Since there is little info on these on the web, I thought I'd share my experience. We bought a Leisure Bay Flores from Rec Warehouse. Cost was $7,000 out the door which incl cover, steps, delivery, GFCI box, & Baqua starter kit. This was a floor model & the same one we wet tested.
The spa has upgardes of chrome colored rings, ribbon waterfall, LED lights, & 4 fountains. The finish is smooth & the side panels are composite.
Specs:
- Seating: 6-8. 4 corners, 2 sides, cool-down, & "floating lounger" (basically an area designed to lay across the middle & sorta float in place). 4 corner seats have pillows.
- Size: ~500 gal, 93"x93"x41.25" (by their specs - my tape says its 91.5"x91.5" on the outside walls).
- Pumps: 2 x 5hp + 1 x 24hr recirc. No diverters. Manifold delivery w/ equal pressure to all seats.
- Jets & seat comfort: Each corner seat has a different configuration, both side seats are the same. One corner has 4 shoulder jets, 2 corners have calf jets. Good mix of sm, med, & large jets in the corner seats & each has unique armrest positions, so there's at least one seat to fit everyone comfortably. Foot jet in center that is easily reached from all seats. Then a good mix in all the others. I've seen the specs advertised w/ different # of total jets in this model & haven't counted mine. There's enough & I'll leave it at that. The 2 side seats are lacking - they feel like "park bench" seats & have 3 sm jets each. You sit much higher in them. Regardless of size, all the jets are "basic" - they turn on/off by twisting & air is turned on/off by hand controls. They can be manually angled. None have automated movements or spinning motions.
- Insulation: foam (messily) sprayed in center under floor of tub. Otherwise there is no insulation inside the cabinet. The tub itself has a thick black thermal coating that serves as insulation (forget their gimmick name for it). Part of sales pitch is hitting a cross-section with a hammer to show how strong & wonderful it is - whatever - I wasn't impressed & pumps are a little louder (perceived sound) due to the lack of insulation inside the cabinet. It's not excessive, but compared to some others a little louder. While I'm on noise, inside the tub, it doesn't seem louder than any other model we tested w/ everything running, but the shoulder jets make a very loud & annoying slurping sound if the water level isn't just right. Turning the air control down for them fixes that when nobody is in that seat.
- Warranty: Will have to update later. IIRC, it was 1 yr parts & labor mechanical, 2 yrs shell, & for a period of time beyond that it was 50% cost of parts w/ labor included. Was a weaker warranty than others, but inline w/ price of spa.
- Controls: Balboa. Very intuitive & basic. LCD temp & error codes very easy to read. Only thing odd is the placement. The entrance to the tub is in between the controls & filter cover. Since the filter cover is light & just sits there loosely, you need to manuever over the controls to get in/out & its very easy to accidentally push a button inadvertently getting in/out. Because the sides are so high & tub so deep, you'd think the controls would be a little more out of the way or recessed into the shell more to prevent that. No big deal - worst case you change the light color, turn off a pump, or change the temp 1
o. Also there is no assist bar for getting in/out.
- Lighting: LED colors (but oddly no plain white light). Red, yellow, blue, green, & combinations of those to make purple, aqua, & dark blue. Has modes to quickly flash & change colors (annoying as heck) or to slowly move through the available colors. 2 main lights shine through many places, so lighting is very good overall except for solid red, which is very dim. The front & back are the main light areas + inside the cascade waterfall & behind the filter & ribbon waterfalls. At least 5 separate points of light.
- Other (eye candy): fountains - 4 total (2 on opposite sides near corners). They pop up when truned on & sink down flush with shell when off. Can be adusted to just trickle or shoot all the way to the center. Waterfalls - 3 total. 2 in front side - standard ribbon & one that just dumps water straight down to hide the filter. On the back side in the center is a cascade waterfall which is a small well that fills w/ water which runs smoothly down over a ridged decline.
Hope anyone considering this brand finds this useful. Overall we are very happy with the purchase. Have had it running a little over a week. So far, so good - no issues of any kind. Delivery crew did a great job & electrician had no problems hooking it up. Everything works exactly as it should. A few pics below since the ones on the LB & Rec Warehouse websites are useless.
