winelover

Very helpful... thank you! We ordered our Geneva (our first hot tub) on August 14 and just heard it will be delivered this Saturday, Sept 21. So, your review is quite timely for us. I'm glad you're loving it, and I hope we do, too!

@castletonia Thanks again for all your thoughtful responses. You helped us a lot, and we made a decision! We're ordering the Geneva. We received a cash price of $11,895 from the owner, so I feel like we got a great deal. The dealer has a great reputation and we REALLY liked the owner once we spent time with him. Includes delivery, cover/lift, Avante steps, 4 months salt, and training. Will take about 3-4 weeks to receive. We'd like to buy a 2nd set of steps because we want to be able to enter from two sides instead of just into the front where the lounger is. We're going to wait and just see how it goes with what we have and shop around, but he quoted us wholesale pricing on his steps if we want to add those on. Thanks again! We're excited for it to get here.

@castletonia Thank you again for all your information & advice. We spent more time this weekend and discovered a few more things: Local Hot Springs dealer is NOT offering a deal this week like he thought he would. We dry sat in Flair and decided the non-lounger seats were way too crowded for our legs. So, we ruled it out. We confirmed we DO want a lounger but the only Hot Springs hot tubs we like are Flash & Pulse. We don't like the Moto-Massage in all the Highlife series... too soft for us. We like firmer pressure and rotating forceful jets. So, we refocused on Caldera. We got to meet the Caldera owner/operator instead of just the sales guy. We really like him so that's a big plus, and they have great reviews. We dry sat in Geneva. It was our original first choice, and it's back at the top of our list. Nowhere around here to wet test it, though, so we're considering buying it anyway. It's either that or not buy one. It's frustrating. Retail price for Geneva is $12,700 (including delivery, cover, lift, steps, 4 months salt/cartridge). Current manuf rebate of $500 until Aug 17 so makes it $12,200. Thoughts on Geneva? We're both 6' tall so we're hoping it feels as good wet as it does dry. We love it dry. We did wet test Tahitian and the only seat we really liked was the lounger. But the Geneva is more spacious and deeper... which we think will be perfect. Would love to save a bit more money, if possible. Thoughts on price? Would like a 2nd set of stairs... what do the Avante and Eco-Tech steps each cost? My husband actually likes the look of the Eco-Tech steps better in the book but we haven't seen them in person. We want stairs on two sides of it... what are your thoughts on the Paradise-series steps in Ash to pair with a Slate/White Utopia tub? Anything else we should be considering when ordering?

By the way, we tried the Grandee because we wanted to try the Highlife Moto-Massage jets and were surprised we didn't really like how they feel. We are primarily buying for the hydrotherapy for my husband's physical job, and we like really strong therapuetic jets. It just surprised us that it wasn't what we expected. We did try a few jet packs from Bullfrog that we liked but didn't like the overall tub there. We're not sure if there are any other tubs or options we're missing, but so far we've liked the feel of Hot Spring tubs over everything we've tried (Marque, Bullfrog, and Caldera -- who won't let us wet test the Saychelles, only the Tahitian).

