this really is a process--

[beaugart_mr]

wow, never knew what a process buying a hot tub could be.  I have narrowed it down to four with all being approx the same price (other than the J-345, cheaper).  Would love some suggestions on the models I am looking at.

Sundance Chelsee
Hot Springs Vanguard
Jacuzzi j-365 or j-345

I understand it is personal choice, but if there are any goods or bads I would love to hear that...

[96SC]

We're testing a vanguard tomorrow, I'll give you my impressions later in the week.

[D.P. Roberts]

wow, never knew what a process buying a hot tub could be.  I have narrowed it down to four with all being approx the same price (other than the J-345, cheaper).  Would love some suggestions on the models I am looking at.

Sundance Chelsee
Hot Springs Vanguard
Jacuzzi j-365 or j-345

I understand it is personal choice, but if there are any goods or bads I would love to hear that...

Well, on the good side, you've chosen three of the best brands out there.

I bought a version of the Chelsee about eight years ago. It worked perfectly for me, never had a problem. It was easy to maintain, and I loved the main therapy seat. I really liked the foot jets too. The only thing I didn't like was the strength of some of the jets- the therapy seat was GREAT, but we felt that the other seats were somewhat underpowered. I really like strong jets, and I never turned the "venturi" jets on (the ones that mix air into the water), and that may have made a difference. It's a somehwat minor thing, even for us- we're even hopefully buying another Sundance tub soon (maybe even today).

[svspa]

beaugart,

I have had a j-345 for almost two years. Very happy with it. I think it has a lot of therapy options for the relatively small number of jets. I like the open seating, for a mid-size tub you can squeeze a lot of people in it.

I did have a circulation pump go out a few months ago, but Jacuzzi service was great. They came out when I wanted them to and swapped in a new pump in short order at no cost to me.

How tall are you? My only complaint is that I am 6' tall and have to scrunch down in the seat to get a good massage on my neck (where most of my stress seems to go). This of course is typical except on tubs with specific neck jets placed higher up.

Good luck in your hunt.

Steve

[beaugart_mr]

I think we are close to pulling the trigger on the j-345.  We are not tall people...on a good day I am 5'9"  and my wife is 5'3" (we have two young children).  We are now deciding between last year floor model or this year new one.  It looks as I can get the new one out the door (including ozonater, tax, cover lift, delivery, etc) for $6,795.  Can I do better?

[hottubdan]

Is the foot dome important or foot therapy?  I ask because sometimes I think the dome is oversold.

[beaugart_mr]

no.  Never had it..but I don't think so.  Looks like a nice feature, but not important.

[Brewman]

We have the dome on our Optima.  The foot massage jets are nice.  
You really can claim that any feature tub A has that tub B doesn't have is oversold.
 It's really up to the consumer to decide for themselves.  Wet Test.

[Chad]

I think we are close to pulling the trigger on the j-345.  We are not tall people...on a good day I am 5'9"  and my wife is 5'3" (we have two young children).  We are now deciding between last year floor model or this year new one.  It looks as I can get the new one out the door (including ozonater, tax, cover lift, delivery, etc) for $6,795.  Can I do better?

I have a 2006 J-345 and absolutely love it. It can't be beat in it's price range imo.
I paid $6095 + tax back in September of '06, so your price seems like a good one!
Here's a pic.

[hottubdan]

We have the dome on our Optima.  The foot massage jets are nice.  
You really can claim that any feature tub A has that tub B doesn't have is oversold.
 It's really up to the consumer to decide for themselves.  Wet Test.

Agreed.

[Mez]

I think we are close to pulling the trigger on the j-345.  We are not tall people...on a good day I am 5'9"  and my wife is 5'3" (we have two young children).  We are now deciding between last year floor model or this year new one.  It looks as I can get the new one out the door (including ozonater, tax, cover lift, delivery, etc) for $6,795.  Can I do better?

I just got our new J-345 today so I am obviously biased...honestly, I would have opted for the J-365 if I could have stomached dropping more $$ than I was already doing. I thought the foot dome looked nice, (nver wet tested it though), the extra set of calf jets were nice as well and the extra room would have been nice. I am 5'10" and my wife says she is 5' ( I think she is really 4'11" so I thought the extra 2 inch depth might be a negative in the 365. I taked myself out of spending the extra grand pretty easily. I paid $6495 for everything but then found out later that everything did not include the lifter as the original rep told me. So they sold me a Cover Mate III for $150 vs. the $299 reg price and installed it today with the tub. Taking that into consideration, you are about $150 over me and Chad thinks to think my price was great. Speaking of him......
Since Chad is showing off his...I wanna do the same

[Chad]

Since Chad is showing off his...I wanna do the same

Yeah but mine's filled    

[Mez]

Yeah but mine's filled    

Thats it, go ahead and rub it in!

But mine has the cool little lighted cup holders and headrests

[96SC]

We're testing a vanguard tomorrow, I'll give you my impressions later in the week.

We tested the vanguard today.  I won't say which jets we did or didn't care for as not to influence your decision.  At first I was afraid it was going to be too shallow for me 6'1" and my wife thought it was too deep 5'8" but after we tried different seats and she got a 'booster seat' (especially for the corner seats) the height was fine.  The neck jets almost ejected both of us out of our respective seats but after doing some diverting etc things turned out fine.
When I first stepped onto the cool down seat to get in it seemed slippery but after practice that may not be an issue.  Other than those items nothing jumped out and grabbed us.
If you look at the Hot Spring web site it talks about $30 down blah, blah this place didn't seem to be taking part in that promo, unless that is only for certain spas.

Happy hunting.

[wmccall]

wow, never knew what a process buying a hot tub could be.  I have narrowed it down to four with all being approx the same price (other than the J-345, cheaper).  Would love some suggestions on the models I am looking at.

Sundance Chelsee
Hot Springs Vanguard
Jacuzzi j-365 or j-345

I understand it is personal choice, but if there are any goods or bads I would love to hear that...

Sounds like your off to a good start. Eveyone will agree that you have selected 3 respectable brands.  I don't think I've seen the Chelsee model so I thought I would add a picture of it to the discussion.