Eric W.

We went with the Sundance Optima and are very happy. The warranty so far is as good as they say, as we've had a small problem with the lights and the dealer takes care of it promptly. As someone else said, you get what you pay for.

Yes, I too would like to know more about the mural on the cover.

I had my Sundance Optima delivered and set up on June 25. About a week later, we had to drain and refill due to a burst blood vessel, and I thought that would have covered the initial change for a new hot tub. In my experience over these 4 months, we burn through a lot of chlorine. Our tub is 525 gallons, and a 1/2 cup of 12% liquid shock after soaking at midnight will leave us with 1ppm if we're lucky the next day at 1pm. I attributed the high CD to the ozonator. If I forget to check the water for a day or two, it's cloudy when I open it up. I refilled it Monday, the 4 month mark. I had a new N2 cartridge (I don't count on this, I use it for backup) which I installed at this time. Adjusted the PH and an initial clorination of 3T of Dichlor (this is Chicago city water). 24 hours later I had 10ppm of chlorine, 48 hours later 6ppm. I put a 1/4 cup of liquid shock in after I soak daily, and the next night it's still at least 5ppm. Also, all of the foam is gone. Needless to say, I'm thrilled at this turn of events. I was considering a switch to bromine for the winter because of the high CD and the need for a daily dose or two of chlorine or I get cloudiness. It's only been a week, but it appears the change of water has stabilized the CD.

I have a 2009 Optima and there's no problem with my skimmer with the N2 cartridge in it. FWIW, my tub was built in April 2009.

100 amp service to your home is small (must be an older house I would guess) for a 60A spa. But when it's air conditioning weather, the spa heater comes on less, and you may find that you like the water a bit cooler anyway. In any case, the worst that can happen is you trip the 100A main breaker... not a big deal. I bet it wouldn't happen that often. Now if you have AC, pool, electric oven or range, electric clothes dryer, water heater and shop air compressor running... trip! Agree completely - it's surprising how much difference a degree will make. Yes, we have a 60+ year old home that was originally 60 amps with knob and tube wire, and a separate meter for an electric water heater. The service was upgraded to 100 amps and we installed a new breaker panel after we bought it (it was fuses). The problem I see is I think the wire from the meter to the weatherhead (sealed in conduit) was not upgraded, as there was a slight burning smell near the meter the first day when both pumps, the heater, the a/c, and the pool pump were on. We're going to upgrade that wire and the service to 200 amp in the near future. I feel pointless to upgrade the wire in the weatherhead without upgrading the service. In the meantime I bumped down the spa to the 50 amp setting (no heat with both pumps), and everyone knows the pool pump has to be off if you go into the hot tub.

Sundance Optima.

You might want to check with your code department. When we installed our pool, there was a specification for how far you had to be from both household power lines (220) and the high voltage ones at the top of the pole. The high voltage lines had both a flat distance (parallel to the line) and a diagonal measurement, assuming the line snapped and fell into the pool. Still, I see homes everywhere with power lines directly over the pool or the hot tub, people that obviously didn't get a permit or use common sense.

I installed a 60 amp circuit and the appropriate wire, but I have 100 amp service to my house, and it's not in the budget to upgrade that. I set the jumpers for 60 amps when we first got it, and with the central air and the pool pump running, I was uncomfortable leaving it set that way. Now that the pool is shut down for the winter and there'll be no air conditioning for several months (I'm in Chicago), I may just reset the jumper for 60 amps until it's time to open the pool in the spring. It's amazing what a 1 degree difference makes when the temperature outside is chilly. Our Optima has a 3 degree range, so if it's set at 100, it starts heating at 99, and shuts off at 101.

Here in Chicago we have 2 big chains, Great Escape and American Sale. Between the two, they have many of the major brands covered. They both show pricing next to most if not all of the tubs on display, at least the locations I visited. That worked to their benefit because we stopped at one to pick up chemicals, and saw a nice tub that was close to our tax refund. If there was no pricing, we would have never given a hot tub a second thought.