Thank you @castletonia. We are both 6' tall. My legs float easily and my husband's legs sink. I sat in the Flair dry and my feet go about 3-4" past the little ledge before the foot jets. I'll have to keep my knees bent just a little to shove my heels into that ledge to stay down... at least, that worked in my wet test in the Caldera Tahitian. The Tahitian seats felt smaller and less comfortable than the Flash, and we didn't like the large headrest that wasn't in a good place to fit our frames. Are the four Flair seats the same (size and feel) as the Flash? I really liked how the Flash seats fit us, so I'm hoping at least the corner seats of the Flair are the same. As for the lounger, I'm hoping I'll be able to anchor myself with one heel and stretch out the other leg and switch so I can get my feet a little closer to the foot jets. Do you think that will work for a floater like me? I'm not sure if I'll feel the foot jets while my heels are anchored. Otherwise, I'll just enjoy the foot jets when I'm in a corner seat. I really liked how the Flash had a foot jet in each direction of the chairs... so much so I was interested in the Pulse since it had more of them. Can you think of any other down-sides to us getting the Flair? We anticipate my husband to use it everyday... maybe twice a day during 4 months of the year when his job gets really physical. I'll use it 4-5 times a week. And then we anticipate having friends over maybe twice a month... usually just one couple (one 6'3" the other 5'6"). I'm hoping the four of us fit fine but we're not buying it for anyone but ourselves... it's mainly for my husband and I to enjoy and the occasional other people. My husband had a really physically hard day yesterday and said he really kept dreaming about being able to stretch out in the lounger, so I think that's the direction we're going to go... I'm just looking for any reason NOT to go with the Flair. I like to cover my bases for such a big purchase. Thanks for the update about the salt system and the pricing. Interesting about the rebate... our sales guy mentioned something starting on Sunday. Could it be a store-specific sale? Does Hot Spring allow stores to do that? Without the discount, we're being told $10,300. Now I have $9,800 in my head so I'm hoping it is a reality. Do you ever include other things that I didn't mention? Like more salt cartridges or anything? He mentioned throwing in a bottle of the cover protector he recommends we use ($13) since it will get a lot of sun... I'm not sure what the cover warranty is or what that covers. Is there another sun protectant that you recommend that doesn't void the warranty or should we use that one regularly? Thank you for the help! We're quite excited to get started.

Hello! As we continue our research on our 1st hot tub, we have narrowed it down to the Hot Spring Flash or Flair in the Limelight series. We can't wet test the Flair (with lounger) but we did wet test the Flash (without). We like a different lounger we tried with Caldera and feel like we might miss it if we go with the Flash. One of us sinks and the other floats but was ok anchoring the heel to the little ledge past the calf jets to stay positioned. We are a bit sad to give up a little elbow room and seating but it will primarily be for 2 maybe 4 people, so we would just give up the vision of 6 people in the tub if we went with the Flair. Any thoughts between these two and if it would be a mistake to buy Flair without wet test? It's not available anywhere within a few hundred miles of us. So, we're tempted to go with the Flash since we really liked it and can't try the Flair, but there may be a part of us always wondering if we should have gotten/tried the Flair. Thoughts? About salt system... The dealer really never talked to us about the standard ozone system and just discussed the new 2019 FreshWater Salt System option (not ACE). We also haven't asked yet, but it just wasn't discussed. Since there's not a history with this system (said it's been beta tested for 3 years and out since February), can anyone "in the know" chime in with their thoughts on buying the hot tub with this new salt system? Should we learn more about the ozone system -- I'm not even sure how that works since it was never discussed. About price... The retail I'm being quoted for both is $10,300. They said there is a sale coming soon for $500 off to make it $9,800. Any thoughts on how often Hot Spring offers a deal throughout the year and if this is a good price? Includes delivery, 1 set of salt stuff (for 4 months), steps, cover w/ lift. Anything else we're missing or should ask for? Thank you!

We are researching our first purchase. So far have visited two places... one only sells Caldera and the other only sells Hot Springs. The salesmen have listed the cash price for us... what can I expect in terms of coming off this retail price? The Hot Springs guy said they will probably do a $1000 discount in August. The Caldera guy said they sometimes do a $500 discount but you never know when and it usually lasts a week. Currently leaning toward Caldera Geneva but haven't done wet test. 2019 Caldera Geneva - $12,700 (pre-tax, salt water, steps, lift/cover, delivery, first cartridge & stuff for maintenance, delivery/setup -- no audio) 2019 Hot Spring Envoy - $14,600 (same) I'm in North Texas. Most pricing info I found was for older models that don't have salt water that came out this year, so I feel like I'm really flying blind. What should I expect in terms of negotiating a better deal than sticker price? I'd prefer getting money off the price tag but will also take free added cartridges, etc. Is there a better time of month or year to buy a hot tub? Nobody wants to overpay. Thanks!