Just my 2 cents.
We recently decided to buy a hot tub and looked at around 5 brands. I was determined not to buy a tub until wet testing because I had been in several of our friends and liked various things about each one better than others. In the end we narrowed it down to two models and were ready to purchase one. Just by chance located a previously unknown to me Jacuzzi dealer very close by (they had just opened) and when we wet tested the Jacuzzi J470 my wife and I were immediatly sold. We have had the tub for about a month now and are very pleased with our decision. I am sure we would have been happy with the other tub as well, but the deciding factor was being able to actually test the tub out. We were looking for specific features and feel in the tub, specifically the jets and seats. IMHO wet testing is the only way to get a good feel for those features.
Good Luck!
