Jacuzzi Premium versus Sundance

[ndabunka]

Nicely done on the Maxxus. $10K on a spa seems a bit much from me but that thing is more like a complete workout room than a spa. Sounds like you've got a nice setup there.

[Electro]

ndabunka,                  

You are right.  The Maxxus is a bit much.

I started looking to buy a hot tub just 6 weeks ago, when my wife said she needed one.  I would have never considered it.  We saw 4 spas at Costco, for $2500, $3200, $4000 and $5000.  I didn't look closely.  I formed an initial opinion that we could get a real nice one for $4000 or less.

When I went to real hot tub stores, I was somewhat surprised that the retail prices seemed to start at $6000 and went up real fast.  The first one that I actually looked at in detail was the Saratoga Putnam, which retailed at $7390 and was for sale at $5995.
I didn't like it, but I was impressed that this brand had received a Best in Class rating by poolandspa.com

After looking and then wet testing some, I explained to my wife that a good hot tub would cost at least $7500.  As is typical for us, we decided together that we should get the best.  After a little more looking, we were about to purchase the Jacuzzi 385, when I found that Sundance might be better.  After taking a look and wet testing, I immediately negotiated for the Maxxus.  Actually, there was little negotiating, except for the additional options.  You'll notice that we included a number of options above what most folks get.  The dealer stated the base purchase price and I agreed (knowing it was a great price; it was about the same as the Jacuzzi 385).

So my experience seems to be the opposite of some who've posted that Jacuzzi gave them a great deal and Sundances were overpriced.  In my case, the opposite was true.  It is entirely based on the dealer.

It is interesting that we felt almost exactly as you said, we were getting a complete spa and workout room all in one.

We are still a couple weeks away from delivery and quite excited.  I'm using the time to find out everything I can about spas and how to operate it.

Electro

[doodoo]

We had a not to dissimilar experience. When we shopped around and wet tested we looked at jacuzzi. They were priced very closely to the Sundance so much so that price because a secondary issue. Then came the most important element, wet tests.  

[superted]

Iam a dealer for JP and also Coleman. I have found the local Sundance dealer to be much higher in price on comparable models. After ten years in spa sales the differenece in experiences customers have is not jet's or heaters, it is price to value recieved, warranty, quality of product and service after the sale. If Sundance has a better heater why is the warranty only 5 years, same as Hot springs, JP, Coleman. Are more Jet's the sign of a superior Tub? Not really! In an era of high mortgages, high Gas prices, general high cost of living is a similar tub with identical warranty worth more, I don't believe it is to most consumers. Knowing the product will be backed by a good warranty and a local dealer that is going to stand behind their product gives consumers confidence in their purchase. Sundance is a very good spa as is JP there are enough sales for both.

[Electro]

Chris H,                                                                    

In response to your original post, I'd like to say that I did see the difference between Sundance and Jacuzzi and was willing to pay more for the Sundance.

I didn't have to, when I found that the local Sundance dealer was actually pricing their Optima or Cameo tubs less (by $600) than the Jacuzzi dealer's J385.  I was ready to buy the Sundance.  This is apparently very unusual for the local market to price the Sundance less.  By the way, another Sundance dealer 75 miles away priced the Sundance $500 higher than the Jacuzzi.  Overall the two Sundance dealers (75 miles apart) priced their identical tubs $1100 apart from each other, i.e. $7700 versus $8800.  I felt this was a huge difference - and the dealer closer to me was the less expensive.  Both were nice to deal with.

There is another factor that played into my decision.  The Jacuzzi dealer indicated that since Jacuzzi has now owned Sundance for about 6 years, it has become obvious to him that the intent was to improve the Jacuzzi hot tubs by gaining access to the Sundance technology and engineering knowhow.  He said that he has seen year-by-year improvements made in the Jacuzzi line that have come from Sundance.  In fact, he explicity stated that it is the former Sundance R&D staff that have been put in charge of all technology development for both product lines.

Note that the previous paragraph says that info came from the Jacuzzi dealer.  The Sundance dealer told me that the pumps used on both products are identical, which is easily verified by looking at them.  This is significant in that the Sundance jets and pumps were designed for each other, and the water flow for hydrotherapy is excellent.  The previous Jacuzzi pumps are no longer being used in Jacuzzi tubs.  Instead, Jacuzzi tubs now use the same Sundance pumps, which were not explicitly designed for Jacuzzi's jets.  This shows up in the water flow and supposedly can be easily detected by the customer doing wet testing of the tubs.

I found this argument to be correct.  My wet tests showed the Sundance water flow for hydrotherapy is substantially better than that of Jacuzzi.

The kicker is that I now believe the Jacuzzi will become more and more like the Sundance over the next 5 years, and that Jacuzzi's jets will have to be replaced with ones redesigned to operate correctly with the (Sundance) pumps.  It is interesting to carefully compare the sales brochures for the two companies to see how identical many (but not all) elements of their designs are.

It is clear to me that the Sundance line is superior to Jacuzzi.  It also appears that Jacuzzi's hot tubs will be improved and eventually be as good as the Sundance.

Electro