reels
Why a reel is the highest-leverage buy in pool heating, and which ones to look at. Thirty seconds alone versus five minutes and a helper decides whether a cover saves anything.