I have had my Arctic Summit Legend for almost 2 months. Overall, LOVIN’ the whole experience. Here are a few specific things I’d say after 2 months of spatopia:
The tub
Pro:
1)seating:
Extremely comfortable seating, nice depth of seats, and variable depths for different heights of users and for sometimes wanting to be more ”submersed” than other times. One seat has me up to the base of my head in water, while another allows for my shoulders to be out a bit, with arm rests either in or out of the water. I love this for when I still want to be all the way in the water but need to cool off a bit. The true cool-down seat is fine too, but I don’t use it much. Each “captains” chair (there are 3) has a different jet arrangement. 2 of them are much nicer for me that the third, but the variety is great, and each seat’s jets targets different areas really well.
2) jets:
all are comfortable, powerful and the small ones are not itchy, as I found in other models wet testing. The volcano jet is nicely powerful for feet, but see the comment below. The way the diverters and seats are arranged is very nice, in that all three captains chairs can be fully therapeutic at once. It is even better with just 1-2 people at once.
3)maintenance, etc:
Control panel is very simple, cover is heavy but very effective. I assume ozonator is contributing well to my water quality- regardless, it smells great. Love the cedar cabinet. Tub is very easy to drain, and I have no issues of puddled water left over that others have described. I think most water problems I have had have been newbie-itis induced, but see comments below.
One thing that Arctic really advertises is energy efficiency because of the engineering of their cabinet/pumps/heater/etc. I find that just having the jets on increases the temp of the tub 1-2 deg. if the outside weather is over 60-70F. The good thing about this is that when it is cold out I NEVER worry about the tub losing heat wiht use, and just the filtration cycles contribute to keeping it warm, so the heater is used less.
4)company and dealer issues:
Dispite the problems I have had with dealer follow through and his lack of assistance with water care, I have been VERY happy with Arctic and its customer service department. I’ll detail that story below.
Con:
1)seating:
The pseudo-lounger/loveseat is not useful as a real lounge, but works as a love seat. One of the seats is shaped such that I tend to slide in it, unless I’m very conscious of good posture (which I am not while in the tub). The foot jets are too far away from the seat they are intended for, but I have to take into consideration that I’m shorter than your average person, so that is not really a fault of the tub, just not something ideal for me.
2)jets:
My only criticism is that the volcano jet, which I love for my feet, is placed central to several of the seats, but not ideal to any one seat, so using it is never “perfect.” I have had a manufacturing issue with the jet nozzles falling out (this has been a topic of an old thread), but that should be resolved (see below).
3)maintenance, etc:
I have had some filtration issues due to my accidental abuse of the micropure filter, and I’m not sure I’m that impressed with micropure for my needs, but my only water quality problems have been due to inexperience, and I’m working it out. As said above, the heat produced from the pumps heats the tub. As summer arrives, that may be a problem, as it gets 90-100F all the time here. The tub delays filtration cycles if the tub temp goes 2 deg above set point, so my concern is that the normal filtration cycles may be stopped often enough to result in poor filtering. We'll see.
4) company and dealer issues:
My dealer has been a bit of a disappointment, even though he has been very nice and seems to want to be helpful, I felt a bit let down. As said above, Arctic has come through for me, and I’m satisfied with their service. See below for more details.
I agonized over whether to buy an Arctic Summit Legend floor model. One one hand, I loved the tub, but I was concerned about the dealer being a little flakey and inexperienced, and he’d only had the dealership for one year. Well, obviously I went for it, and have had the tub for almost 2 months. I don’t regret the purchase at all, but it has been an interesting ride.
At the time of purchase, I asked him (as part of the purchase agreement) to replace all the jet nozzles because of the historic issue of the 2005 ones coming loose. He agreed. Well, 7 weeks into ownership, I still have NO new jets. He kept telling me that Arctic was not responding to him. I also have not received all the steps that were supposed to come with it. He seemed relatively unconcerned, but half-heartedly told me he’d work on it. He was also relatively useless helping me with water chemistry issues. Resolution: 3 days ago I wrote to a customer service rep for Arctic, explained my position and my frustration, and within a few hours had a response asking for my address so that he could ship all the parts to me. I have also had very quick, friendly and helpful water chem./filtration advice from another one of their reps. Tom, aka “Graybeard” was instrumental in getting me in touch with the right people.
I was probably patient for too long, and should have contacted Arctic directly a month ago, but I was trying to let my dealer do his job. The final motivation to go over his head (aside from my rapidly dissolving patience) was this: I walked in the store last weekend for a new filter. There were no Arctic tubs anywhere, but 6 Phoenix tubs sitting there! An employee I’d never met walked up to me, and misunderstood the intense gaze I was giving the tubs. “Those spas caught your eye, huh?”… “Only in that they are not Arctics” I said. “Last I heard, this was my Arctic dealership. What’s going on??” My dealer came out, and reassured me that he’d be available for all service needs, blah, blah, blah, but the price point of these other tubs was so much better, blah, blah, blah…….so now I really have no local support, but I have been so well supported by the Tahoe area dealer and through other reps via email that I am partially glad not to deal with him anymore. I asked him point-blank at the end of February if I could expect him to be with Arctic long term. Hmmmmm.
Message to get from all this?
1) Dealer support is as important as everyone says it is!!! but….
2) Ultimately I think support from the company supercedes dealer support (though both would be nice)
3) If, like me you take a risk buying from some one you are not 100% sure about, make that decision in an informed way, and make sure you are willing to do extra leg-work to get what you need. I went into this KNOWING that I might have problems, but I first made sure that I felt confident I’d have support elsewhere (the Tahoe dealer came down to install my ozone, and the “mothership” seemed supportive from the start). I wish things had gone differently, but I’m still very happy with what I purchased, feel like Arctic is doing its job, and I am REALLY curious about the details of why my dealer is no longer a dealer!
Date Purchased: 2/26/06
Price Paid: $8000
Recommend: Yes |
Pros:
jet arrangement
seating comfort asthestics (cedar cabinet) energy efficiency (almost too good)
Cons:
dealer
dealer
dealer
energy efficiency? see below |
