Decisions: Hot Springs, Jacuzzi, or Bullfrog, others?

[dw886]

Looking for a first spa.  Saw Bullfrog at Costco a few times over the years (and as recently as about 3 weeks ago), and being from the cold states, I like the "efficiency" story.  Not sure if it's really true or not with all of the 90% less plumbing or not, but I also don't want to start a war. :-)

Anyway, looking for a 6+ seater to complement an outdoor pool.  My wife is really the driving force because she hates being cold, but she absolutely refuses to "wet test" anything.

Hot Springs:  There's a decent Hot Springs dealer in town.  They seem to have great looks for their tubs, but I'm not crazy about the corner layout with the filters in the corner.  Seems like if you had 4 people, it forces 1 person into the "awkward middle seat of the couch"...  I haven't been to the store to talk to anyone about Hot Springs, but I know of a number of friends that have them and love them.

Jacuzzi:  There's a Jacuzzi dealer in town, but my wife doesn't like the older style look of their cabinet with the vertical slats.  She likes the look of the new J485 that has the new cabinet, but I'm not sure if that's even shipping yet.

Bullfrog:  A8 is what we'd likely lean towards.  It fits the footprint of our location, and allows us the most room in the event that we have a decent number of people over in the pool that want to warm up.  Also seems to have most of the bells and whistles.

• Am I looking at the right brands, or are there others that I should consider?
• Are we completely nuts not wet-testing?  I know it's like not test driving a car, but my wife thinks I'm completely crazy when I bring this up, and I'm more of the caretaker of this than the person who's likely to use it...
  
• What's the comparable Hot Springs to the J485 and A8?
  

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Welcome to the forum!  Your looking at all good brands, try and wet test if you can.   As far as Bullfrog & Costco, the pricing (for us anyway) is anywhere from 12 to 1400 off retail.   That said you have to pay for the ozone and lift, unless the A series which EOS comes std on it through Costco. 

[dw886]

Thanks Jim - good to know that at least we may be starting in a decent spot with what we've looked at.  Are there any other brands that we should consider?

Here's what I'm currently talking in terms of price.  Not sure how competitive these are, but hopefully someone can chime in.
Hot Springs: Haven't been there yet - not sure what model compares the best - probably the Vanguard?
Bullfrog: $12,900 for an A8 out the door with cover/lifter, steps, premium cabinet, delivery, and tax included (no radio, I don't want it).
Jacuzzi: $12,000 for a J485 out the door with smartspa, cover/lifter, steps, delivery, and tax included (no radio here either).

Is there anywhere that shows actual energy consumption of these units?  I'd want a recirc pump on the bullfrog to even things out with the other two...

[Hottubguy]

The three brands you are looking at are all great brands.  If you wanted to widen your search look at Marquis, Caldera, Sundance and artesian as well if you have dealers nearby.  If not the brands you are considering are great tubs.

[dw886]

Thanks - it's interesting looking at all of these websites - many of them look really familiar, like they're almost the same company.  The Caldera website feels like Hot Springs website - closest dealer is 60 miles.  The Sundance website looks like Jacuzzi's, and there's no dealers in my area.  It feels like there was at one time a really large number of companies, and they've been bought-out or acquired leaving a few parents with a number of children.

Marquis looks interesting, but the closest dealer is 200+ miles away.

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Can't go wrong with an A8, if you can manage a wet test make sure you try out the: Wellness, Oscillator, Pulsator & Trio...those are a few of my favs, they also have some new upgraded colors available on the A Series this year, check out the 'Orchard' color, I just unwrapped one for the showroom a couple weeks ago and it's my new favorite color, very sharp....Good Luck!

[Spatech_tuo]

Thanks - it's interesting looking at all of these websites - many of them look really familiar, like they're almost the same company.  The Caldera website feels like Hot Springs website - closest dealer is 60 miles.  The Sundance website looks like Jacuzzi's, and there's no dealers in my area.  It feels like there was at one time a really large number of companies, and they've been bought-out or acquired leaving a few parents with a number of children.

Marquis looks interesting, but the closest dealer is 200+ miles away.

Your original 3 are all very good and certainly adding in Caldera, Sundance and Artesian makes sense (Marquis 200 miles away would disqualify them IMO).

You can only learn so much from looking at websites so I'd suggest you take your time to visit all of them and then look to wet test your top 2 or 3 choices based on models and your comfort level that the dealer will be there both before and after the purchase to see to your needs.

[dw886]

Thanks - how competitive are the Bullfrog and Jacuzzi prices that I've been quoted?  Both stores seemed competent, but you can only judge so much by talking with the salesperson that greets you at the door.  They're generally nice, after all, they want you to spend money. :-)

[castletonia]

Hot Spring and Caldera are both owned by Watkins Wellness.  Sundance and Jacuzzi are owned by the same company, The Apollo Group I believe.  Marquis and Bullfrog are their own company's.

The Hot Spring Grandee and Pulse would be the two I would use as comparison.

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  Price on that A8 is pretty good.  1000 off from where we are. 

[Jacuzzi Jim]

Can't go wrong with an A8, if you can manage a wet test make sure you try out the: Wellness, Oscillator, Pulsator & Trio...those are a few of my favs, they also have some new upgraded colors available on the A Series this year, check out the 'Orchard' color, I just unwrapped one for the showroom a couple weeks ago and it's my new favorite color, very sharp....Good Luck!

   Hey Eric, hope all is well!    Yeah we just brought the orchard in as well, looks really good.   Torn on the granite shell though, looks a bit roto-moldish?   

[BullFrogSpasMN]

Can't go wrong with an A8, if you can manage a wet test make sure you try out the: Wellness, Oscillator, Pulsator & Trio...those are a few of my favs, they also have some new upgraded colors available on the A Series this year, check out the 'Orchard' color, I just unwrapped one for the showroom a couple weeks ago and it's my new favorite color, very sharp....Good Luck!

   Hey Eric, hope all is well!    Yeah we just brought the orchard in as well, looks really good.   Torn on the granite shell though, looks a bit roto-moldish?

Hey Jim, hope you're doing well! I'm running a 'wet' A7 Snow/Orchard, it really looks amazing imo, also have a new A9L in platinum/timber which is another nice option especially here in MN with how it "looks"....as far as the Granite I've never been a fan of the textured stuff, I floor that color in the R5L which doesn't look bad, but if you put granite in an A8/R8 etc. it doesn't look nearly as good imo

[Sam]

We just opened an A8 in Midnight canyon and orchard and it's super sexy.  I usually don't like midnight canyon but it looks great in this configuration.

That's definitely a good price on the A8 and is well below the going rate around here where there are 5 Bullfrog dealers within a couple of hours of each other.

[dw886]

Lots of Bullfrog fans - I like it.  :-)

Anyone have any thoughts on the Jacuzzi or the Jacuzzi price?  I know this is a new model - I believe that the 2019 J-485 is the replacement for the J-470.

[Tman122]

Lots of Bullfrog fans - I like it.  :-)

These are all BF sales people. They may be a bit bias. Just FYI