D.P. Roberts

You do know that the tub won't get hot enough to cook those, right? And even if it did, they'd be all soggy.

This thread is no longer about "what is a good spa for 5k". This thread is about two small groups of people who cannot comprehend the idea that people can have different opinions. Do you really think- after what, 11 pages or so- that somehow your point has not been made yet? No one has contributed one bit to this discussion in several pages - all you've done is insult each other, or insult each other's opinions, or each other's arguments - NOT the tubs themselves. Someone who wanted to find out anything useful about $5000 tubs stopped reading several pages ago. You've pointed out many, many times that this is a free board, and everyone has the right to post their opinion, yada yada yada. Just because you have the RIGHT to post doesn't mean that you MUST take advantage of it, or that it's useful, or that anybody even cares anymore.

Okay, some people like Costco tubs. Some people don't. The end. You want my personal opinion? Even if you don't, you're getting it anyway (since this seems to be the thread for that). Personally, I think this is the dumbest spa-related threads on the internet- and that includes the one with the video of the girl having diarrhea in the tub.

Since dictionary definitions are being used in this thread already, I suggest those of you mentioning "taunt flesh" look up the definition of "taunt". I think the word you're looking for is "taut." Otherwise, what you're saying is that the beautiful naked women are making fun of you...

In terms of car analogies, I think Costco spas are more like an Oldsmobile Silhouette - it's the Cadillac of minivans.

I did a similar search myself, and found that Nordic is one of the few good brands in that price range. Of course, most of their tubs are round, which may or may not work for you. A lot of the higher-end companies sell smaller tubs from their "other" brands in that range- Sundance's 600 or 700 series, Hot Spring's Tiger River, etc.

Halfshell, Congrats on your purchase. I also looked into Nordic tubs a few months ago, and nearly bought one (we decided not to buy a tub for the time being). I e-mailed them with a few technical questions I had about their tubs, and their replies were quick, helpful, and detailed- I really began to appreciate how much effort they put into the design and manufacture of their tubs. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Is that the 5th most wealthy including or excluding heads of state? If it does not include heads of state, then your customer was Lakshmi Mittal of the UK & India's Mttal Steel Company. If it includes heads of state, then you're talking about Paul Allen of Microsoft. So if I contacted both of them, what would they say?

The Sundance Optima and Cameo are about the same size as a Rendezvous. The Cameo has a lounger, the Optima does not. FWIW, I read a survey several years ago that said that most first time hot tub buyers pick a tub with a lounger, but most second time buyers do not - for the "floating" reasons you mentioned. Sorry I can't help with the French. The only phrase I know is "Mon aéroglisseur est plein des anguilles."

No, we just don't like what you're doing to those poor animals to make the music...

There may not be many Artesian owners here, but they have a very good reputation on a lot of other boards. For example, check out all the positive reviews on rhtubs.com. Personally, I think the Platinum class tubs with their Direct Drive thing (or whatever you call it - the pumps plumbed directly to each group of jets) would be on my short list of the tubs I'd want if money was no object. Unfortunately, in my case money is an object..

Well, it's a good thing that independent web sites like the Spa Shopper Guide are out there to do USEFUL research! If people like Chas and Jim weren't so busy arguing, maybe consumers like me could find some REAL spa information!!! (Snicker...) (This is me, trying to keep a straight face...)

I see -when you get banned, you're not really banned, you just "go away" for a while? I think my tolerance for BS has been exceeded. Yet again.

Here's another interesting quote from the other board: "Now, in order to get what we want the spas come in with no equipment pack, untested, and raw. We spend up to five days on one spa fixing all the issues and making it into a product that I know will out last and out perform every spa out there." So, "up to five days" per spa - let's say an average of four days. Multiply that by 16 spas that are overdue = 64 days to finish them. Divide that by five work days per week = 12.8 weeks worth of work- or, as he said yesterday, three months late! In other words, of the 16 customers who were expecting their spas in December, not one of them is even started yet!!! This may explain why: "It is snowing again, and Mike is having difficulties getting the spas back to Colorado, because of road closings and terrible weather." So, the spas that are late aren't even in Colorado yet? That would be a great way to keep a nearly-defunct company afloat - take deposits, but don't spend a single cent of it actually making the product...

lparsons- In MOST 115V tubs, a smaller heater will take a lot longer to heat up the tub. I've heard that the average 230V tub can heat water at about 6 degrees F per hour, and in my experience that has been true. So, if you refill your tub with 50 degree water in the morning, it will be hot enough to use that night. A 115V heater won't heat that quickly. However, you don't need to tear apart the tub to get a rough idea- just look at the manufacturer's web sites. For example, Hot Springs lists its Jetsetter model as either 115V or 230V models. In the 115V version, the heater is 1500W. In the 230V version, the heater is 6000W - roughly four times the wattage as the 115V version. In most cases, converting the tub to 220 simply means better heater performance, not better pumps. With 110V tubs, you can have the heater on, or the pumps, but not both. So, once you open the tub's cover and turn the pumps on, the tub stats cooling down, and won't start heating up again until you turn the pumps off- and, since the 115V version has a smaller heater to begin with, it will take longer to get back to your desired temperature. With a 220V setup, in most cases the heater and the pumps (or at least one of the pumps, if you have a model with multiple pumps) can run at the same time, so the water generally does not cool down while you're in it. As to Chas's post about the difference between the 115V and 220V pumps- he's a Hot Springs dealer, so he knows far more about those models than I do. The Hot Spings site lists the pump for a Jetsetter as a "Wavemaster 7000 one speed 1.65HP continuous duty" in both versions, so even if they're different models, it sounds like you're getting the same performance jetwise in both tubs.

Okay, let's go back to my original statement. Even being conservative with the math, you're three MONTHS (or a quarter of the year) late on the spas you allegedly are working on. If the normal employed person was three months behind, at 40 hours per week x 12 weeks = 480 hours behind schedule. The normal person would have to work 80 hours per week for three months straight just to catch up. Someone who owned their own business would, you would assume, work even harder. And yet here you are, wasting hours and hours posting away on internet forums. Any REAL customer whose spa was MONTHS overdue, and read your posts here and saw how "busy" you were working on their tubs, would have demanded their money back by now. If I were you, I would lay off posting for a week or three, so you can pretend that you're working on spas (three months would be more accurate, but let's pretend you're superhuman and can do three months of work in three weeks). Then, come up with some picture of spas on a truck- hopefully, a picture we've never seen before- and pretend that you're on your way to deliver them. Come back a week or two later, and talk about how great your deliveries went. Then, you can post like crazy, pretending you're back on schedule. Of course, that would entail being absent from the internet for three or four weeks. And I would bet money you just can't do that. And, since you don't actually have any spas to work on, and no potential customers either, you can't afford to stay off the internet, can you? Quite a Catch-22.

"I want to thank all of our customers for being so patient with all of this. I know that we are weeks behind, but it is worth the wait. I have not felt good with a virus and then having to deal with THIS MUCH SNOW!" This quote was taken from the "Still Snowing!" thread on your own board, on January 8th 2007. So, if you were already weeks behind in early January, then the spas were probably due to be delivered no later than early December. It's almost March, so your tubs are THREE MONTHS behind schedule??? A piece of advice- you might spend less time on the music, and less time on the internet, and more time delivering those spas.