Caldera Vs Marquis

[SOULRIC]

Well it looks like the Caldera won this from a pure cost perspective and lounge comfort. The model that fits my budget was the Martinique. I received a quote of $8595 with stairs, cover and start up chemicals.

Does anyone else live in New England and know if that seems like a fair price? They seemed like a good dealer not pushy and was straight forward when I said I wanted to use the 36 month deal they said they would have to mark up the tub $200.

[d00nut]

Cool beans!  You'll be happy with that tub.  Who was the dealer?  (I'm curious just because I know a lot of those guys up in New England!)

[Hottubguy]

Congrats. I'm guessing you it at Aquidneck as they are the only one in New England that I know of that sells both. The only think I would say is the tub you bought compares more to the e660 or e545 from Marquis where the reward comparison would've been the Tahitian in the utopia series. Either way sounds like you are happy with your choice. How long before you get it?

[scoobywagon02]

That's a good number if you got 36 month 0%. Also a great spa, it will not disappoint. Enjoy your tub!

[MarKee]

The Reward and Resort models are both nice tubs.  I think hottubguy owns the Resort model and loves it.

If you're wanting to add MicroSilk, it can only be added to an Epic, Resort, Euphoria, Promise, or Spirit model (not available on a Reward).  Another thing to keep in mind is that MicroSilk is an expensive option, so it may stretch your budget a bit.  Everyone that I know that has purchased it seems to love the option.

The warranties between the 2 brands are nearly identical.

[Hottubguy]

The Reward and Resort models are both nice tubs.  I think hottubguy owns the Resort model and loves it.

If you're wanting to add MicroSilk, it can only be added to an Epic, Resort, Euphoria, Promise, or Spirit model (not available on a Reward).  Another thing to keep in mind is that MicroSilk is an expensive option, so it may stretch your budget a bit.  Everyone that I know that has purchased it seems to love the option.

The warranties between the 2 brands are nearly identical.

I do own the resort with microsilk.  Amazing therapy spa

[Spatech_tuo]

Well it looks like the Caldera won this from a pure cost perspective and lounge comfort. The model that fits my budget was the Martinique. I received a quote of $8595 with stairs, cover and start up chemicals.

Does anyone else live in New England and know if that seems like a fair price? They seemed like a good dealer not pushy and was straight forward when I said I wanted to use the 36 month deal they said they would have to mark up the tub $200.

Did you ever take the wet test?

[Tman122]

I agree, wood framing has performed for the life of every 20 year old quality tub I have disposed of.

You seem like you have been around awhile? Do you also think the Marquis is a step up from Caldera? Also I took that whole picture above with a grain of salt, If it was that great the rest of the industry would try to do something similar.

I wasn't even thinking about the noise! thanks for pointing it out.

No I do not think that the Caldera is any less tub than the Marquis. But what I will say, and remember this is just my opinion that the Caldera is more like a cushy riding classy Cadillac. While the Marquis is more like a well built truck. Both good brands. Both with good reputations for longevity and energy efficiency. I would take the Marquis as long as the wet test said so.

[bud16415]

Well first post here and have owned a Caldera Geneva now for about a year. I can’t speak of the Marquis  as I have never owned one but like you did a lot of research before buying. I won’t tell you all the information that can be found on the Caldera site. I did my own install built my deck it rests on and did all the electrical on mine from the load center in the basement thru the provided GFCI to the tub connections. First thing they don’t tell you and I really had to dig into to find out why. The tub takes a dedicated 50amp service and then in the outdoor GFCI breaker box divides it into a 20 and a 30 thru 2 separate breakers. I don’t know how many others do that but the reason is they have the heater and the pumps on separate power. I live right up on the great lakes in northern Pa and we get lots of snow and artic temps. It is not uncommon to hit -30f. The heater if it fails will trip the one GFCI breaker only and will alert the tub to go into survival mode. You have 250 gallons of 102f water and that will not freeze in the tub even at those extreme cold temps for days or weeks even but the equipment area is kept warm normally by pumps running and moving water thru the filters and ozone pump etc. In survival mode the tub will keep slowly moving water to keep itself warm until help arrives.
Another thing I liked about the Caldera was the insulation system. They use no foam and if you get a leak the tightly packed fiber insulation will let the leak run straight down and out and should be easier to find. You dig the insulation out and bag it repair the leak and then repack it. No cutting out foam and spraying it back in.

Like you we wanted a therapeutic tub and this is all about that I would say of the 6 seats 3 will give you a complete massage. The other 2 target specific back areas and one is what we call the cool down seat. It is higher and has several nice things about it other than cooling down. The sitting surface is flat and higher and if you locate the steps on the side of that seat it provides a really nice safe height to step into the tub from. Most cases no one is sitting there also. Stepping into some tubs for older people is not easy something to think about. that cool down seat also has the whirlpool jet next to it and that is a nice way to use the tub more socially or for mild movement after your massage. The gem of this tub is often not mentioned and it is the mother of all jets placed on the floor in front of the cool down seat and slightly angled into the tub. When I asked what that jet did the sales girl smiled and said you will figure it out. Not quite sure what she meant by that but it took a month or so to figure out there is a million ways to get that jet right where you need it by moving around in the tub. I often use it on my lower back and she loves it on her feet.

