Thanks everyone for your advice last week. We went back and wet-tested Marquis, Hot Springs, Caldera and Sundance. Our first choice and ultimate purchase was the Sundance Optima. Our second choice was the Caldera Hawaiian.
Both Marquis tubs that we tried were just too deep for me, so we eliminated those right away...which was too bad because we thought the seating configuration looked interesting.
We like the Hot Springs engineering but just didn't fit in the Grandee either. Someone suggested we try the Envoy...and we liked it and the double-moto, but wanted to have the option to seat more than 5.
The Caldera Hawaiian was a very comfortable tub, and felt like a much better mid-range tub than the Sundance Bahia.
Ultimately we decided on the Optima. It fits me well and seemed like it would be cozy with just the two of us and roomy for a group. We liked some of the low-maintanance features like the auto-clean/flush, the non-mechanical jets and the disposable filters (although i hope they come up with a recycleable one soon!).
Our dealer is going to arrange to come over when the deck-builder is here to decide last minute details about placement and delivery.
So...it will be here in 4 to 6 weeks...wish we had it now...we're in the middle of a snowstorm and it sure would be nice....ahhhhh
Joan
