Hesitant new buyer

[drewstar]

Terminator: I don't know for fact. And  I'm not one to argue with someone who has a gun rack on thier tub    

I'm not sure Terminator if it is, that's why I asked, rather than stated.

A while ago in this forum we were discussing how some dealers thought a wet test was a pain....and  I was thinking out loud and wondered why dealers didn't just have one big tub of heated, filtered water available that they pumped into different tubs. I was told that it was against health codes.  


Anyone Know for sure?

[East_TX_Spa]

I've read a lot of your comments...and you seem to have a very soft spot for Hot Springs Envoy....

you sell those I gather...you're a dealer?

but is it an objective opinion you're giving ?

I'm just trying to get something good, solid that's gonna last me a long time...

I hope it's pretty obvious I sell HotSpring Spas!  That's something I sure don't try to hide.  Heck, I've got my website, e-mail address, age, gender, location, even my bald-headed picture in my profile.

I'm as objective as anyone else on here, or try to be.  I do love the Envoy, I sell a lot of them to happy customers that love them as well.  I know a lot about HotSpring, some about Caldera (we sell them in a roundabout way), and nothing about Coast.  I try my best to answer about subjects I'm familiar with, and in that vein, a HotSpring Spa will last you a looooooonnnnngggg time.  I've got several customers that have had them over 20 years.

As far as your question regarding service to Canada, HotSpring has dealers all over the world, including Canada.  I don't think you'll have a problem.  Good luck whichever spa you choose.!

Terminator

[tonyp]

Can't speak to Coast but we love our Envoy and I'm an owner not a dealer.  

We had to travel to another dealer (about 30 minutes) to wet test the Envoy and ended up saving several hundred dollars as well.  

[hymbaw]

A previous employer carried Coast....STAY CLEAR!!! They had major issues with leaking to the point that while  filling brand new spas they would leak so much it ruined the showroom carpeting. Parts were forever to get, but that might not be as much of an issue for you being in Canada yourself. Hot Spring makes a nice tub, Caldera as well.

[scott10367]

You cannot go wrong with HS!  I personally like the Vanguard better than  the Envoy...Loungers suck!  But I sell tons of them and people love them.  We used to carry Coast as a second line about 4 years ago and they were a service nightmare.  Literally a 50% failure rate right out of the box and their warranty is so full of holes you could serve it with turkey on wheat as a great sandwich!  They may have improved since then, but I am doubtful.  Good Luck!

[PaulMc]

  I was looking at the Coast Spas down at the Ex today. They sure are deep! I really think our short family would drowned in them but I didn't actually climb in and we have never wet tested one. They did have the one with the stereo and the TV. I think it was normally priced at 19K plus a little and they had it for about 17K (Cdn$) as a CNE special. As WMCCALL said, there was a lot of flash and I don't watch THAT much TV. Didn't see that odd one he posted a picture of. Most of them were listed at a price and marked down by 1K but I didn't note any particular models or prices, sorry.

 You can't go wrong with the HS, and some others, as they're probably much better built and service around the Toronto area is very good for the big names. I haven't met a HS dealer I liked much but that doesn't mean they won't do well with service and support and the International Pool and Spa folks out Oshawa way have an ok reputation compared to some in the west end I think. One of the sales guys at the Ex mentioned they were made in BC., don't know if that means much for parts etc. since the bigger names come from south of the border anyway. My wife and daughter weren't overly impressed with them compared to our Majesta nor the HS and Sunrise (out of Grimsby) we were interested in before buying, except they did have some nice gazebos to go with them.    Good luck,   paul

[Bill_Stevenson]

I recently switched from a Caldera Geneva Utopia to a HotSpring Envoy and can comment on those two.  I cannot comment on Coast Spas.  If you go to the reviews section of this site, I have posted reviews of both the Caldera and the HS.  Both are very high quality spas.  Frankly, I cannot find much difference between them in terms of quality.  When you wet test them, however, you will be struck by how different they feel.  The Caldera has a LOT more power and in consequence offers a more vigorous message.  I consider the Caldera to be the better tub - for me - your results might vary.  That does not mean that I dislike my Envoy, it is a very nice tub and I am greatful to have it.

You need to wet test each spa that you are considering.  There is no substitute for wet testing.  Don't buy anything you haven't tried.  Wet test, wet test, wet test.  

As far as loungers are concerned, I like a lounger, but would consider two loungers to be a serious compromise.  The thing that you should try to understand is that in a well designed, high-performance spa, each seat offers a different hydro-message experience.  The jets hit the body differently, hit different parts of the body, and so forth.  The experienced user will usually move from seat to seat during each use to get the optimal overall message.  One company (Marquis) takes the variations to another level by offering different configurations of jets even in the same seat.  

If you select a spa with two loungers, you would be losing a lot of space and with it the versatility of having more variety.  Keep in mind that one lounger takes up the space of three upright seats.  You just lose too much versatility in the trade-off when two loungers are installed.

Regards,

Bill

[Chas]

Usually if a lounger is made deeper, you will float out of it more. There really are no special design considerations which will make one lounger more 'floaty' and another less, other than the depth. Some will put in foot rests which allow you to push against the jet action, and if the back of the lounger is steep enough, that works.

Of course, if the back of the lounger is steep enough,  it's not much of a lounger...

If there was ever a seat that screams out for a wet test, it's a lounge seat.

[TubsAndCues]

If you still haven't made a decision, I'd like to add a few things to consider.  I am also a dealer, and have sold Coast spas in the past.  From a customer service stand point, I am thankful every day that I no longer have to deal with the headaches associated with those tubs.  While they weren't that much different from most tubs on the market, we had numerous service issues (leaks, slow response on parts from the factory, etc.) and the energy costs our customers had to deal with were outrageous.  If for no other reason than that, I'd tell you to look elsewhere for your hot tub.

[cappykat]

What Tubs said would do it for me.  If I was new and looking at spas, his comments would steer me away from Coast.

[wmccall]

Wm MCall.,

What the hell is that ? ! ?


Where do you find these things?  


  

I first saw that spa at the Ohio State fair and thought it was the dumbest thing I have ever seen.  This year, they didn't fill it with water though.   You can find out more about it at coastspas.com.  I'ts basically a 4 person spa in a 6 person shell.

[Phil]

I remember they filled one at the NSPI show  about 3 or 4 years ago and it leaked all over the booth.  

Can't remember which city.

Anyone remember this?

The spa was in another booth, not Coasts, it was in a general info/backyard area booth.

[HotTubMan]

I was at a homeshow once and a TP manufacturer had there spa leak all over the place. It was hilarious...our booth was about 30 feet away, we had a good laugh.

Unfortunately, it could happen to any tub. At the time we did use it as ammo. I wouldn't now and I deliberately left the manufacturer name as not to start a flame war.