Confused - Jacuzzi vs. Caldera

[bhziii]

update: I have my Tahitian wet test this evening.  I am doing it alone since time is money and the wife can't get away.  If I feel the Caldera is a finalist I will schedule another wet test for the both of us this weekend when the grandparents are in town so that we can leave the little ones behind.

I'll be in touch....

[Spatech_tuo]

update: I have my Tahitian wet test this evening.  I am doing it alone since time is money and the wife can't get away.  If I feel the Caldera is a finalist I will schedule another wet test for the both of us this weekend when the grandparents are in town so that we can leave the little ones behind.

I'll be in touch....

Take your time; you're going about it the right way. The week it takes to wet test again is worth it since whatever you buy is yours to keep for the next decade or so.

[bhziii]

Very true Spatech t.u.o.  Thanks for reinforcing.  There is a part of me that wants to make the best decision, but I don't want to drive myself crazy by looking and looking. I'll admit reading the forum can do that to you.  My wife says the more one researches the higher the chances that they will have buyers remorse, but the flipside is the more one researches the happier they will be.  

Did anyone have any insight to my question on the Jacuzzi Chestnut color. How do you go about cleaning the skirt of the tub?

[Jacuzzi Jim]

 The skirt itself can be cleaned with light soap and water if needed,as far as hard water spots go thats a good question!  I think if you put a coat of wax on it that would help but be kinda a bit of work.

 That skirt look fantastic by the way with the dessert sand shell.

[bhziii]

I hadn't thought of waxing the skirt. Can you do that w/o voiding the warranty?

I starting to think that maybe we should go with a gray color instead of the dark.  

[bhziii]

OK...back from my wet test.  Here are my thoughts on the Tahitian:

Pros:
-overall comfort of the lounger (which is important to me)
-foot ridge allows you to brace yourself
-lounger foot jets
-whirlpool (can help massage your hamstring)
-volcano (can help massage your feet)

Cons:
-the easiest entrance is in from the sides (the lounger is in front so you would need to be careful)
-the neck jets in the lounger were too strong and left me feeling itchy (they told me that I could swap them out for the hand jets)
-the two suction draws at the bottom sucked my leg to them (I don't remember the Jacuzzi doing this and with two little kids that bothers me)
-the waterfall length gets too big when you turn the jet to high (I don't remember the Jacuzzi doing that, if I remember correctly the waterfall pressure stays the same)
-although I listed the volcano and whirlpool as a pro, they can be a little overpowering at times

Pro/Con
-the atlus neck pillow.  I remember the pilllow being a lot more comfortable out of water. It was ok in the water and I really couldn't tell the difference with the jets on. So I am not sure how I feel about this feature.

My wife said that based on what I said she wouldn't need to wet test it. I think she is still leaning towards the Jacuzzi. I'll talk to her again about it tomorrow.  I also want to talk to the Jacuzzi dealer and see if it would be possible to to wet test the J-355.  That is the one I originally put a deposit on, but then we keep thinking the J-335 would suffice. The one thing the J-355 has over the J-335 is a cool off seat (once again something I like).

Jacuzzi Jim - besides the jets, what else stands out between the two Jacuzzi's? Is the lounger deeper in the 55 versus the 35?

I am still confused on the colors.  We really like the chestnut with graphite, but the Caldera salesperson showed me a blue tub with water marks. Here in South Texas we have hard water so I am afraid the graphite might be hard to maintain clean. It's kinda like the black car. I always wanted on so I got one and the first 6 months were great because I always kept it clean, but when it wasn't clean it looked like crap.

Anyways...let me know your thoughts.

thanks agin.
b

[spaz]

Well I have to make a decision this week.  Since I will be having my deck built around my spa, I need to order it by this weekend since it can take anywhere from 3-6 weeks for delivery.  I keep thinking I've made up my mind and then I read something on this forum and can't decide.  This forum has been so helpful because I was totally clueless before .....but all this information also makes it difficult to MAKE A DECISION. They both wet tested well for my family for different reasons.  So will it be the Jacuzzi J-365 or the Caldera Tahitian??  They are both basically the exact same price.  Hmmmmmmmmm............

[bhziii]

I don't have to make a decision this week, but I would love too.  I have a gut feeling we are going to go with Jacuzzi, but not sure which one.  The is just something about the Jacuzzi that we like.  I will also save over a grand if I stick with the J-335.  Going with the J-355 would come out about even with the Tahitian.

What are your color choices spaz?

