Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: Quickbeam on April 08, 2014, 05:02:21 pm
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My wife and I are now getting pretty serious about purchasing our first hot tub. We are putting the tub on a roof deck so we have both a size and weight restriction. The largest the tub can be is 84” x 84”. We have narrowed it down to three possibilities, those being the Jacuzzi J-335; Jacuzzi J-345 and the Marquis Wish.
We will be wet testing the Jacuzzi tubs early next week and are in the process of trying to set up a wet test on the Marquis Wish.
Without wet testing we were seriously leaning towards the Jacuzzi, but I just found out that the Jacuzzi used to have one, two speed pump and one single speed pump, and this year they have changed it so that both pumps are single speed. Quite honestly, I don’t know how big a deal this is, but it certainly seems like a downgrade to me. We are also wired for 50 amp service, so with the 2014 Jacuzzi, I can only have one pump running at a time with the heater on. It used to be that with 50 amp service you could have your heater running with both pumps on, as long as the one pump was running at low speed. Now you can't have the second pump on at all. It is also a possibility though that we upgrade our wiring to 60 amp, which we are looking at.
The other reason we were leaning towards Jacuzzi is that we really liked the dealer. The Marquis dealer is also a good guy, it’s just that we have been dealing more with the Jacuzzi dealer and he really has gone out of his way for us.
So, all that being said, does anyone have any opinions on which is the better tub? It is very important that we get a tub that we are going to enjoy and I’m sure the wet test will help us with this part of the decision. It is also really important that we get a tub that is reliable as I don’t want to have to rent a crane every time it needs to be serviced. So again, any thoughts or preferences?
Thanks so much for your suggestions.
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Me and my wife just wet tested the j-345, j365 and the j-lx( which was a floor model which was being sold for $7k. which is a steel). My wife is 5'2" and she found that in the j-345 it was cramped and that with her feet on the foot dome her knees where in her chest. I too felt a little cramped in this tub.
If by and chance you can get the j-365 or j-375 fit in with that extra 1/2 foot yo won't be disappointed. Big $$$$ difference but you won't be sorry.
We eventually put a down payment on a j-365
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You are looking at two of the better spa makers in the market. I would put some emphasis on your dealer service plan. Ask what the cost will be if you need service, will mileage be charged, labor, any of that. I was close to buying a Marquis Epic, mainly because we really liked the layout, but also because the dealer was only 20 minutes away from our house. He assured me there would be no cost whatsoever for any service calls when the tub was under warranty. That to me was piece of mind that these tubs are built rock solid and have very few problems. And then I go and buy a jacuzzi on craigslist. Happy with the purchase, but no warranty. I did save a shipload of money, however!
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Both are nice spas, but you cant call the lack of a 2spd pump a down grade, the Jacuzzi does offer a Circulating pump where as the Marquis does not. Pro's and cons both ways. In many ways the circ pump is and can be quieter on a deck vs a bigger 2spd main pump kicking off and on to heat the spa. The Jacuzzi also offers 2 divertors and some fantastic jets along with Clear Ray std. Just some food for thought! Really overall they are both nice spa's.
On a side note if you are worried about a spa breaking down and needing a crane to get it down, maybe you shouldn't buy a spa. Not saying the spa you buy will break down, but don't be bummed if it has an issue and you have to deal with it. And it doesn't matter what brand you buy or how much you pay for it, a spa can have an issue.
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I will agree with Jim on all of his points. Both tubs are excellent choices. I'm a marquis dealer and have been extremely happy with their products. I really like the lounge in the wish. Great jet therapy in that seat. The wish also has 2 diverters and also two 2 speed pumps. The hot zone in the lounge is amazing. I also like the unique look of the wish. Besides marquis jacuzzi makes a product that I consider one of the best. Good luck in your search!
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I'm a big fan of the Marquis Wish. The captain's chair is awesome, you can get up and down your back with jets, and stretch over to a very powerful foot geyser jet. It also has a really comfortable lounge that has the high-powered HK40 jets for your shoulders and upper back. The cool down seat is also very comfortable in that spa. Make sure to take a look at the insides (under the hood), look at where the equipment is and how everything is put together. The Marquis is second to none in my opinion.
