SPA GUY - thanks for the kind words. To answer your questions.... we had already narrowed down our options to Jacuzzi and Sundance. Both dealers were within 30 minutes of our house and we felt comfortable talking with the sales associates at both. First, we tested the Jacuzzi J470, which was a VERY nice tub. I liked the the feel of the jets and the general look of the tub. The one thing I wasn't impressed with was the stereo system. It sounded very muffled, and even after changing the settings no it, the stereo system just didn't sound right to me. Having a decent stereo system was somewhat important because we like to work out in the yard at times and having music on ( without opening up the house ) is nice. The price we were quoted on the J470 was around 13,000 including delivery, stairs and everything. This seemed high to me, but was the best deal they were willing to make. Next, we wet tested the Sundance Optima, and that felt nice as well.... I loved the way those jets felt as well, and I particularly liked the neck jets. For the Maxxus, I really liked the size of the tub..... we have two younger children that get in with us often, and I wanted there to be room for them to move around. I liked the jets on the Maxxus, and I also liked that all 4 of the main seats had neck jets on them ( vs only 2 on the Optima ). The stereo on the Sundance models also sounded much better than the Jacuzzi J470. So, we went with the biggest tub.... and they were also willing to drop the price down to the range that Jacuzzi was selling it's J470 for. So it felt like we were getting a bit more for the money ( I say that relatively speaking, considering $13K for a hot tub in this world is NOT exactly a bargain ... :-).
Anyhow, hope that helps answer some of your questions.....