Welcome to our forum.
My wife and I have visited four dealerships so far wet testing and we’ve found at least one tub at each that we like in our price range. So… I’m hoping to find some feedback on what the forum thinks regarding brand quality. The tubs we’re considering are: Arctic Cub Signature ($7,500), Coleman 471 ($7,800), Sundance Hamilton ($7,500), and HotSpring Envoy ($8,800). Since the HotSpring is about a thousand more than the others I’m leaning away from it. Anyway, these all seam like great tubs and feel great to my wife and I and each brand seems to have advantages and disadvantages. All the salesman we talked to were very professional and none really bad mouthed any others. In fact, the Coleman also mentioned that Sundance and Hotsprings were good brands and that we should check them out too before making a purchase.Here are my impressions so far and I’d love to hear your feedback:Arctic: Attractive real wood exterior, solid construction and dealer tells a great story, forever floor seems good, heat lock system makes sense to me as an engineer, dealer willing to negotiate pricing, can add more jets later, ozone option $700 extraColeman: Very comfortable design; not as many jets; includes ozone; seems very well built with steel frame and solid base; I like that the dealer has some models open so you can see inside; everything accessible by removing panels may make maintenance easy; exterior look is frankly not as nice as the othersSundance: Very beautiful tub; wife thinks the lighting on the 2007 model is cool; seem to have a great filtration system; price doesn’t include ozone but the option is not very expensive; seems well built; plastic waterfall looks cheap… like my kids would probably break it within a week; beautiful fake wood exterior is probably the best looking I’ve seen; salesman was good but got weird vibes from store manager which worries me a bitHotSpring: Everything about the external appearance looks first class but as an engineer it bugs me that their brochure and website doesn’t say much at all about the interior construction and neither would the dealer -- I’m sure the inside is high-quality too but I want to see! moto-massage is unique; ozone and filtration system seem fantastic, overall it just looks like a great high-quality tubI’m currently leaning towards the Sundance or Coleman but I’m just not sure. Any advice???
I'm not a big Coleman fan as I feel there insulation desing is not as effective as Arctic and the steel frame is a bit hoaky (rust and loose rattling rivets) And I also think there seating is a bit confining, but this is all just my opinion.
If someone says they wet tested and "xxxx" was the best, it seems pretty obvious to me that they mean IMO and "for me," without having to be so explicit...
What's the difference with the Artic O3 system and other on the market? Why is Artic's 2x as much? Anyone know?
No, but I sure would like to. That is one thing about my tub that I am unhappy with, and I think I was ripped off. I cannot blame anyone, as I *chose* to pay for it, but the value has to be extremely questionable. I did not research well enough what an ozonator SHOULD cost before delving in.
Could you please clarify if you’ve personally seen “rusty Coleman frames with loose rattling rivets”? I ask because my experience with zinc coating of steel (not in the hot tub industry) is that is does a decent good at preventing rust. Also, I’m not sure why their rivets would work loose and rattle. The steel frame is one of the things I liked about the Coleman design over wood which expands and contracts and eventually rots… so if you’ve personally seen the things you mentioned vs. just imagining they might be issues I’d appreciate the info. That just might influence our decision.
...Just because I am a newbie on this board and I dont have 5 stars under my name doesnt mean I need internet junkies nitpicking my respone. I post when I feel my advice is needed. I don't just post to post like a lot of other fools on this board do just to add to their post count. Get lives people.
"Why don't we qualify this with the addition of one of the following phrases: 1. For Me. 2. IMO. "IMO..........................Come on guys we are nitpicking here. Trenden asked for opinions on a Arctic spa, and I gave my opinion. I don't need to preface it with For me and IMO when I am the one saying what I did. Just because I am a newbie on this board and I dont have 5 stars under my name doesnt mean I need internet junkies nitpicking my respone. I post when I feel my advice is needed. I don't just post to post like a lot of other fools on this board do just to add to their post count. Get lives people.IMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dont let the children get to you, Huggieville. I think they missed their naps.