Upgrading Your Pool Tools for 2026

Ready to make 2026 the year your route runs smoother, faster, and with less strain? We’re sharing the exact tools that pay you back in minutes saved and backs spared, plus how to pick the right version for your truck, your clients, and your local conditions.

We start with the true workhorse: your pole. Carbon fiber has become the smartest upgrade for daily service thanks to its lighter weight, stiffness, and durability. You’ll hear how Primate’s vertical lever locks and 3-piece reach let you cover most pools from one side while fitting comfortably in short beds. Then we break down the vacuum landscape. Riptide and Hammerhead remain the heavy hitters with reliable carts and power, but cordless heads like the Bottom Feeder and Shrimp now level up with a cartridge filter assembly that captures dirt down to fine microns while still gobbling leaves. If you want less setup and more clean, this change is a big win.

Next, we get practical about skimming and testing. The Piranha 2 quick-flip leaf rake edges out the Red Baron for its balanced lip and easy dumps that save precious seconds on every basket-empty day. For water chemistry, the LaMotte ColorQ 2X Pro 9 delivers photometer accuracy without Spin Touch pricing, and crucially adds copper and iron testing to diagnose staining and metals from fill water. We also cover a field favorite: the Multi-Torque socket set that turns stubborn filter lids into a quick drill job and keeps knuckles intact, plus the glove setup that protects hands year-round—light nitrile-coated pairs for daily work and long-cuff Atlas 772s for cold mornings.

• Carbon fiber poles with fast vertical locks and smart sizing
• Cart vacs vs cordless heads for debris and dirt pickup
• Bottom Feeder and Shrimp with cartridge filter assembly
• Leaf rakes compared: Piranha 2 quick-flip vs Red Baron
• Photometry: ColorQ 2X Pro 9 vs Spin Touch use cases
• Multi-Torque sockets for faster, safer filter service
• Hand protection: nitrile-coated gloves and cold-weather picks
• Discounts and part numbers to make buyin

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Chapters

• 1:51 Opening And 2026 Focus
• 2:19 Coaching Program Invitation
• 2:35 Carbon Fiber Poles Compared
• 5:16 Choosing Pole Sizes And Benefits
• 6:54 Vacuum Systems Landscape
• 8:17 Cart Units Vs Cordless Options
• 10:00 Cartridge Filter Add-On Advantage
• 13:25 Leaf Rake Showdown
• 16:14 Photometer Test Kit Picks

