The big differences in the Caldera vs. HotSpring have more to do with the looks and styling than performance. If you had said, "I LOVED the Moto Massage" then the choice would be easier for you. I do hope you have tried the Moto wet?
The two lines had drastically different jets when I was selling both, but now they have incorporated some of the same jets into the HotSpring line. Up until they made that change, you could not shut down the water flow from jets in a HotSpring - you can now, and they have the same jets as the Caldera in many (not all) seats. The jets do interchange from seat to seat in both lines, so if you found a seat with jets you didn't like during your wet test, be sure to check to see if you can move different jets into that location.
Other differences: Filtration is better in the HotSpring. I know this gets a lot of people arguing here on the forums, but I have had both tubs sitting side-by-side on my showroom floor. I can tell you that the HotSpring tubs will clear faster than any single filter system. I have seen HS next to Tiger River, Caldera, Sundance and many off-brand tubs on my showroom floor over the years - and now Freeflow - and the HS still whups 'em all to clear water. Showroom floor tubs DO get cloudy faster than they will in your home (unless you plan on having twenty or so sets of hands being stuck in front of your jets on a busy Saturday morning...) so this is really not such a big deal in your home as it is in the store. But be aware that it IS a difference.
Ozone - check with the dealers, but ozone was not standard on all the Caldera models when I was a dealer, it may be now. It is on the HotSpring Sovereign. All Caldera tubs were "ozone ready" when I was selling, so it can be easily added by the dealer - I suspect they come with it now though.
Blower - an air blower is not available on any HotSpring tub. I don't like blowers, and prefer selling a tub which does not have one, however, there are folks out there who like them. Those people are called "shoppers," because they most likely have not lived with one yet.
My reasons have been reduced by
one in the past few years: the noise! They used to be a lot louder - they sound just like a shop vac - but manufacturers have found ways to make them far quieter. Be sure you hear one just like the model you are looking at if it has a blower, to be sure THAT one is quiet. My other reasons for not liking them:
- They cool the water. Seems like putting AC in a Sauna to me...
- They bring up a cloud of sanitizer right to eye-level as you sit in the tub inhaling it..
- They oxidize out sanitizers.
- They can trap sludge in the air channel, however most new tubs have a system to blow out the air channel once or twice a day (automatically) so this is not much of an issue any more.
- Most tubs shut off the heater when the air blower comes on.
HTH
