Spa for New England/greater Boston area

[homelessdoc]

Hey Gang,
      I am going to apologize in advance, as I know I posted essentially the same question about a year and half ago on this forum, so some of you have seen this before.  I'm in the market for my second spa.  My first spa was a Vita Spa, Cordoba model.  We had it for nine years before we moved and sold it along with the house.  It had some issues and needed service once or twice, but overall we were very happy with it.  Specifically, it didn't jack our electric bill through the roof (less of a concern with solar panels on the new house), we liked the three separate motors (one for each side (two seats), and one for the foot jets.  It had plenty of power, more so if you focused all of the motor's power on one seat.  We are in the market for a 7 x 7 tub again, although this time we'd like one with a lounger.
     We gave our old dealer first dibs on our business, as we enjoyed working with them before and found their service to be excellent.  I was thinking of moving up to their Artesian Spas (we almost bought the Dove Canyon last time).  The dealer suggested the Master Spa Twilight Series 7.2 or the Artesian Waikiki, both roughly the same price.  Neither was full to wet test.  Dry, the Master Spa felt more comfortable to me, but I don't put much weight on a "dry test".
      I've seen some of the vitriol on the forum regarding Master Spas, which has put me a bit on edge.  I would obviously be buying from a dealer I like and have experience with, not one of their traveling road shows (one model was discounted by about 2 grand as a road show buyer backed out and sacrificed his deposit, but I wasn't comfortable plunking down 8 grand without the wet test, and I imagine it'll be gone by the time I finish my research).  So...for the more learned...are the Master Spas a poorer product, or do we just hate the manufacturer and their sales tactics?  I saw some criticism of the product itself, but it was all from posts about five years ago.
      The next subject I'd like some input on is other options.  We are looking, as I said, for a 7 x 7 (ish) tub with a lounger that will stand up to New England winters.  I would like a bluetooth sound system, but that seems to be an option for pretty much every tub out there now (although I have no clue about the difference in the quality of the sound systems).  I have wet tested spas within the past year from Jacuzzi, Sundance, Caldrea, and Tranquility (random walk ins over time...sorry, don't recall the make or model of those) and found none of them comparable to my Cordoba in terms of power or their ability to customize the direction of said power.  I was interested in the Marquis "Show", but haven't wet tested one.  Simplicity of operation is also a (slight) consideration, as my elderly mother and disabled brother will need to be able to operate it.
       So, again, with apologies to those who were kind enough to reply to my previous post with the same question (albeit with less detail), any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
-Jonathan

[homelessdoc]

Hey, one more question....last time we bought, the dealer had several tubs full and ready to wet test whenever.  Today, filling a tub for a wet test requires a $500 deposit...refundable if you don't buy the tub, or can be applied to the purchase price of the tub if you buy it.  I understand this in concept....$$$ to fill, heat a tub and cleaning it after a testing....but he made it sound like this was now industry standard.  I know at least one local store has a few tubs available for wet test without appointment or dollars....Opinions?

[Hottubguy]

Masters tubs aren't that bad not that great. They are a very average tub. I hate the company itself as well as there sales tactics.  In New England I would say you would probably be better off with the artesian as they are more insulated. Masters are known as energy hogs. I'm a Marquis dealer in mass so if you want to check out the show let me know. Sounds like your original tub came from crocker, I am about a hour south of them

[Hottubguy]

I've never heard of getting deposits for wet tests though I will say not many people wet test anymore. We offer it but nobody really takes us up on it

[Quickbeam]

Hey Gang,
      I am going to apologize in advance, as I know I posted essentially the same question about a year and half ago on this forum, so some of you have seen this before.  I'm in the market for my second spa.  My first spa was a Vita Spa, Cordoba model.  We had it for nine years before we moved and sold it along with the house.  It had some issues and needed service once or twice, but overall we were very happy with it.  Specifically, it didn't jack our electric bill through the roof (less of a concern with solar panels on the new house), we liked the three separate motors (one for each side (two seats), and one for the foot jets.  It had plenty of power, more so if you focused all of the motor's power on one seat.  We are in the market for a 7 x 7 tub again, although this time we'd like one with a lounger.
     We gave our old dealer first dibs on our business, as we enjoyed working with them before and found their service to be excellent.  I was thinking of moving up to their Artesian Spas (we almost bought the Dove Canyon last time).  The dealer suggested the Master Spa Twilight Series 7.2 or the Artesian Waikiki, both roughly the same price.  Neither was full to wet test.  Dry, the Master Spa felt more comfortable to me, but I don't put much weight on a "dry test".
      I've seen some of the vitriol on the forum regarding Master Spas, which has put me a bit on edge.  I would obviously be buying from a dealer I like and have experience with, not one of their traveling road shows (one model was discounted by about 2 grand as a road show buyer backed out and sacrificed his deposit, but I wasn't comfortable plunking down 8 grand without the wet test, and I imagine it'll be gone by the time I finish my research).  So...for the more learned...are the Master Spas a poorer product, or do we just hate the manufacturer and their sales tactics?  I saw some criticism of the product itself, but it was all from posts about five years ago.
      The next subject I'd like some input on is other options.  We are looking, as I said, for a 7 x 7 (ish) tub with a lounger that will stand up to New England winters.  I would like a bluetooth sound system, but that seems to be an option for pretty much every tub out there now (although I have no clue about the difference in the quality of the sound systems).  I have wet tested spas within the past year from Jacuzzi, Sundance, Caldrea, and Tranquility (random walk ins over time...sorry, don't recall the make or model of those) and found none of them comparable to my Cordoba in terms of power or their ability to customize the direction of said power.  I was interested in the Marquis "Show", but haven't wet tested one.  Simplicity of operation is also a (slight) consideration, as my elderly mother and disabled brother will need to be able to operate it.
       So, again, with apologies to those who were kind enough to reply to my previous post with the same question (albeit with less detail), any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
-Jonathan

I'm not sure what you are looking for in the way of power but we have the Jacuzzi J-345, which is a 7' x 7' tub and we find it has plenty of power. The J-345 does not however have a lounger. The J-335 is the same size with a lounger. We wet tested the J-335 and the jets in one of the seats actually bruised my back, so I would say it had power to spare. Just so you know, we decided against the tub with the lounger as during the wet test my wife, and to a lesser extent myself, floated out of the lounger.

[Qrose]

We have a Sundance Altamar. 6ft 9x 7ft 2. It has a lounger which I love. I find the jets very powerful. This is our third spa but first Sundance. Absolutely love it. Good luck on your search.

[HotTubLover57]

Personally I am a big fan of Belize tubs. I compared the E850L against every brand out there before I made my purchase and it just can't be beat.

[Sam]

It's not just the sales tactics, Master Spas are inferior in quality to the more reputable manufacturers.  You can tell if you look closely at the cabinet and the internals.  Their cabinet is just cheap plastic that is never quite aligned properly.  Their insulation is very poor, which means it will cost you a fortune to operate in NE.  There are so many better options out there, I just can't understand why anyone would buy one.

The Artesian on the other hand is a quality and efficient spa with plenty of power.

[Quickbeam]

Personally I am a big fan of Belize tubs. I compared the E850L against every brand out there before I made my purchase and it just can't be beat.

And guess who sells Belize tubs - why it's Spa Depot. What a coincidence!