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

Hey, welcome to the Cool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to go over some must-have tools for 2026. These are particularly for Pool Service Pros for their truck. I'm going to go over some tools that you may want to try if you haven't yet. And these are something you can try out this year for sure. As I've used these and they're proven tools for your pool route. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. From me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. If you haven't tried a carbon fiber pole out yet, there are three brands to choose from. I do have a video on YouTube where I actually compare all three poles together. And although I think the Skim Lite and the Ultimate Pool Tools pole are great, I'm still very partial to the primate pool pole because of a couple of reasons. One, I really like the feel and balance of it in your hand. It's a little bit fatter and thicker than the ultimate pool tool pole. And I prefer this particular diameter of pole over that one. Although that is a solid pole, don't get me wrong, you you can't go wrong with either of these, but the primate still is what I prefer for that reason, and also for the fact that it has the vertical lever locks. I like this better than the horizontal ones. The horizontal ones I find take a little bit more time, even though they're very durable and great lever locks. I prefer the vertical ones of the primate pole. They're easy for me to flip open and close them, and they're very fast to adjust, so I like that aspect of it. And the balance of the pole, of course, is great. Now you can of course get different sizes. I prefer the Primate 3X, the 6x16 foot. It works great in my service area. You may want to get, of course, a two-piece pole, and the two-piece pole is the 8x15 2x. It just depends on what you prefer in your service area. I prefer the three-piece because then I can pretty much vacuum a pool from one side. Plus, you're not hitting everything in the backyard or hitting stuff when you carry it in because it collapses down to six feet. It's also great for the smaller bed that I have. I have a five-foot long bed and my ridgeline. So this pole is actually perfect for the size of my truck. And if you haven't tried a carbon fiber pole, there are a lot of great benefits to a carbon fiber pole. They're a lot more durable and they're lighter, so it's going to be a lot easier on your back all day long. And it's the primary tool that you're holding 90% of the time for everything you're using. And why not use a lighter tool and a stronger tool if it's available to you? It's an investment, I'll grant you that, but it's a really great investment. So for 2026, if you don't have a carbon fiber pool pole, I highly recommend you look into them. Again, the three brands are not neither of them are bad than themselves. They're all pretty good brands of poles, but I gravitate towards the primate pool tool, carbon fiber pole as my primary carbon fiber pole. If you don't have a vacuum system yet, this is the year to get one. Now there are three, well, actually, four primary ones to choose from. One of them is a little bit off the radar, the power vac. They stopped manufacturing for a while, they remanufactured them, and I think they're out of stock at the moment. That one's kind of like a dark horse vacuum system because it's not really ready available all the time. They redesigned it, it looks great. But I prefer if you're using a portable vacuum cleaner without the cart to go with the bottom feeder or shrimp, and I'll touch on that in a minute. You also have the riptide, which is the most durable and powerful of the vacuum system with a really robust cart and great customer service at Riptide. You're not going to get better customer service from any of these companies except Riptide is like number one. And as far as hammerhead, they've been around for a very long time, just about as long as the powerback. You can get those at your distributors, they're in distribution. They're not a bad machine, they're very maneuverable, and the cart is just a basic transport cart. Nothing wrong with that. It works great as well. So the hammerhead, the riptide, or the cart vacuum systems that I would recommend. There's only really two of them now on the market. You just have to kind of compare both of those to see which one is best for you. And then as far as a vacuum system without the cart, I really don't like the riptide XP for that reason. It's really heavy and it's not, in my opinion, designed to work without the cart. It works best with the SL cart. So the riptide would definitely just be a cart vacuum, in my opinion. You may your opinion may differ, you may want to invest in that. I would say that the power vac is kind of in short supply. And then the remora, the one that you wear on your waist, really is not as good as the bottom feeder or shrimp cleaner. And now with the cartridge filter assembly kit for the bottom feeder and shrimp, this really takes this vacuum system to almost the realm of a unique system where you can vacuum up leaf debris. It's cordless, so you just drop it in and there's no need to get it set up, or you can vacuum dirt now with the cartridge filter on top down to 20 microns. Basically, it's like pushing the vacuum system on the bottom with a cartridge filter on top. There's really nothing more complex than that. And the cartridge filter will pick up dirt just as well as the cartridge filter at the equipment pad. So that's a great addition to the bottom feeder and shrimp cleaner. Both of these work with the cartridge filter assembly, and it's something that makes this the go-to vacuum system, in my opinion, because not only do you get leaf debris, not only is it cordless and portable, but now you can pick up dirt with it as well. So it covers all the categories you really need in a vacuum system: leaf pickup, dirt pickup, and portable. For the heavier areas, we have you know a lot a lot of leaf debris all the time. A cart vacuum system like the hammer head and riptide wouldn't be a bad idea either because those are of course more powerful, and you have the ability to bring it back there with the cart. It just depends on your needs and your usage. But with the cartridge filter assembly, I think the bottom feeder and shrimp have definitely moved in the first place. When you're looking at vacuum systems, and they always have discounts. I have a discount code that's used you can use all the time. It's DVB100 disable 100 on the bottom feeder or shrimp. And then with the cartridge filter assembly, they do sell a complete kit with a pretty good discount right now for that as well. When you put it in the cart, you'll see the discount appear there. So if you don't have a vacuum system, definitely pick up a vacuum system in 2026. This one here I had a hard time really with my recommendation because I do like both of these leaf rakes almost equally. I like the Purity Pool Red Baron, but I also like the Smart Company Piranha Piranha 2 Leaf Rake, and that is the model number PA2-533 because this one is the quick flip bag, and if you get the red baron, you would want to use the rag bag. I like the quick flip and rag bag because it's a little thinner material and it's really easy to flip out