It gets rid of fine silt and sand in the pool perfectly, which is what I needed it for. I just hook it to the waste pipe and let it sit in the pool (filter set on "waste") for a few hours. I have used it three times so far, washing it in between uses according to the included instructions. I tried to use it for vacuuming, but that decreased the suction power too much - I can't blame the bag entirely for that, though, since a) it was the second time I was using it, so it might not have been perfectly clean and b) I forgot to take the filter basket sock out before hooking the vacuum hose and that might have played a role, too.