Hot Springs Vanguard Vs. Grandee

[fredw1]

I've had an LA Spas Quest 8500 for nine years and been very happy with it, but we are looking for something with a little more power to the jets. I've learned a lot so far from this forum.

We've narrowed it down to two Hot Springs spas: the Vanguard or the Grandee. The Grandee has all the features we want, but seems so.....grandee (big). We're not quite as has happy with some of the concessions made on the Vanguard: fewer seats, tighter seating, lower HP (1.65 vs. 2.5) motors, both one speed (rather than one being two speeds), one diverter vs. two. We have room for both, but the Vanguard would fit a little bit better in our space.

The saleperson tells us we won't be ablt to tell the difference between the power of the jets between the two models. We wet-tested the Grandee, but there's no wet Vanguard. Does anyone have experience?

Most of the time, there are one or two of us in the spa, and I feel a bit lost in the Grandee. Occasionally, we have two or three poeple over, and the Vanguard may be a bit cramped. It seems the Vanguard can comfortably hold four, although it's supposed to be for six. The Grandee could comfortably hold five. Again, any experience with comfortably fitting adults in a Vanguard?

I am assuming on the Vanguard that each Moto-Massage is on a different pump. Is this true?

[Huey64]

Fred, Have you looked at other spas beside Hotsprings? I am in the preliminary stages of my research, and have looked at the Hotsprings spas. Where are you located? I'm in NJ, and got a quote of $8600 for the Vanguard, I was wondering how comparable this is.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Most of the time, there are one or two of us in the spa, and I feel a bit lost in the Grandee. Occasionally, we have two or three poeple over, and the Vanguard may be a bit cramped. It seems the Vanguard can comfortably hold four, although it's supposed to be for six. The Grandee could comfortably hold five. Again, any experience with comfortably fitting adults in a Vanguard?

I am assuming on the Vanguard that each Moto-Massage is on a different pump. Is this true?

You bring up a good point with no definitive answer. I've seen many people think to themselves that they don't need the bigger spa but after getting the smaller one and saving some $ they regret they didn't just spend the extra $ to have more room since its a once in 15 year type purchase. At the same time I've seen people go larger but after getting it and finding that 95% of the time it only has 2 people in it some think they could have gone smaller. Personally, assuming space for the spa is not an issue I'd go with the "you only do this once every 15 years " theory and go to the large side but thats your call. And to that last question, they'd have to be on separate pumps to get proper flow and run at the same time.

[fredw1]

Thanks for the responses. We ended up deciding on the Grandee 24 hours after buying the Vanguard. No problem with the exchange. We went through both arguments. The Vanguard would have been tight for the once or twice a month we had two or three people over, and that was more important than the Grandee being too big the rest of time for one or two of us.

Prices:

Vanguard with lifter, stairs, etc.: $9200

Grandee with better lifter, stairs, etc.: $10,200.

[spatech (the unreal one)]

Thanks for the responses. We ended up deciding on the Grandee 24 hours after buying the Vanguard. No problem with the exchange. We went through both arguments. The Vanguard would have been tight for the once or twice a month we had two or three people over, and that was more important than the Grandee being too big the rest of time for one or two of us.

Prices:

Vanguard with lifter, stairs, etc.: $9200

Grandee with better lifter, stairs, etc.: $10,200.

Good sound reasoning, congrats!