Welcome to our forum.
We are also considering salt vs chlorine, which apparently is not an easy conversion with the Artesian Santa Cruz.
re: doonut: Thank you for your post. There were several moments during our local dealer visit that caused concern and doubt, hence this post. It's understood that the warranty does not follow ownership changes and the closest dealership is 2 hours away. Being a hot tub newbie and not knowing hot tubs to any extent, the warranty/service factors are a concern. We will need support in the early days of ownership. Any service would likely be handled by a non-Artesian dealer. We'd expect asking for support when they have no relationship to the tub would be expected to be strained until repairs where needed. That may sound unreasonable, yet understandable. In the end, this all comes down to gambling the $4k with hopes that all will work out. If it wasn't a 6-month old tub, we would not be taking that gamble.