Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack)
Skip — costs more than the genuine Hayward part and holds no certification — The same 131 sq ft element as the certified alternatives, at $140.00 apiece — 22% above Hayward's own cartridge and 2.5x the certified import. Its differentiator is a made-in-USA claim we could not verify.
Specs
| Element | 732-166-04 / CX1280RE / C-7494 / PA131 / FC-1227 |
| Area | 131 sq ft each |
| Qty required | 4 |
| Cost per element | $140.00 |
| Fits | SwimClear C5000 / C5020 / C5025 / C5030 |
| Sold by | Endless-PTO (third-party), not Guardian |
| Warranty | Not published |
Pros
- Unpooled rating base of 236 — the reviews are about this cartridge
- Claims US manufacture in Greenville, Pennsylvania; the company is real and has been there since 2003
Cons
- $140.00 per element against $114.75 for the genuine Hayward part — 22% more, and 25% and 30% more on the C3030 and C4030
- No NSF/ANSI 50 certification at NSF International or IAPMO R&T, in any fitment we checked
- 11% critical review share on all three of its elements we measured (236, 518 and 223 ratings) — never below its cheaper certified rival's
- The made-in-USA claim cannot be verified: no certification record, no country-of-origin field on the listing, and the company's own website has been an offline store since 2024
Dimensional, not media: elements too tall to let the housing seal, and one element in a four-pack taller than its siblings. Owner measurements conflict, so we do not claim the product is systematically oversized — only that fit is what its owners write about.
11% of 236 ratings are critical; 5 of the 10 critical cards are dimensional · critical reviews read August 2026
FAQ
Who is the Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack) for?
Nobody, at this price. If you want a guaranteed fit, the genuine Hayward element is cheaper.
What do owners say about the Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack)?
4.5★ across 236 owner ratings (Amazon, read August 2026). What owners complain about: Dimensional, not media: elements too tall to let the housing seal, and one element in a four-pack taller than its siblings. Owner measurements conflict, so we do not claim the product is systematically oversized — only that fit is what its owners write about.
What is the warranty on the Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack)?
Guardian Filtration Products publishes no warranty term for the Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack) — we looked for one from the maker and record the absence rather than guess. Buy it somewhere with a return window you trust.
Does the Guardian Filtration 732-166-04 Pool Filter Cartridge (Hayward SwimClear C5030, 4-pack) come with a manufacturer warranty?
Guardian Filtration Products publishes no warranty document anywhere we can find, so there is no manufacturer term to hold them to beyond the listing itself and the marketplace's own returns window. Nobody can check what does not exist — that is the finding rather than a gap in our research.
Warranty — and what changes if you buy it on Amazon
Guardian Filtration Products publishes no warranty term for this product. We looked for one from the maker and record the absence rather than guess.
Guardian Filtration Products publishes no warranty document anywhere we can find. There is no term to hold them to beyond the listing itself and the marketplace’s own returns window. Nobody can check what does not exist — that is the finding, not a gap in our research.
✓ Safety: no active recall — No active CPSC recall found (checked 2026-09-25: saferproducts.gov recall titles searched for Guardian Filtration, word-bounded; control query for Hayward returned its known recalls).
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Data last verified: August 2026. Ratings are real, dated reads — never scraped or invented. Full methodology and monetization disclosure: how we test.