[spaz]

I don't have to make a decision this week, but I would love too.  I have a gut feeling we are going to go with Jacuzzi, but not sure which one.  The is just something about the Jacuzzi that we like.  I will also save over a grand if I stick with the J-335.  Going with the J-355 would come out about even with the Tahitian.

What are your color choices spaz?

I plan to go with the platnium shell and silverwood skirt.  The price is exactly the same for me.  But if I didn't need all the "special" pretty features, it would also be about $1,000 less.  What I like about the J-365 is it has a foot dome.  The J-335 does not.  So if massaging your feet are important, you may want to think about this.  

[Mez]

OK...back from my wet test.  Here are my thoughts on the Tahitian:


I am still confused on the colors.  We really like the chestnut with graphite, but the Caldera salesperson showed me a blue tub with water marks. Here in South Texas we have hard water so I am afraid the graphite might be hard to maintain clean. It's kinda like the black car. I always wanted on so I got one and the first 6 months were great because I always kept it clean, but when it wasn't clean it looked like crap.

I still love a black car when it is clean though...nothing looks beter...that is why I ordered my J-345 in Graphite with the roasted chestnut cabinet

[Jacuzzi Jim]

  I personally like the J-355 better for a few reasons.  One is you have 2 divertor handls vs 1 in the J-335 which means in the J-335 pmp2 is dedicated to the back corner seat tons of power which can be to much for some, with the J-355 you can control all the seats 100% as far as where the water goes and how strong you want it. Another reason would be with the lounge seat on the J-355 the divertor is right by you so you can dial in what you want with out having to get up on the 335 its across the spa on the other side.

  Second is as mentioned the cool down seat with a jet at your back also great for the kids and easy step in.

3rd would be dont count out the foot jets in the J-355 those two power pro jets put out a lot of water and feel fantastic on your feet! So if sitting in the other 2/3 seat oppisite of the lounge you can divert all the water from the lounge to those 2 foot jets.

 Anyway hope this helps I am off to day so will see you all wed!!

 Also waxing the skirt would void the warranty.

[bhziii]

Thank you Jim!  You are correct with all your reasons and those are what draw us back to the J-355. Hope you enjoyed your day off.

So I called the Jacuzzi dealer and they are going to setup the J-355 for a wet test Saturday.  It will be in the back warehouse area, but we don't care.  They said they want us to be satisfied with our purchase.

I'll let you all know what happens after the wet test Saturday.

thanks again

[bhziii]

Hey everyone.  Great news...I am not longer confused and I'll being in Spatopia come Tuesday.  

Here is how the weekend went.  On Friday my wife and I went and wet tested the Caldera Tahitian.  My my wife was impressed, but she had concerns with the strong suction on the intakes, the fact that there was no cool off seat and the issue that we can't control the lounger very well.  So Saturday we wet back to the Jacuzzi dealer to test the J-355.  When we walked in our sales person greated us and pointed us to the back door.  He introduced us to the person who preps the tubs before they go out to customers who took us to our tub.  For our wet test we had a silverwood/platinum w/stereo.

After spending some time in the tub, we were glad we had decided to come back and test the 355.  We had previously been testing the 335, but found it to be a tad to small for us.  We were also impressed with the cool off seat and the jet on it that hits your SI joint.  I was also impressed with the comfort of the lounger and the fact that I was able to divert 100% to the feet jets in in the bottom. So from there we went back and tested the 335 again, but we were pretty much sold on the 355.  

So to make the story short, we ended up purchasing the tub we tested.  Our initial deposit was for the chestnut/graphite, but after reading serveral reviews and looking at pictures we were liking the silverwood/platinum combo.  With the hard water in Texas I was concerned with the dark colors and the light show looks nice with the light colors.  We also had no plans for a stero, but the dealer knocked it down a bit since I told him I wanted that one.  I had just gone to Sam's and purchased outdoor speakers and figured that by the time I bought speaker wire and ran the whole setup it wasn't going that much cheaper so we said what the hell.

The only thing outstanding is the electrical, but the dealer called thier installer who had already given me an estimate and asked if he could fit me in and he said yes and that he would call me Monday morning.  I hope that doesn't fall through.  The owner of Jacuzzi dealership said that he gives him a lot of business and that he shouldn't.

I will post pictures when it is all up and running.  Thanks to everyone who has responded to this thread as well as others. It means alot.

Talk to you shortly.

[Chad]

Great  news!

Congratulations!

As you know I'm a very happy J-345 owner. You will not be disapointed with your descion. Nice color combo by the way.

[bhziii]

Thanks Why Not!  Your pictures and comments were a big influence.