Another vote to cancel the deal. If this is the service you're getting before you have a hot tub, how's it going to be when you need service after the sale?

FYI, you can buy the reagents individually. I bought my test kit from the link below (Swimming Pool Supply Co.), and the kit was shipped directly from Taylor. https://asp5.secure-shopping.com/spspools/b...;path=1000,1200

I believe he was talking about the air controls and massage selectors, which I any good hot tub would have. There's no programming beyond that in a Sundance.

I know when I bought my new tub, I expected everything to be perfect and it was. Had I bought a demo or used tub, I'd overlook things that I wouldn't when I bought new. Also, with the current economy, the dealer may be behind with his distributor or the manufacturer, so parts may be slow in coming until he's more current. With a major purchase like this, once the trust is broken between the customer and vendor, it's hard to feel good about your purchase. Getting your money back is the best possible situation here.

The top lights suddenly displayed only blue. The big light in the footwell worked fine, but as the lights went through the colors, only blue showed up when it was called for, and they were otherwise dark. The tech installed a new light box, and the smoke leaked out of it right away , so he checked all the lights and found an air valve light that was defective. At this point red and blue are the only colors working on the top side, but the footwell light still works fine. He'll be back when the parts come in. Since it was new, I noticed that when I hold down the sequence button for 3 seconds to get the "light show", the lights will go out of sequence when I press the sequence button after the initial disco light show, for 3 or 4 presses, then it goes back to normal with the next press. I suspect this is a feature as the manual says 4 options.

We sanitize our tub with the dichlor then bleach method. I use the tub almost nightly and rotate 3 swim suits that aren't washed, and occasionally rinsed. I assume sitting for an hour in a well chlorinated hot tub should get more out of the suit than a wash machine. I notice an increase in foam when other people use it, and I put that squarely on the detergent/fabric softener in their suits. I also notice that chlorine and MPS will add to the foam a bit when first introduced. A good dose of chlorine shock usually solves any foaming for a few days. I noticed an increase in foam too when a few leaves and seed pods were inside the skimmer. When there's any foam present, I just squirt a bit of foam away and it's all good. If there's too much foam, there's a problem. When my tub was cloudy a couple of times after I failed to check it for a couple of days, the foam came up to the edge, which I assume was bacterial. Also, we had an incident where my wife had a small vein that burst, unbeknown to her, and the foam was spilling over the sides from all the blood in the water (immediate pump out, fill, decontaminate for 24 hours, pump out, and fill; the tub was less than 2 weeks old). In my limited experience, more than 1/2" thick in some areas, you need to shock it as something bacterial or organic is in there.

Just a couple of days, if even, however I seem to find some new setting or position every week or so. Everyone in my house likes something different, be it a setting or seating position, so it's interesting when there's 2 or more of us. Once you find something you like, you can go back to it any time.

We bought a 2009 Sundance Optima back in June and we're very happy with it. The brochure says the Cameo is a best buy from some consumer magazine, so that might mean something to you. The Optima and the Cameo are very similar, except the Cameo has the lounger. I had my first call for service this past week, and I am very happy with my dealer. I called Thursday about a problem with the lights, they scheduled me for Wednesday this week. The guy showed up on time, replaced the light box, found an issue with one of the lights that caused the failure and ordered the parts right way. As stated in the warranty, no charge for parts or labor. You never know how your dealer or factory support is going to be until you actually need it, and I'm satisfied with my dealer.

Buy the cheapest sump pump you can get your hands on, and get a1-1/4" or 1-1/2" flex hose kit with the fitting for the sump pump, and you'll have your tub pumped out very quickly for a minimal investment. If you use a garden hose attached to the pump it will take it longer. Use a wet/dry shop vac to get the remaining water out of the seats and the filter area.