the debris and dump them, much easier than the standard leaf rake. And I think the Piranha 2 for 2026 kind of edges out the red baron this year. I kind of go back and forth with these two, but the Piranha 2, I just really like the lip of this thing, and I like just the balance of this leaf rake. They're relatively the same size, but I think the the smart company Piranha 2 leaf rake is a little better, it's a little bit lighter. I like the aluminum handle it comes with, and I really like the lip on this one a little bit better than the Red Baron. Don't get me wrong, the Red Baron is a great leaf rake. They really are really almost comparable to each other. But if you haven't tried the Piranha 2 leaf rake, I definitely would recommend getting it. Again, it's this is the quick flip bag one, it's a white leaf rake or light a white bag, I should say. And the part number for Pool Corp is SMR-40-4121. If you shop at Pool 360 or any Pool Corp location, and the manufacturer part number is PA2-533. Check this leaf rake out. I think you should pick it up and give it a spin. And I think you're gonna like the piranha 2 leaf rake. As far as test kits, I'm almost torn of which one I should recommend to the pool pros out there. So for 2026, I really still think the Lamotte Color Q 2X Pro 9 is the best photometer you can get for the amount of money that you can spend on it. It's a budget photometer in my opinion because it's not super expensive. And it does a lot of test factors, and it also does copper and iron, which I think are very necessary now with a lot of metals getting in the pool water. Having the ability to use a photometer to test for copper and iron, is what makes the color Q2X Pro 9, I think, superior to the 2X Pro 7, which says 7 test factors, but not copper and iron. I would recommend the Lamotte Spin Touch, but that's a thousand dollar test kit, and to me that has a niche market for the broader segment, the regular pool pro out there who wants to get an accurate reading at a commercial account or maybe startups. The 2X Pro 9 is ideal because of the extra regions for or extra tablets, I should say, for copper and iron. And it's not something that's going to take you a super long time to do the test factors either. So it's definitely usable. I wouldn't say you would want to use it at every stop every week, but it's definitely something you want to use, you know, for a one once a month reading of the pools on your route for startups when you really want accurate readings and or for commercial pools. For the amount of money you spend on the Color Q2X Pro 9, you're getting a really great photometer for your money. So you're getting really a lot of bang for your buck versus the spin touch, which I think is the great is a great photometer. It's just not something for every pool pro out there. This next product I always recommend, and in 2026, I have no problem recommending it as well. And this is the multi-torque socket set for filter cleaning. I think these are really one of the premier cleaning tools you can use when you do filter cleaning to save you time and energy and scrape knuckles. It's definitely something that you would want to invest in. Really, they have he has the multi-torque socket for just about every common filter that you would do in pool service. You have, of course, your MT100 socket, which is a 916th for the Pentair Clean and Clear Plus, FNS Plus filters, some of the older Hayward filters, and then you flip it over ups upside down, inside out or reverse, I should say. It has a 78th uh socket on the other side for the Jandy filters. You also have a set with three of the most popular multi-torques in it. It's the um MT301 set, it has, of course, the one I just mentioned. You also have the MTJ770 for the Stay Write System 3 filters, and you have the MT50, which is for the old Pentair 2000 and for the newer 4000 series knobs, those black knobs. So this will save you a lot of time out there. Don't discount these tools that you just need a good cordless drill. I like the rigid brand from Home Depot. You just want to get a cordless drill with a lot of torque, that way you can get these on and off quickly without any problems. Go to you can go to his website multi-torque.com and see all the different tools he has there as well. And I highly recommend these if you haven't picked them up for 2026. They get the multi-torque socket set for your filter cleaning. This these last recommendations aren't really pool manufacture tools, but for 2026, I really think you should protect your hands out there. If you don't wear these gloves now, you should get them. I think these nitro gloves are the best thing you can invest in. They protect your hands from chemicals, from getting cut up out there, getting scratched, and there's different ones on Amazon. I like the GNF product, uh sixth pair of the large nitro-coated uh gloves. And if you go to my website, swimmingprolearning.com, you scroll down to the very bottom. There is a pool guy gear page. There'll be a direct link to Amazon for these gloves. These nitrile gloves are great. You know, you're gonna again protect your hands from the chemicals from getting scratched, and you're gonna love wearing these gloves out there, they dry pretty fast, they're fine when they're wet, they don't feel too uncomfortable, and you're gonna want to wear these all the time, in my opinion. So protect your hands in 2026 with these nitro gloves, and then in cold weather, I really recommend the Atlas 772 nitro coated gloves that are 26 inches long. There are these uh the yellow gloves you see me wearing in some of the videos sometimes when I'm filming in really cold weather. They're great for those cold mornings. I believe they're made for like butchers to use them in like the meat lockers. They work great out on the pool route. I like the large size, that way I can wear another pair of maybe um cloth gloves underneath to keep my hands warm. And then what I do with these is in between stops, I'll take them off and put them on my truck dashboard where the heater is sitting in, and the heater heats them up really good. So when I get to my next stop, they're nice and warm when I put them on, and they're 26 inches, 26 inches long, so you can actually reach into a skimmer basket, get it out. You know, your pole in really cold weather is freezing to the touch, the water is freezing, so this makes it very endurable in the cold weather to wear these gloves. And here we have some pretty cold mornings sometimes, and so the Atlas 772 nitro coated gloves are really great. Again, the pool guy gear, if you go down to the bottom of the page, has the links to Amazon for these things. Definitely recommend picking those up for 2026 and to protect your hands out there with all the other tools I recommended. I think you're gonna have a great start to the year and look into these things, these are are things that I use all the time, and they'll make your day a lot easier out there. Looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swingingprolearning.com. Just click on the podcast icon that'll take you to a drop down menu where I have over 1800 podcasts for you. And if you're interested in the coaching program, you can learn more at poolguycoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a rest of your week. God bless.