The Marquis is also made in Oregon, rather than Mexico if that makes any difference to you.
With that being said, you're looking at two of the best brands in the industry, good luck in your search.
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I wouldn't look at the lack of a 2 speed pump as a negative necessarily. Some manufacturers are switching to single speed pumps because they are more reliable. You can only do this though if you have a dedicated circulation pump. This is why marquis has to use 2 speed, they don't do a circulation pump. That's not necessarily a bad thing as circ pumps are the most common failure in the industry, to the best of my knowledge. As Jacuzzi Jim said, there are pros and cons to both systems.
You are looking at 2 great brands. Don't let pump speeds factor in on your decision. Use the wet test and dealer vibe as your compass here. Both tubs are well made.
Good luck!!
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I actually enjoy having a 2 speed pump...My wife and I can sit in the tub and have one of the two pumps on low only and have a gentle amount of water movement and also run our water feature for a nice relaxing soak and actually talk and catch up due to our overlapping work schedules. When a pump/pumps on high the db level gets to be a bit to talk over.
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save yourself some money and look at the Hot Spot Rhythm made by Hot Springs, cheaper 7' x 7' with better insulation than both mentioned
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Cheap is a good way to describe it ;)
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save yourself some money and look at the Hot Spot Rhythm made by Hot Springs, cheaper 7' x 7' with better insulation than both mentioned
Hot Spots are a great option for what you get including excellent insulation and for what you pay.
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save yourself some money and look at the Hot Spot Rhythm made by Hot Springs, cheaper 7' x 7' with better insulation than both mentioned
Spoken like a true hot spring brainwashed salesman......We all know they are the best and we are just fighting for the leftovers. My advice if you're gonna buy a hot spring avoid the hot spot line. You get what you pay for!
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Hot Spring is definitely not in the equation. I'm sure Hot Spring makes a very good tub, but if there are two things I've learned on this forum, one is to wet test and the second is to make sure you are comfortable with the dealer. We wanted to look at Hot Spring. There are two dealers in our general area. The first guy just didn't impress me at all, with either his knowledge or the way he came across (this was all over the phone). We went out to visit the second dealer and he would not allow wet tests of any of his tubs! Compare that with the Jacuzzi dealer. Not only is he allowing us to wet test, he is bringing in a tub for us to wet test, with no obligation on our part to purchase. We haven't dealt as much with the Marquis dealer, but he is taking us over to one of his customers homes so we can wet test the Marquis Wish. I feel a little bit funny about going to someone elses' home to wet test, but I told him I would not buy a tub that I couldn't wet test and he promised me his customer is fine with it. So again, compare the customer service we got from Hot Spring, to what we experienced with both Jacuzzi and Marquis. So again, to repeat, the only tubs we are considering right now are the Jacuzzi J-335; the Jacuzzi J-345 or the Marquis Wish.
And also a big thanks to all of you for your thoughts and insights. I must admit I'm still not sure about not having a two speed pump on the Jacuzzi. I was convinced it wasn't a big deal until I read Dunecritters post, and his thoughts kind of made sense to me - anyone else have any thoughts on not having the two speed pump?
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quickbeam, we bought the jacuzzi J375 model. We've been in it 7 days now, so not much for use. Pump 1 has the hi and low speed, pump two has just the one speed. I will say that we don't use the low speed on pump one. If you go in for a massage, the low speed doesn't do it for you. We turn it on high, get in a good massage, and then off for some peaceful soaking and talking. Maybe down the road we'll use the low speed more, but it gets passed up now.
On another note, look at the forums for problem posts, which I'm sure you have. You will see which brands have the most trouble, and the two you are looking at are not in there. I also used searchtempest to find my tub. There weren't many hits for a jacuzzi or marquis, but other brands were everywhere. That's my 2 cents.
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I actually enjoy having a 2 speed pump...My wife and I can sit in the tub and have one of the two pumps on low only and have a gentle amount of water movement and also run our water feature for a nice relaxing soak and actually talk and catch up due to our overlapping work schedules. When a pump/pumps on high the db level gets to be a bit to talk over.
