Any Marquis e-Series tubs decent or are they Chinese tubs with a Marquis badge?

[Tubnewb]

We're interested in the Marquis 660 which is part of Marquis e-Series lineup.

Are the e-Series decent tubs or just junk China tubs disguised with a Marquis badge?

The Marquis salesman said he sells a lot of 660 and that the 660 is the best value offering in the Marquis lineup.

With that said, I went to another dealer and he claims the e-Series are not true Marquis tubs and referred to them as China tubs.  He said to be really careful and watch the wording when a company says  'xyz series' BY acme implying that the tub has been produced by a different company and just using the brand/name associated with a recognizable company.

Can anyone set the record straight on the e-series or 660?  Is it a decent tub or should we stay clear and look at HotShot, Jacuzzi or BeachComber instead?

Thx!

[MarKee]

The other salesperson is misleading you.  A lot of the big spa brands are producing spas in Mexico, Marquis are all made in America

All of the Signature and E-Series Marquis are made at the same factory on the same production line in Independence, Oregon.  The company is employee owned and one of the largest employers in the surrounding area.

The 660 is a very nice tub.  It uses a lot of the same technology, shell material, pumps, heater, Balboa electronics as the Marquis Signature series.  The layout is very unique and has some very comfortable seating with deep seats and a variety of shallow seats.

[Tubnewb]

Thanks for the response MarKee. That's really good to hear.

What's the main differentiator between the 660 and the signature line?

Do they downgrade some of the components such as hoses or insulation to hit a lower price point? Nothing is free in this world so how have they achieved a lower sticker price than the signature line tubs?

Lastly, do you have a rough guideline on how much it will cost to heat this tub each month? I live in Vancouver, BC Canada and this tub will be outside but under a covered deck.  The Marquis salesman suggested a dollar a day so $30 a month but this seems a bit on the pricey side when compared to the beachcomber tubs. The beachcomber tubs have canadian government energuide labels on them. One that I'm interested I'm claimed $9 of power consumption a month but that seems too good to be true.

Thanks Again.

[Tman122]

In your reasonably moderate climate I would think they both are right and wrong. 9 bucks in the summer and 30 in the winter. With one store being generous to themselves and the other more realistic.

[MarKee]

Main difference is going to be a longer warranty on the Signature vs. E-series.

The insulation that comes on the 660 is a heavy duty foam on the back side of the cabinet, and an icynene soft spray foam over the plumbing.  If you want, you can upgrade to a full foam insulation for not too much.  The standard model insulation without the full foam will be energy efficient.  Tests show that you save $2-5 a month with the entire cavity filled with foam.

$9 a month seems very low, they must be basing that off of a super cheap KWH energy cost.  I don't know what the energy cost is in Canada, but the 660 national average in the US is around $20-25 per month.

A lot of things are optional on the E-series vs being standard on the Signature line.  You have the option to add an ozone system, inline SpaFrog maintenance system, full foam, etc to the E-series.

There are some higher volume jets in the Signature series, but the pump output will be very similar - 320 gallons per minute on Signature vs 290 gallons per minute on E-Series.

There are some other small things too, like the control panel on Signature series being a full color display, and the E-series is a smaller display.  Some of the Signature models also have secondary control panels, E-series doesn't.  You can get an optional Wi-Fi transceiver on Signature and E-series that allows you to control the spa with the Marquis app on an iPhone.

Overall, the 660 gives you a lot of performance and quality for the price.