IL Parrothead

I just received this robe as a gift: Thirsty Towels Hooded Robe Love it!

Thank you both! That's why I follow this forum!

Thank you. They're arborvitae.

Ditto!

My wife recently told me she had some hand written notes she took when our first dealer installed our first Epic. The notes indicated to turn the air controls off before leaving the tub after a soak. I haven't heard of that anywhere, and it's not mentioned in the manual. As the first dealer had no clue what he was doing, I'm tempted to ignore that advice. Anyone hear of this?

I would definitely say Marquis is the better buy -- and not just because I own a Marquis tub. I wet tested and researched most of the major names before buying. As for the warranty, for 2007 it was still transferable -- so check into that. They discontinued that policy in 2008.

Okay, I found some: It's been a while since I posted pics. Hope I remembered how to do it!

I posted mine once before, but I'm having trouble finding the thread. If I have time, I'll try to upload some again soon. Firemedic -- nice set-up & beautiful yard!

In my opinion, comparing those two brands you must be looking at price point. They're not quite apples to apples. When I tested both, I would compare the Island Series to one of Hot Springs lower lines, like Tiger River. The comparable Artesian spas would be their Platinum line. Not that I didn't like the Island Series, but they definitely felt and looked to me like a notch down from the Hot Spring line. Just my opinion. Overall, I believe Hot Spring is one of the top made tubs (along with Jacuzzi, Sundance, D1, Marquis, and Caldera..maybe a couple more), but Artesian is decent too.

I concur on all points with spatech......and I don't even know his ex-brother-in-law!

I agree with Mike (although, Arctic uses a similar, but superior system for insulation) -- I don't think that Master has a good system of insulation. Before I bought a tub (which happened to be full foam), I did a lot of research. Read a lot about people having huge energy consumption with their Master and Down East spas. Do the reading yourself. I would look elsewhere, IMO.

Steves, congrats! You'll love your hot tub. You narrowed down to two great brands. I've been out of the soaking circle for almost a month (my tub got destroyed in a tornado), but my replacement was delivered today ('08 Marquis Epic) -- and I just got back from my first soak! Awesome!!! The next couple of weeks of waiting will drive you nuts! Please post pics once you're up and running. Congrats again!

My wife and I tested several tubs where one of us liked a lounger and the other didn't, and some where neither of us liked it. When we were looking at Hot Spring tubs, we had decided that if we were to buy one, it would not have a lounger. We both ended up liking the lounger on our Marquis Epic. Ditto to the other messages that said wet testing is crucial on this point.

Freudian slip or typo? Sorry. Typo. I fixed it.

DjPill, the dealer from whom I bought the tub said he'd cut it up and take it away. The further dealer said he'd take it for parts. I have a friend that wants it too. Makeshift (I hate what they did to Favre), the only thing I might do differently is add a couple of spinning jets to one of the seats. ChicagoMike, the salesman knows our tub is totalled. He's been promising for two weeks to fax an invoice and indicate that our tub is totalled. And he knows we're ready to order another tub. Can't get ahold of him. He's out. And Markee, yes -- the tree put a hole in the shell about the size of a basketball. Destroyed two of the calf jets too.

Read the other threads on this site. There have been numerous discussions about the two main types of insulating hot tubs. Arctic is probably the best at that type of insulating -- thermal pane, for the most part. There are a lot of manufacturers that use thermal pain systems that don't work well. Arctic is a good spa. Hot Spring is very good too. Artesian is up there as well. Find which one feels the best to you in wet tests and you'll be fine with any of them.

Not only will I be buying the second tub in a year, I sent a buddy to buy one from him. As for the homeowners, I did call my agent when we got the tub to see if I needed to buy an endorsement. He said it was absolutely covered, with no endorsement needed. And as for dealers, when the dealer called at 8 am, while I was in the shower and was allegedly "out in the field" 10 minutes later, I gave his assistant my office and cell phone numbers. At 4:00, when he still hadn't called back, I called the first Marquis dealer I had met -- when there wasn't a store nearby at the time -- who's 40 miles away, and asked him to price the tub for me. I think I'm going to order it from him. He's a much nicer guy.

Randy, thanks alot. Good comment, although there is really nothing about the Epic we don't like. Widespread, I would like to order the same tub. I haven't been totally enthralled by our dealer, and the next nearest Marquis dealer is aobut 40 miles away. I absolutely love the Epic, though! I'm going to give our current dealer one more chance to impress. Since I bought this tub in April, I already referred him another buyer on a slightly smaller brand new Marquis. He hasn't returned 3 of my wife's calls for us to place the new order. HIis employees all know that we're ready to order, but say we have to talk to the manager. State Farm called us today to say the check is now in the mail, so I want to get the tub ordered. If he doesn't call back first thing, I'm going to threaten reaching out to the further Marquis dealer. If he gets snippy on the servicing issue (since he is the closer dealer), I would actually consider Jacuzzi or Hot Spring -- our second favorite tubs -- or even wet testing an Arctic, as I hear they now have a dealer in the area. Well, I don't want to worry aobut a hypothetical. Hopefully, he'll call tomorrow. The only thing we'll do differently is add a couple of spinning jets at one of the seats. We were talking about it anyway at next draining. ChicagoMike (could have been my screen name too! ), I have a lot of trees along the back of my property. My wife and I were looking at "the one" about 3 weeks ago -- saying we should take it down sometime soon, as we knew if it came down it would hit the spa and/or house. Yes -- it was the storm a week ago today that got us. We are digging into our pockets and completely removing that tree (State Farm will only pay to clean up the parts that came down) and another tree that we could tell was dying. We should be a lot safer now. Although, there's a lot less shade in the yard now. But, the kids have much more room to run around as a result!

Yeah....makeshift, what brand tub do you have?

Analyze, you'd be half-way onto something if Costco was selling the same product as the dealers, but they're not even close. The manufacturers that agree to make a product for Costco (at least in the hot tub industry) have to cut corners to make the price point. They put in cheaper components and use less energy efficient methods. So, your Economics and Marketing lecture is more than a bit off-base.

Congrats! Enjoy! I only find problems with my water chemistry around the time it needs to be filled. You'll get the hang of it.

Reat through all of the threads. I think you'll consistently see the following makes mentioned as the best in quality and customer satisfaction (in no particular order): Hot Spring, Caldera, Marquis, D1, Artesian, Jacuzzi, Sundance, Arctic -- probably a few I'm missing right now. Find dealers in your area that have been around for a while. Wet test the tubs -- the majority of the people here will tell you that it's very important. The fact that I love the tub I bought does not mean it will fit your body well. Get in a bunch of them, and one or two will stand out. Then you start negotiating price. But price alone isn't the only thing. Make sure you're comfortable with the dealer. It's the dealer that you'll be dealing with if you need service down the road. I will tell you, as all of my friends that owned spas told me when I was shopping -- when in doubt, get a slightly larger tub. Any of my friends that went on the small side regretted it. I knew that 75% of the time it would just be me and my wife in the tub. But when you have guests, the extra size is awesome!

I"m not real familiar with Beachcomber, but I can tell you -- from my research and what I've heard time and time again -- you can't go wrong with the other 3. I personally fell in love with the Marquis, but try each one out again, and one should "float your boat".

My '08 Epic, which we got in mid-April, was totalled this past week in a storm. 10-12' long piece of tree limb came through the top of the cover like a spear -- right through the lounge seat area of the shell. Drained the entire tub in minutes. The cover lifter (metal) is bent also. Luckily, homeowners is covering it, but I'll be without a spa for a while. Here's a couple of shots we took for the insurance company:

I love that cabinet!