Ditto!
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We are going to wet test the Marquis Wish on Monday and then the Jacuzzi tubs on Tuesday. We are going out of town right after that, but at my first opportunity I will post and let everyone know our thoughts.
I also did some digging and found out that the water feature on the Jacuzzi runs off the circ. pump, so when it's time to just relax, we could have the water feature running without the main pumps on.
I also want to thank you all once again for all your help and insights. Just don't know what I would have done without this forum. Also a special thanks to Jacuzzi Jim, who a while ago spent some time with me on the phone. All of it has been very much appreciated.
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Good luck!!!!!
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Good luck finding your spa!
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Thanks everyone, for the good wishes. We have now finished our wet testing and have decided to get the Jacuzzi J-345. It really came down to the J-335 or the J-345, and while I thought I would want the lounge in the J-335, we found that both my wife and I floated out of it. I also didn't think I would like the foot dome with the jets in the J-345, but once again we were proven wrong as we both really liked that feature. Just goes to show how important it is to wet test.
We haven't actually bought the tub yet, but the price is agreed to - we just have to make the phone call. We even told the dealer we were buying, we just said we wanted to go home and make sure it was the 345 we wanted and we are now definite that's the one for us.
The only other decision we need to make is on the electrical. We built a new home and had it wired for a hot tub on our roof deck, but the electrician wired for 50 amps. He didn't talk to me about it, he just went ahead and wired for 50 amps. I think he should have known to wire for 60 amps, and at the very least he should have talked to me about it, but he didn't, he just went ahead and did it. So now I'm trying to work out something with him that is fair for both of us. Not sure what we will do at this point. If I can't get him to budge on the price I may end up just with the 50 amp service, but I can't say I'll be real happy about it.
I've heard from some on here that it's not an issue with the 50 amps, but even so I would still like to have the full 60 amp service if it doesn't break the bank to do it.
And sorry, for those who don't have either Jacuzzi or Sundance, with these hot tubs if you are wired for 60 amps, you can have both jet pumps running with the heater on. If however, you only have 50 amp service, if you run both pumps at the same time the heater kicks out.
I'll let you all know how this all turns out. Thanks again for all the help!
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Really good choice, I do love the changes to the J-335 but the 345 rocks!
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Congrats, quickbeam.
I have a 60 amp wire to our hot tub. I was under the assumption that I would have heat with both pumps running on high because of the wire. And the fact that the previous owners said they had the 60 amp service to the tub. I'm not an electrician by any means, so I called the Jacuzzi help line. It turns out that I have to move some jumpers around inside the control panel to get this working as 60 amps, simple enough. They directed my to the page in my manual that showed the configuration I needed. I'm not worried about it now with the somewhat warmer weather coming, but I will definitely do it this fall.
Welcome to utopia, Bro!
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Really good choice, I do love the changes to the J-335 but the 345 rocks!
Thanks Jacuzzi Jim,
And thanks as well for spending the time with me on the phone a couple of weeks ago. It was very much appreciated!
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Congrats, I don't think you could've made a wrong choice with the 3 you were considering. You did it the right way and ended up with the tub the felt best to you
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Congrats, quickbeam.
I have a 60 amp wire to our hot tub. I was under the assumption that I would have heat with both pumps running on high because of the wire. And the fact that the previous owners said they had the 60 amp service to the tub. I'm not an electrician by any means, so I called the Jacuzzi help line. It turns out that I have to move some jumpers around inside the control panel to get this working as 60 amps, simple enough. They directed my to the page in my manual that showed the configuration I needed. I'm not worried about it now with the somewhat warmer weather coming, but I will definitely do it this fall.
Thanks Topline Mike,
Just curious since you have a Jacuzzi that is only running at 50 amps. Has it been an issue for you with not having the heater run when both pumps are engaged? Have you felt the water getting colder at all? If you didn't have your tub wired for the 60 amps, do you think it would bother you with only the 50 amps? And finally, if you don't mind me asking, what general area do you live in? I'm only asking so I can get an idea of your climate. We live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada so while our winters do get cold, it's not like it is say in the Prairies.
