kitchener

Can it be retro-fitted on to any hot tub cover?

Reviving this old post to ask... anyone have any idea what a "continuous hinge seal" is? One side of my Jacuzzi J-470 is higher than the other by design, which conspires to leave a puddle of water along the center line of the cover (where the stitching is) and rain is seeping through there into my tub. Jacuzzi is sending me a new cover, but based on the design, I wouldn't mind learning more about a continuous hinge seal...

Here's an unanswered question deserving a bump! I'm awaiting my contractor's concluding efforts "integrating" my new Jacuzzi J-470 into my deck (a shove here, a shove there) before filling it this coming week, and I'm going through some old threads for anything helpful in its upkeep.

Can't help much, but as to the J-470, we wet-tested all its competition (available in our area), including Sundance, Caldera, Hot Springs, Bullfrog, and Artesian, and while some of the best deals were on some of those, we opted to pay more because the J-470, for us, really stood out -- comfortable seating, wonderfully effective jets -- the difference didn't seem subtle. That said, we also learned the advice often offered here, to always wet-test, shouldn't be ignored. After trying some high end spas we were _sure_ we were going to buy, we found how widely different all these expensive tubs can be. And, it's subjective, probably not least due to your size. We found a 13 J-470, with stereo, for mid-$11s. I suspect if we pushed, we probably could have gotten it for the $11k you were thinking. However, wet-testing is a curse, too -- we found, having wet-tested both the 13 and the 14, that the foot jets upgrade was worth it paying for, so we wound up buying one of the more expensive tubs we wet tested, but for possibly a ten year or more span, we were able to rationalize it. Anyway, the moral to my story is don't buy anything you can't wet test.

Thanks for your feedback Happy. I'm waiting on the J-470 (the wait is on my end -- the slab, etc.). I had similar shopping experiences in which I really wanted to like an Artesian (great deal, too) but in the end, the function of the Jacuzzi won the day (and at a higher cost -- wet testing can issue expensive results!). Good luck.

Assuming you're talking about a 2014 model, I just paid $200 more than that for a J-470 and that was after some fought-for negotiations two other Jacuzzi stores wouldn't even match, let alone beat. I wet-tested several large tubs myself (Artesian Pelican Bay, Sundance Aspen, Caldera Cantabria, Hot Springs Gleam) and if you haven't wet-tested the J-495, make sure you do before you plunk down the long dollars. Bigger isn't always better -- but hot tub experiences are definitely subjective, and that alone makes it worthwhile to make sure they fill it and let you try it, no matter how good the deal is.

This sounds like a good candidate for one of those "Wanna get away?" travel commercials.

We wet-tested a lot of heavy hitters, several of which I was SURE I was going to buy (the Aspen and the Pelican Bay among them), and I can't tell you what a wide range of results we got (based on our subjective impressions and probably more crucially, body dimensions) among a wide variety of very respected spas. Wet-testing is crucial.

We wound up sticking with the Jacuzzi J-470 after wet-testing the Gleam. It was a great tub but I think the lounger was more ideal for someone taller than 5"10" (me) -- I was floating right out of there, not really being able to reach the foot jets to brace myself in (let alone my wife being able to reach).

Guru, Would you say foot domes are universally a service problem for all manufacturers, or are some better than others?

A semi-local Hot Springs dealer is trying to make it very difficult for us to close a deal on a 14 Jacuzzi J-470! He's offering $12,995 for a 13 leftover Gleam, retrofitted with some sort of Bluetooth stereo (the Jacuzzi has the stereo, and we like the option of streaming Pandora sometimes). If you read my past posts you know we wet-tested some well-regarded tubs before settling on the 470. We didn't wet-test the HS's because their highlife series doesn't really have much in the way of foot jets (important to us). Included in that testing was the Caldera Cantabria (similar in size to the Gleam), who's jets we didn't like as much as the 470. The Gleam's size does offer the cake and eat it too of a lounge and plenty of seating, and I hear the moto-massage is impressive (?). We haven't plunked down on the 14 Jacuzzi. What's the view on the limelight series' Gleam? Worth a wet -test before we buy the 470? If nothing else, it'll be ammo to get the 14 J-470 down to $12,995 from $13,195.

