My First Hot Tub Journey!

[orlando1]

Well This is an adventure that started back in March when I first considered buying a hot tub. I've always wanted one, but never felt I could afford one. Up to this point, I knew nothing about them except getting in a few while on vacation, and my own personal experience with my jetted tub. To show how little I did know, I use the see the thermospas commercials and just though they were sooo awesome. And how could a tub be any better. So after just doing a casual search on google, I saw there were a few highly rated ones for about 4,000. I thought umm, that's a price I might can handle.  With my wife going through chemo at the time, I though this would be an excellent gift for her.

So after doing extensive research on hot tubs, I came across this wonderful forum. A couple of weeks later I had a really good grasp on what made a good tub and brands to consider. So of course this meant I had to up my budget a bit. So I later stumbled across the infamous "costco tubs". And I though wow, this is a killer bargain. For 7,000 you can get a tub comparable to tubs at more than twice the price. I mean this tub had everything; lights, bluetooth, stereo, wifi and a whopping 115 jets! Are you kidding me! Anyone would be insane to spend 15k on a tub when you can just get one from costco. But after further research I began to understand the importance of wet testing, and although it seemed like a good bargain, what if it didn't fit both me and my wife. And with all of those lights, some of them are going to fail, and what would having that many pumps and heaters do for my electric bill. So these were just too many questions to risk dropping 7k. So I would have to sacrifice all of those bells and whistles to get a tub from a local dealer.

So then I made my first trip to a local dealer who sold emerald spas. They had some really gorgeous tubs there, that were real eye-candy. And from looking at how large they were, I had no doubt that they would fit me fine. But I did decide to do a dry test just to make sure. And the fit was horrible. So I later found a hotspring dealer who was running a summer sale and could put me in a flair for 9k. So at this point my budget has gone from 4k to 9k, and low and behold, the flair just felt tiny to me(6'1", 275lbs). It wasn't even a good fit for my wife(4'11"). So now I really knew the importance of wet testing. I haven't even wet tested yet, but had trouble finding a tub that fitted me dry. So along with a hotspring dealer, we also have marquis, sundance, along with a ton of lower tierd brands such as lazyboy etc. So my next stop was at a sundance dealer. I told the salesman I wanted to stay around 7k, but would stretch to 9k, So I knew this limited me to the 680 series and possible the 780 series. So the salesman said, well, let me show you what the 880 series had to offer. And then we can skip down to the 780 series so you can see what the difference were. I knew it was a trick, but it worked. I was completely sold, and after looking at some of the higher end tubs from hot springs, and marquis, I knew I was going to have to up my budget to 11-12k lol. So after wet testing several tubs, my wife and I both settled on the sundance Cameo.

So what started out looking for a tub for 4,000, ended in dropping 10,786 on one, along with a new deck, and concrete slab. So I guess it's funny that for years, I never pulled the trigger on one because I felt I couldn't afford one, and now I have nearly 15,000 invested. The tub isn't quiet here yet, I have the electrician coming Wednesday. So everything should be up and running in a couple of weeks. But this has been one heck of a ride getting to this point and I've learned a lot thanks to this forum. Once I sat inside of an envoy for the first time, I was hooked. The epic, and optima was awesome as well. But the cameo just took the cake for both of us. Thank you all for your contributions to this forum.

[Qrose]

Congratulations you will love your Sundance. I have the Sundance Altamar and love everything about it. Enjoy 

[Sam]

Thanks for sharing.  You picked a great spa!  I will just add, for those still shopping, that even the upper tier manufacturers through a hot tub retailer offer something very good and/or nice in the $6k to $8k range. 


Congrats!

[orlando1]

Thanks guys. That's very true about finding a good tub for 6-8k. I just happened to fall so in love with the cameo. But I would have been very happy with something from hotspring, marquis, or sundance's mid tier line. Now I'm just counting the days when my tub arrives. 

[amy2421]

Thanks for posting! We recently went through our first hot tub journey too so it is fun & interesting to read about other's experiences.

Did you wet-test both the Cameo and the Optima? The Optima was on our short-list. The Cameo is a beautiful tub but I floated out of the lounger and 2 of the seats so we ruled it out. I would have loved to wet-test the Optima but there wasn't one "wet" in our area. Like you, I fell in love with the tub we eventually selected (Jacuzzi J-470) even though it totally blew our budget out of the water! (no pun intended!)

We have to wait for our backyard reno in September before we can take delivery of our Jacuzzi. The wait is KILLING me! LOL!

[orlando1]

Yes, I did wet test both. First it was the optima since the cameo didn't have water in it at the time. I was blown away. I loved the foot dome. The only issue I had was, because of the foot dome, it was hard to maneuver around in the tub. I was skeptical on the cameo because of the lounger. The fit in loungers I wet tested up to this point was just ok, and I would have rather had an extra corner seat than a lounger that was merely ok.

But boy was I wrong about the cameo lounger. Not only did it fit me perfect, but it fit my wife as well. The lounger was a tie for my favorite seat with the accusage seat. Also the whirlpool foot jets just blew away the foot dome in the optima. I really wanted to prefer the envoy from hotsprings because of the eyecandy, and removable touchscreen. But after sitting in both the optima and cameo I quickly forgot about having one, and the sundance jets were way better than the jets in the envoy. I did really like the moto massage, but that's just one seat. And a seat that just fit me "ok" at that. I thought the envoy was just too nice a hot tub to have so many "skin itchers" for jets.

[orlando1]

It's finally here!! My journey is officially over. 

[Qrose]

Looks great 

[orlando1]

Thank you. The guys brought the wrong cover lifter, so they will be back in a few days to install the right one. So I guess my journey technically isn't quiet over, but plenty close enough.

[mjb]

Thanks for posting the picture of a Sundance Spa in Midnight / Mahogany.
I have not seen that combination yet.
Enjoy !

[Sam]

Great looking setup!  How was the first soak?

[orlando1]

Thank you. I can sum up my first soak in one word...amazing!