Best spas for hydrotherapy?

[kurifodo]

Hi,

I searched the forum for related articles and they seem spread out / perhaps old from what I can tell, so I thought I'd ask again. Please point me to any relevant posts if you feel they're useful though.

I'd like to get opinions on what would be the best spas (your top 3) for hydrotherapy (back is the priority: lower and upper + shoulders, legs are secondary and a 'nice to have'). We are 5'9" and 5'1" and on the slender side if that helps with the sizing / recommendations specific to us.

Let's say for the sake of this question, price does not matter for now.

Thanks.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Only you can determine what's best for you, by wet testing them. What I may love, you may hate...what I find uncomfortable, you may find is perfect, for YOU.

[BullFrogSpasMN]

If good jets/hydrotherapy is what your looking for you at least need to check out Bullfrog Spas...16 different JetPak designs to suit your needs: http://www.bullfrogspas.com/jetpak-selection/

[Spatech_tuo]

Hi,

I searched the forum for related articles and they seem spread out / perhaps old from what I can tell, so I thought I'd ask again. Please point me to any relevant posts if you feel they're useful though.

I'd like to get opinions on what would be the best spas (your top 3) for hydrotherapy (back is the priority: lower and upper + shoulders, legs are secondary and a 'nice to have'). We are 5'9" and 5'1" and on the slender side if that helps with the sizing / recommendations specific to us.

Let's say for the sake of this question, price does not matter for now.

Thanks.

While everyone has their favorites no one can really tell you what's going to work best for you. Arctic, Bullfrog, Caldera, D1, Hot Spring, Jacuzzi, Marquis and Sundance are probably the most talked about models but if you got 8 people to wet test the same model from each you could end up with 8 different results so don't rely too heavily on what works best for others when it comes to hydrotherapy because that really falls into the "to each his own" category.

I'd suggest you go to the websites of the most reputable spa makers to see who is in your area and visit whoever is nearby. You may find some that you think look like the jet placement will work for you in the brochure or even by sitting in a dry spa on the showroom floor but that only means so much until you get in the water and wet test the spa yourself. Countless times people on this forum have told the story about how they were ready to buy a certain brand/model until they wet tested and found that what looked good dry didn't do the trick wet while another they tested was just right! You want to find out what works best while its still in the showroom rather than rolling the dice and learning when its already in your backyard.

[orlando1]

The importance of wet testing can't be stressed enough. I was dead set on a hotspring envoy until I wet tested a sundance optima. I was then dead set on the optima until I wet tested the cameo and preferred it over the optima. I wet tested five different tubs until I found one that fit both my wife and I best. That doesn't even count the numerous tubs I got in dry only to find out they weren't even worth wet testing since they didn't even fit me dry. Some jets looked better on paper to me than others, (hk40 jets from marquis for example), but actually experiencing them is a completely different story.

[MarKee]

I would check out Marquis, great therapy.  There are some good options listed above too.

[kurifodo]

Yes, I understand only I can determine what's best for us. That doesn't preclude me from probing others to help narrow my search, so I can go wet test and make that determination.

So, if there happens to be anyone out there with our general body build that I noted in my original post, please let me know your experiences.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

[icenogle]

So crazy.  Not only is the hot tub I am waiting for one that you may be interested in, we live in the same city.  Not only that we are almost the same build.  Next your going to tell me we work for the same company (make things that fly thru the air).  Or even better you like Trump too.

I'm 5'10" the wife is 5'0".  Anyways, the wife was not so keen on me getting a hot tub.  Said something like can we afford it?  She thinks too much.  As soon as we stepped into the hot tub store (Aqua Quip) in Federal Way and she saw the hot tub I feel she feel in love just because they are so pretty.  Then we did the wet test, that was it.  We both loved it.  I honestly think just about any hot tub we would have tried (most brands) we would have liked.  Just how we are, not too hard to please.  My first dream was the Marquis hot tubs but when I went to the Aqua Rec store in Tacoma nobody seemed to be there.  Two trips around the store floor nobody came out from the break room, so I left.

As you can see my wife is a little shorter than some.  The manager at the store gave my wife a booster pillow to sit on during the wet test.  When checking her out in the tub I asked her how she liked the pillow, she looked like she was at the perfect height.  She said she was not using the pillow.  It was perfect for both of us.  I suppose if there were more people in there  the water would rise and she may need the pillow.  Most of the time it will only be the two of us though, being a little older with no kids left at home is great.  50's ain't so bad.

In the pic is the J-385 for the wet test.  Afterwards, we dry tested the J-345 which is the one we bought.  I'm thinking it will be a slightly better fit.

[amy2421]

Yes, I understand only I can determine what's best for us. That doesn't preclude me from probing others to help narrow my search, so I can go wet test and make that determination.

So, if there happens to be anyone out there with our general body build that I noted in my original post, please let me know your experiences.

Thanks for the feedback so far.

Try the Jacuzzi J-470 & J-480. The dual waterfall feature is awesome for hydrotherapy. The back of the tub is raised so the waterfalls provide a real shoulder massage, not just for aesthetics/sound like on most tubs.