Across our Mackay installs, two Compass shapes make up more than half of everything we build: the Sanctuary and the X-Trainer. Both are excellent family pools. They’re also very different pools, and the choice between them is one of the most consequential decisions in a build.
Here’s an honest comparison based on what we’ve installed for families across Andergrove, Eimeo, Mount Pleasant, Marian and everywhere in between.
The Sanctuary in 30 seconds
The Sanctuary is Compass’s flagship family pool. Soft, flowing lines. A gently varying floor with a shallow zone at one end and a deeper zone at the other. Wide leisure area. Available from 4.8m to 10.6m in a range of standard and Narrow variants. Reads as an organic, welcoming shape.
Best-selling size in Mackay: the 9.4. It fits comfortably on a standard suburban block, gives four people real swimming room, and looks generous without dominating a smaller backyard.
The X-Trainer in 30 seconds
The X-Trainer is Compass’s clever two-in-one: a dedicated lap-swimming corridor along one side, paired with a wider leisure area at the other end. It’s shaped like a stretched L. If someone in the household is a serious lap-swimmer AND the family also wants a play/lounge zone, this is the pool that does both without compromising either.
Most-installed size in Mackay: the 9.4 for family blocks, the 8.2 SL (Slim) for narrower inner-city plots, and the 11.8 for larger properties in Marian and Walkerston.
Where the Sanctuary wins
Younger kids as primary users
The wide leisure zone and gently graded floor is safer and friendlier for small children than the X-Trainer’s more defined depth transitions. Kids can wade at one end and swim across without feeling out of their depth.
Blocks with limited length
Sanctuary sizes step down in length while keeping width — you can fit a Sanctuary 4.8 or 6.0 on a courtyard block that couldn’t take an X-Trainer at all.
Aesthetic preference for soft lines
The organic curves of the Sanctuary suit Queenslander weatherboards, coastal cottages, and any home where hard geometric lines would feel wrong. It reads gentle.
Straightforward decking + landscape
Simpler perimeter to design decking and paving around. The X-Trainer’s L-shape adds some complexity to landscape planning.
Where the X-Trainer wins
Adults who want to swim laps
This is the big one. In a Sanctuary 9.4 you can splash around, do a few strokes, but you’re not doing meaningful laps — the shape doesn’t support a proper freestyle rhythm. In an X-Trainer 9.4, the lap corridor is long enough and consistent enough that you can actually train.
Split-purpose family use
Adults swimming laps at one end while kids play at the other. Fitness swimmers and family users don’t cramp each other. This is genuinely useful in busy households.
Narrow blocks
The Slim (SL) variants of the X-Trainer are engineered specifically for tighter urban blocks. If your block is deep but narrow — common in inner Mackay — an 8.2 SL or 7.15 SL gives you a full-length pool where a Sanctuary wouldn’t fit.
Contemporary architecture
The X-Trainer’s cleaner geometric lines complement modern builds, new developments, and design-led renovations. If your house has strong horizontal lines and a modern aesthetic, the X-Trainer will look at home.
Where they’re essentially tied
- Warranty: Both carry the full Compass triple warranty.
- Colours: Both available in all 9 Bi-Luminite and 5 Vivid colours.
- Vantage: Self-cleaning is available on both.
- Above-ground / Maxi Rib: Both can be built for hillside sites.
- Spa integration: Both accept a spa combo or wader beach zone.
The blunt honest recommendation
If someone in the household swims laps regularly and you have block width for the 4.2m Sanctuary and length for the 9.4 X-Trainer, go X-Trainer. The lap corridor is genuinely useful and the family end doesn’t sacrifice much compared to the Sanctuary.
If nobody’s doing serious laps and the primary users are kids under 10, go Sanctuary. The wider, gentler shape is the better family pool for that stage of life.
If you’re stuck between the two: honestly, the Sanctuary 9.4 is the safer default. It suits more Mackay households more of the time. But we’ve never met a family who regretted the X-Trainer choice either — both are excellent pools that we’re happy to install and stand behind.
Book a site visit and we’ll bring outline drawings of both shapes at the sizes that fit your block. Twenty minutes of layout comparison in your actual backyard tends to make the choice obvious.