Thanks for the feedback, Loopcity -- and I want to add that in all my research (I do know how to use the Search button!), I've gotten a lot out of your past posts. We're fresh from wet-testing the Caldera Cantabria this afternoon. Nice tub. Big. But I think Jacuzzi really has found a great, balanced tub -- its well-placed jets, and their function, just had some kind of wow factor that the Cantabria and the Pelican Bay didn't offer. For future researchers, let me add that had I not ever tested the J-470, I'd probably take the Pelican Bay over the Cantabria simply on price alone, as they were both great 9' tubs. Tough call, maybe, The floor jet array in the Cantabria, now that I think about it, probably had a little more to offer more people at one time, albeit for a good bit more money. So, tomorrow, we're wet-testing the J-480, and seeing where we come down on the lounger or no lounger question in what looks to be the tub we're going to purchase (480 vs 470) and then it's brass tacks time. The store with the wet-testing J-470 offered us $12,895 for his 2013 J-470 demo, and $13,895 for his non-demo 2013 J-480. We're headed to a different store, about an hour away (vs 45 minutes for the first store), to demo the J-480. I haven't asked if it's a 2013, or a 2014. I suspect we'll be making some offers tomorrow. What would be reasonable on the 2013 leftovers I outlined above? Aaron

I'm shopping this size (and price point) too, and also recently wet test the Bullfrog. He quoted me $11,700 on his in-stock A8D . I had it in my mind I'd offer $10,995 if we got down to brass tacks. I'm interested to hear your impressions of the Jacuzzi (400 series?). We wet-tested the 470 and really liked it, but I'm trying to find a 480 before we make a decision. Looks like my local Caldera store just got in a Cantabria I'll be able to test this week, too. I'll have to use that test to form an opinion about their Niagara and Geneva (and the Cantabria itself of course). Make SURE you wet test. You've read it all the time but from my experience this past couple weeks, some well regarded tubs were struck from the list after wet-testing, one of which was one I really wanted to like (Artesian Pelican Bay). Looks like we're moving on from the A8 series, too, albeit for very subjective reasons. My wife had float issues. I didn't at all, so your mileage may vary! But you'll never know about that or any other unless you test. The Caldera store also carries Hot Springs, and those NXTs are sharp looking tubs, but for reasons known only to HS, they really ignore feet in their Highlife collection, so we aren't considering it. We're a dedicated skiing family and have had varying results in our tests so far, but some good enough performances to know it's an area that's important to us.

Thanks -- after doing some further digging, I came to the same conclusion. The Artesian literature says nothing about the Wi-Fi upgrade accessing the stereo, and from the product description, does seem to indicate it's merely to access the spa functions, as you said. I did read up on the Poly Planar head unit, and you're spot on. There's a couple different upgrades but you'd have to access the back of the unit. The upgrade device, reading the install directions, basically suggests drilling a small hole in the plastic face housing the head unit, and putting the USB/aux in (with a waterproof cap) in there (with the RCAs and a USB going round back to the head unit). It's strange to me in this streaming era that it's not already there! What do you think -- tough work pulling the head out?

Seriously considering an Artesian Pelican Bay. It's a 2013 leftover, and it's got the Artesian top-of-the-line Poly-Planer stereo. For some crazy reason, it does NOT have USB or an aux input. It just has AM/FM and a CD player. However, apparently it can be upgraded to include wi-fi. The salesman seems pretty sure I could use the Wi-Fi to patch Pandora in to the system from iPhone and iTouch, the two devices we normally would use for Pandora, and we all really enjoy Pandora for outdoor get-togethers. The odd thing is that in the Artesian line, the stereo system BELOW the Poly-Planer does have USB and an aux input. I'm dubious about the virtues of a "higher-end" stereo in a roaring hot tub, so given my druthers, I'd happily pay less and get the USB/aux-in capability of the "lesser" stereo, just to have Pandora. However, given that this is a leftover, it's not like I can just order a different configuration (we haven't gotten down to brass tacks yet but I'm operating under the assumption that when I whip my checkbook out, I'll be buying it for much less than a current model year ((that has the stereo I'd want)). Anyway, I'm no techno-geek, and the confident salesman doesn't actually really know for sure. Soooo, based on anyone's knowledge of wi-fi, CAN I use it to patch an iPhone's pandora into the hot tub's stereo? Aaron