Four Winds Oahu Vs A Sundance Hawthorne 680

[Mzanet01]

I have narrowed my search down to two models and am curious to know if anyone has feedback. I am contemplating between a four winds Oahu with a frog filtration system waterfall led lighting and I pod hook up and a leftover Sundance Hawthorne 680 series with clear ray uv filter system led lighting and waterfall. I would save about 1400 dollars going with the four winds but am concerned that the frog filtration system is old technology and am not sure of the quality of the four winds brand.

[Loopcity]

The inline frog system is kind of gimmicky. You can use frog cartridges in any tub. Putting them inline doesn't really offer much of an advantage. I think that you will find the Sundance to be a superior tub all around.

Also, understand that the UV system is not a panacea. You will still need to add chlorine to the hot tub and balance ph, alk, and hardness.

[Mzanet01]

Is $7300 a good price for the Sundance 680 series hawthorn tub?

[Loopcity]

I'm not really familiar with current Sundance pricing. It's a pretty big tub from a good manufacturer, so it sounds like a good price so far. What is included at that price? I sold 2 tubs today that are a little smaller than that (different brand) and both were about a thousand more than your quote.

[Mzanet01]

The Sundance 680 Hawthorn comes with Led pin lighting and led footwell light two 2.5 hp pumps 44 jets a waterfall cover cover lifter and startup chemicals. $7850 tax delivery out of pocket.

The Four Winds Oahu comes with Led lighting I-pod hook up 2 speaker(not a necessity for me) 2 6hp pumps 67 jets water fall and start up chemicals. $6826 tax delivery out of pocket

[Mzanet01]

Oh they both come with stairs as well

[Loopcity]

For a thousand bucks, I would imagine that most people would recommend the Sundance. I am not very familiar with Four Winds, so I hate to tell you that. There are a lot of good, smaller manufacturers out there. They don't manufacture their own pumps, controls, electronics, etc... They use off the shelf stuff, which is good quality, inexpensive, and readily available. There is nothing wrong with a component spa done right.,

[Visconajad69]

 

I have narrowed my search down to two models and am curious to know if anyone has feedback. I am contemplating between a four winds Oahu with a frog filtration system waterfall led lighting and I pod hook up and a leftover Sundance Hawthorne 680 series with clear ray uv filter system led lighting and waterfall. I would save about 1400 dollars going with the four winds but am concerned that the frog filtration system is old technology and am not sure of the quality of the four winds brand.

 

I'm sure you've decided by now but thought I would share some thoughts nonetheless as I have insight into both of these brands.

Sundance Spas are a solid made hot tub but their weakness is that you generally don't nearly as much bang for your buck as most other brands to include Four Winds Spas. On Sundance the pumps are smaller and thus the jets tend to also be smaller. The Clear Ray UV system is a clever idea but mostly to the benefit of Sundance and the dealers since you have to buy the bulb every year at about $100 a pop. Also, the technology doesn't 'kill' anything but rather neutralizes it so that it cannot reproduce. It is a great marketing story, which Sundance does well, but really it is not any better than any other option.

Four Winds has gone through some massive changes over the last couple of years with some new investors getting into the mix. The spas have been vastly updated and honestly look amazing compared to anything in the past. The Frog System is not a dated feature but a feature that works and is very easy to use and even with Sundance the Clear Ray still requires that you still add chemicals into the water regularly. A better comparison to the Clear Ray would be a CD Ozonator which doesn't require you to replace it every year (about five years) and kills anything you want dead on contact and doesn't just neutralize it.

Quality is no doubt in the eye of the beholder since the ironic thing is that nearly every hot tub made is made of parts from a few source manufacturers. So, as an example, the surface of the spa (acrylic) has two sources in the USA and everyone buys from them. So to say that one hot tub manufacturer has a great surface and another doesn't really makes no sense.

Marketing it important but don't be tricked by smoke in mirrors.

[Roger]

The board now has a Four Winds salesman on it. I wish he would of introduced himself.

[silverswhispers]

Four Winds Spas is a regional company built near Nashville, TN and well known for being a great value hot tub but not so great in how well they advertise what they make. You should take a serious look at them.