While I'm not in the spa business, these prices seem reasonable if they really do a good job. A lot of people don't have the time to many of the things we do, and will put off doing important maintenance because of this. If they do a good job of wiping down the spa, cleaning the filter, and balancing the water, that isn't bad. Consider the dealer is paying for a man's time, a truck, insurance on that truck and the employee, and chemicals and equipment. It's like having a pool guy, where the only maintenance you have is drying yourself off after a swim. I personally enjoy working around the yard and on the pool and spa, but there's definitely a market for it. To put it in perspective, I pay $45 for a lawn service to fertilize and treat my lawn. They spend about 10-15 minutes, but it's something I forget or never get around to doing 4 times a year, a good value to me. My neighbor pays $75/week to get his lawn cut and maintained. They spend about 20 minutes at his house. While I wouldn't spend it, I can see the value if you just don't like yardwork or have a busy life.

I'm 5-11 and have a Sundance Optima. The 2 seats by the waterfall are pretty deep, and I can slide down to get the top jets to massage my neck. I didn't want a lounger, and can slide down in the seat to the left of the waterfall and touch my feet across the tub, and essentially float on jets when pump 2 is on. Some of our friends are shorter and don't have trouble with the 2 deep seats, but the 2 seats by the controls are not as deep.

I picked up a sump pump on sale at the home center that I use for the Pool cover and draining the spa. It also came in handy when my regular sump pump died during a major rain storm. It's not going to see heavy use, and your personal property doesn't depend on it, so go with whatever you can find cheap. Be sure that it has a 1.25 or 1.5" outlet for the pool hose. You can get flexible hose and an adapter cheap usually in the same store aisle as the pump.

I bought my K-2006 test kit at SPS Pools & Spas. Had a positive experience with these folks and the best price on the internet. I have not had to purchase replacement chemicals yet, but they would be my fist choice. I'll second that. I got my K-2006 kit from SPS for a great price, and it was shipped quickly, directly from Taylor. They are the only people I found showing refills for the reagents on their website.

We have a new Sundance spa, so I'm not in the market for a new spa, however my wife watches the Thermo Spa commercials, and while we're soaking she brings up some of the claims on their infomercials and how do they compare to ours. The two that come to mind is their claim that the foam insulation makes it hard to repair your spa (then why do all the premium spas do this?). Also, they claim to have the unique feature that you can adjust the jets on your individual seat from quiet to full massage (doesn't every hot tub have this?). The website gives you the chance to select how many jets you get, but I didn't see anywhere that describes the type of jets. The website photos show all 1 kind of jet. I wouldn't give up the variety of jets on my Sundance for anything! I went on their website and it looks very much similar to that company that sells the retractable awnings. Basically, if you fail to order initially, the discount offers get better and better. The fact you can't wet test one in a showroom would be a real problem to me. And go easy on the vinyl window salesmen! We're not all scum of the earth!

I'm glad my wife didn't see this when we were shopping. That would be the end of my patio!

I own a different business in home improvements, specifically windows and doors. I'm not under any contract to service my brands sold by other dealers, but the fact is we typically won't, as the other dealer made the profit from the sale. The customer took his bid over mine because he was cheaper, but now he either won't service your product to your satisfaction, or more commonly (especially now) he's out of business. I'll get parts, but when you service something the other dealers shoddy work becomes your problem. I've been in business 60 years (2nd generation family business) and the low ball guys come and go. When I bought my spa I didn't look for a rock bottom price. I bought from the guy that really knew his product, sold a brand that I've researched, and has been around a few years. I got a fair price, and because of that I expect he'll be around for awhile to service my product. I know if I get the absolute lowest price possible, that guy probably won't be around next year, and I can't expect the other, more expensive guy to save my ass now that I didn't buy from him. BTW, to the Hot Springs dealers here... it was a HS model that got us started on our quest for a spa, but the dealer didn't seem interested in talking to us, directed us to his website because they don't have any brochures, and the port for what I now know is the ozonator on his Grandee was covered in yellow gunk. It was a poor dealer, not the spa, but because of his laziness I ended up at a dealer for a different brand that taught me a lot about spas and differences in models, and he got the sale.