Tweety

What ever you do don't use a shovel to remove last inch of snow on cover. The shovel put a rip in our old hot tub cover or should I say I did by getting to close!

We just purchased a Caldera(Niagara) Spa which also manufactures Hot Springs. Love the hot tub. Hot springs has a great reputation. We also owned a Beach Comber (Canadian Made) in the past and were happy with that as well. I wasn't impressed with Sundance spas after sitting in them. Found the seats way too low. I would sit in each spa even without water to see how it feels. The size of the footwell is also important because five people means 10 feet in the footwell! Also I would stay away from lie down loungers because of past experience, water pressure pushed me off the seat. Check how many filters are in each spa as they can become costly to replace in future. Our spa has 1 large filter but some have a lot more. Also number of jets is important but should not be the number one factor. After the jets are on for a while it is sometimes nice to turn them off and just soak. Best piece of advice, buy from a store and spa manufacturer that will still be in business down the road if you run into problems. We purchased from Pioneer Pools and they have been great. As you have probably already read on this forum, stay away from Arctic Spas. We really did our homework and it has paid off! Good luck!