Things I didn’t like about the tub were the Frog built in sanitizing system. When I bought it bromine was the only product that went in it and also a mineral cartridge. You twist the cartridges and set the level of the sanitizer and forget it. The problem was when the cartridge was full it dispensed at a different rate than when it was near used up so you were always messing with it. often the level was a little high and with bromine you have this residual thing going on and then you do your shock and the level rockets up for a day or so. On top of it all I found out I was allergic to bromine. I left the minerals in (doubt they do much)and started doing a daily check and doing the teaspoon method of diclor after our soak. The beauty of that is by the next day the tub is sanitized and the level is very low for bathing. Works perfect except what do you do when you go away for a couple weeks. I was looking into converting to a salt generator system but Frog came out with a form of diclor just this year in a cartridge. I got a few cartridges to experiment with and they are still pricy and you don’t know when they run out but I think they will be perfect for when we go away. So my plan now is to do the tablespoons like I do now and when I’m away pop in the cartridge and take it out when I get back.

to be cont.

[bud16415]

cont:

The dual control is great and the one inside the tub gets used much more than the main panel. There is a trick to the main panel they don’t tell you. Holding one button down for 5 seconds flips the display so you can read it from inside. I wish it had two 2 speed pumps instead of 1 and 2 but pressure can be reduced on the 1 speed pump by the diverters. The multi color lights are really nice but they default to blue and you have to set the colors each time you turn them on if you don’t want blue. The air bubbles I thought we would never use but we use them quite a bit and they are quite nice but the blower makes a bit more noise than the pumps. The single filter is fine and is easy to change and clean. I wish they had placed the ozone jet that runs all the time between one of the leg jets rather than where it is. It hits the side of your leg when in the deep corner seat and the temp of that jet is always a bit hotter. It must come directly off the heater. That same seat has arm rests with wrist jets. If you are quite large that seat would be tight but at 6’ 260 pounds it fits me with room to spare. The wrist jets are wonderful on the hands and wrists and they came with little spinner inside. within a month the the cap blew off and when I went to reattach it I saw it looked to be broken at the factory and stuck on with RTV I wasn’t happy about that and wrote Caldara a review and basically they said sorry and sent me a tee shirt that didn’t fit. A few months later the other one came off and was glued on the same. I talked to my dealer about it and they offered to replace the covers and I quite honestly think they work better without them so I told them to forget it for now. I did write Caldara again telling them I had two bad jets  and a couple other things I didn’t care for and I got a form reply back that they declined to post my review on their site. I don’t know if cherry picking reviews is done by all companies. When I did my own wiring I had a chance to really inspect the build quality inside. the tub has a plastic cover on the bottom but the frame is wood. The outside panels look to be a vinyl material very durable and long lasting that looks like wood. They are backed with plywood and painted black. I had a heck of a time getting the access panel off one because the directions were inside it and two I didn’t want to damage anything and it wouldn’t budge. Come to find out the black paint must have not been dry when the panel was mounted and it stuck really good. nothing special on the wood in the inner frame for 12k I would have thought they would use PT lumber at least. The electrical enclosure was plastic that has all the electronic inside and where you terminate the 7 or so wires from the GFCI. They couldn’t have found a thinner plastic box if they tried and I had to turn the sealtite nut around backwards for fear of cutting thru the plastic when I attached it. most installers just stick the wires thru the holes but I wanted to make an attempt to make the box sealed. The power connections were a European looking push on connector and I was hoping for a good old screw connector but they have worked fine. All the inside piping I could see looked fine and the assembly job was well donefit and finish was very nice. The many screws that hold the outside panels on were SS and painted to match the wood color. The problem is just taking the screws out once caused the paint to chip again a small item but when buying a top of the market product I would have expected better. The tub has worked flawless for a year and it was used daily for the first 6 months and now at least 4 times a week. We have been it many times in sub-zero temps and had no problem. No sign of any heat escaping as the snow lays on top and alongside it just as it would the house. I did add a roof covering last fall as snow depth here was going to be a problem and we like to also use it when it rains. Do miss the night skies though.

If you have any questions please ask

Bud     

[silversun]

Hi Bud - Thanks for the detailed review. I'm considering buying a caldera. Would you still recommend it?

my primary concern is the flimsy non-pressure treated lumber and the @ease smartchlor frog system. I love anything that reduces chemicals and simplifies the water maintenance, but I've heard mixed reviews. How was your experience with the in-line system?

[Conine2965]

I just sold my Tahitian utopia of 15 yrs and bought a Marquis Vector 21 94L .Caldera ran great and had no problems with anything other than cabinet aging and control panel issues. Switched to Marquis because of price new utopia was 11500 and Marquis was 7500. U do find that Marquis has more seats with good therapy that the Caldera did 3 of 6 seats in Caldera and 5 of 7 in Marquis.