Hope it works for you. I just about did the same (had my money ready for a Down East Exeter), but was rescued by this site just in time! I ended up going with a Marquis and we love it (was about 1.5K more).
I think you'll find the following, but see what others say:
1. Many of the complaints with Master have to do with sales tactics rather than quality (of course you've figured that Down East is a Master brand).
2. That said, I don't find that many put Master in the same category with 'top tier' brands such as HS, Marquis, Sundance, Jacuzzi, D1, etc.
3. One of the big issues with these tubs is insulation, and that seems to be the most common complaint. In fact, you'll find others that write in reporting that they're happy with their tubs (check out BODark for one). But, Master doesn't seem to have 'mastered' (sorry!) the isonine insulation business. You'll get some debate about this, but most folks agree that full foam is the way to go, and no one (except, from what I've read, Arctic - maybe a few others?) does the partial foam well.
So, if it turns out that insulation is your major issue (causing high electric bills, which is what you'll find here), you may be able to do some supplemental insulating. See other posts in the forum for ideas on how to do this.
Good luck - hope that it all turns out great for you.
thanks for the reply ... what marquis did you end up with?
Marquis Reward. It's been fantastic so far.....
hi - that is great and you were lucky that you walked away from the master spa deal. i am having a hard time getting my deposit refunded. apparently the distributor for master spas is very shady and after some research it seems that i am not the only one who this has happened to ...
i am in california and it seems that master spa's distrbutors conduct business this way in other states. the wisconsin department of justice has filed legal action against a firm that sells spas at wisconsin state fair park, alleging the firm failed to tell customer of their right to cancel sales. i found this at the www.whatsthebest-hotub.com site. so buyer beware ...