Sorry for all the questions, but we have really struggled with the question of 50 amps vs. 60 amps. Our sales guy says I won't notice the difference with just having the 50 amps. He says the heat from the pumps is enough to keep the water warm, even in the winter. I'm just not sure. And I also know that to go to the 60 amp wiring, even with a good deal from the electrician, it is still going to be a healthy expense. So anything you can share about your experience on the 50 amps would be really appreciated.
Welcome to utopia, Bro!
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Thanks Topline Mike,
Just curious since you have a Jacuzzi that is only running at 50 amps. Has it been an issue for you with not having the heater run when both pumps are engaged? Have you felt the water getting colder at all? If you didn't have your tub wired for the 60 amps, do you think it would bother you with only the 50 amps? And finally, if you don't mind me asking, what general area do you live in? I'm only asking so I can get an idea of your climate. We live in Vancouver, B.C., Canada so while our winters do get cold, it's not like it is say in the Prairies.
Sorry for all the questions, but we have really struggled with the question of 50 amps vs. 60 amps. Our sales guy says I won't notice the difference with just having the 50 amps. He says the heat from the pumps is enough to keep the water warm, even in the winter. I'm just not sure. And I also know that to go to the 60 amp wiring, even with a good deal from the electrician, it is still going to be a healthy expense. So anything you can share about your experience on the 50 amps would be really appreciated.
Sorry for the double post, but my attempt to quote in the previous post didn't work for some reason.
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I would bump that up to 60 amp. It gets cold up in canada so your going to lose a couple degrees over a hour or so. My first hot tub was a 110 nordic and I could tell the difference between a 101 degrees and a 100 degrees. I'm in a colder climate also. It can't be much more to make the switch
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It's actually pretty expensive to re-wire for the 60 amp. Right now, if I leave it at 50 amp, it will cost about $500 to finish off the wiring. He's given me one quote of $1,500 to re-wire for 60 amp, so that's an extra $1,000. He knew I wasn't very happy, so he said he would look into it further. I just get so many conflicting reports of the 50 amp vs. the 60 amp. We really are torn in what to do.
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50 amp to 60 amp is the size of the wire, right? I believe the wire my electrician bought was No.6 wire. You would also buy a different circuit breaker. I paid $250 for all my wiring supplies. This included an outdoor box, (made for spas), 50 ft. of No.6 wire, and another circuit breaker for the panel inside the house. My 15 year old son dug the trench for the wire (future hot tub on the way was his pay), and that was about it for hard labor. The electrician is a friend of mine, and he did the work for nothing, although I gave him a Ben Franklin for his fine work.
I live in Southern WI, Madison area. You might have it colder than we do, but ours is still cold. We don't run our 2 pumps on high for very long, certainly not more than ten minutes. If I turn the diverter valve to run one seat on high, it blows you away, so to speak. I'm not sure anyone would sit in that seat for 20 minutes. I like a good 5 to 10 minute blast, and then the pumps go off and I soak. With the pumps both on high, I have lost 1° at most. Now if you think you are going to keep the pumps running for more than one cycle (20 minutes), you probably should spring for the 60 amps. Now take what I say with a grain of salt, because I've been a hot tub owner for 12 days. BUT, it doesn't take but a few sits to figure out what you like. We have settled on a temperature of 102°. Another option to consider is to keep your spa at 104°, and if the temp drops two degrees or so, you're still HOT.
If it was me, I wouldn't worry about it, and leave it at 50. Now get that tub!
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We are now one step closer. We worked out a deal with our electrician for the 60 amp wiring. In fact, he is here right now working on it. Probably still two to three weeks away from actually getting the tub, but I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel. Am already starting to get excited.
And on another note, a Very Happy Easter to all of you.
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Well, today has been a pretty good day for us. Bought tickets to Elton John in the morning and then submitted our down payment for a brand new Jacuzzi J-345. Still need to set a delivery date, but we are pretty excited! And in just a bit we are going out to dinner with an out of town cousin. All in all, a pretty good day!!!