Jump to content

Evolution Hot Tubs


Recommended Posts

I want to add one more thing. Evolution Spa's have a history now.... I notice they have people standing up for them stating they are decent Spa's. I have not seen much of that with past brands Costco carried. That should speak for itself as well. I think they finally got a good Spa for the money. OK I am done. Thanks for all the posts, it has been helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Strong is a pretty good spa. Not the fanciest, quietest or most powerful. It's also not $8k or $10k or $12k.

Just like any other value tub then is what your saying? Jeez it took a while to get that!!! Thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roger, I'm pretty sure most of us who are positive about Strong Spas are actually owners. We offer our opinions because we like the product and don't believe other potential owners should shy away based on misinformation. As far as I can tell, all of those who are critical (like you), are not owners. The question is why are you so critical when you haven't wet tested one and haven't repaired one? Although I'm glad to hear your count of "seen Strong spas" is increasing with every post - one in January, then three now five. So they must be selling very well.

Critical???? Hmmmm saying they are a decent "VALUE" tub but not in line with a 8000 thousand dollar tub so you have to be willing to comprimise is critical huh? Now you know why you all come off as salesman! I have soaked in a Strong from Costco. I would never bas an underpowered statement on one persons experience. They are noisey I have heard it for myself. There are hundreds of these things being sold and repaired in my area. Some running great for the first year or so. Some having issues. We are getting history.

I am glad you believe what the president of Costco is telling you. It's admirable that you have that much faith in that little part of cooperate America.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done lots of research and reading about Evolution Spa's in the last month.Roger obviously has a problem with them which makes me void out just about any comment he makes. It is obvious he will bash them no matter what and that makes it hard to put any value on his posts.

Bash.....Huh. My problem is it seems when someone says, they are what they are "an inexpensive option to a more expensive high quality tub" That is considered bashing. So value tub purchasers that used Costco consider them exactly this, sort of. They seem to not be willing to admit it. And they also seem to be figuring out ways to candy coat it. Yet my advice is of no value. Good, I am glad none of my advice got through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done lots of research and reading about Evolution Spa's in the last month.Roger obviously has a problem with them which makes me void out just about any comment he makes. It is obvious he will bash them no matter what and that makes it hard to put any value on his posts.

Bash.....Huh. My problem is it seems when someone says, they are what they are "an inexpensive option to a more expensive high quality tub" That is considered bashing. So value tub purchasers that used Costco consider them exactly this, sort of. They seem to not be willing to admit it. And they also seem to be figuring out ways to candy coat it. Yet my advice is of no value. Good, I am glad none of my advice got through.

I just throw out the best review and the worst review. Almost always these two have something to gain and I don't think this is any different. Once I do that, they have as good as reports and most tubs. I don't know or care why you are so much against them. Bottom line the people who actually own and use them disagree with you. Common sense tells me that is the real review. You sat they can't admit the tub is not good. I see it as you can't admit they are. Why can't you accept people are satisfied with them? Heck, being a repair man you should like them if you truly believe they are so troublesome. Have a good day Roger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done lots of research and reading about Evolution Spa's in the last month.Roger obviously has a problem with them which makes me void out just about any comment he makes. It is obvious he will bash them no matter what and that makes it hard to put any value on his posts.

Bash.....Huh. My problem is it seems when someone says, they are what they are "an inexpensive option to a more expensive high quality tub" That is considered bashing. So value tub purchasers that used Costco consider them exactly this, sort of. They seem to not be willing to admit it. And they also seem to be figuring out ways to candy coat it. Yet my advice is of no value. Good, I am glad none of my advice got through.

I just throw out the best review and the worst review. Almost always these two have something to gain and I don't think this is any different. Once I do that, they have as good as reports and most tubs. I don't know or care why you are so much against them. Bottom line the people who actually own and use them disagree with you. Common sense tells me that is the real review. You say they can't admit the tub is not good. I see it as you can't admit they are. Why can't you accept people are satisfied with them? Heck, being a repair man you should like them if you truly believe they are so troublesome. Have a good day Roger.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Strong is a pretty good spa. Not the fanciest, quietest or most powerful. It's also not $8k or $10k or $12k.

Just like any other value tub then is what your saying? Jeez it took a while to get that!!! Thank you.

As usual, Roger completely missed the point.

The point is that an Evo is not "just like any other value tub". You're getting a comparable or better product for less money. That's why shoppers keep coming here asking about these spas. If you could get the same sort of product somewhere else for close to the same money, then it wouldn't be a hot topic. In fact, most people would prefer to buy one that they could see in person first.

Much less overhead and a hugely different business model than a traditional spa dealer allows the Evo to be priced very aggressively. Just like everything sold at Costco. Owner satisfaction with the spas is high. The return policy is essentially free insurance that you won't ever get screwed.

That's why industry people, many of whom have never even seen the thing, jump on every Costco/Evo thread with all sorts of yadda-yadda-yadda arguments about the problems.

But the owners seem to be pleased.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walleye - as a happy customer, I suppose I am biased.

The concept of the circulating pump allows you to have a dedicated pump run constantly for filtration and heating. It is generally a smaller pump. Many spas use the low speed of a two speed pump instead of a dedicated circ pump. The Balboa controls can work with either configuration. You also can program other parameters around filtration - that is, how much time in a 24 hour period is to be used to run filtration.

The Evolution Spas use the low speed setting on pump 1 for filtration. This is automatic. You can program the filtration to run on various intervals per cycle - 2 hours, 4 hours, 12 hours or continuous. I believe the idea is that a circ pump is more efficient for running constantly. We run our spa on the 2 hour cycle, however, it is also filtering any time it is heating the water or being used.

I personally don't believe continuous filtration is necessary - our water is always clear. Another observation made on this board is that the ozonators only operate when the filtration pump is running. So in a continuous filtration system, the ozone is constantly running whereas when one of the 2 speed pumps is used for filtration (and is idle), the ozonator is not running. You can look up the threads and learn more. For me, it is not a concern (that the ozone runs less).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My biggest concern is no circulation pump. Can anyone, (who is not bias) tell me if this is a real concern? Thanks.

A 24 hr. circulation pump is quieter. If you happen to believe in ozone, a spa with a circ pump will have continuous ozone treatement, while those that use the jet pumps for filtration draw ozone during their filtration periods. If you're installing your spa on a wood deck, and the spa will be close to where you or your neighbors can hear it, a circ pump will have less chance of being obnoxiously loud. If you're setting the spa on a concrete pad or patio, or some other similarly solid surface, it doesn't make much difference. The downside to a circ pump is that you have more stuff to possibly fail. Any good controller, with a circ pump or not, is going to run the main jet pumps for a few minutes a couple of times per day to flush out the lines. A Balboa equipped spa with a circ pump will do this. As far as keeping the water clean and clear, both circ pumps and filtration using low speed of a jet pump noth work very well. The Balboa controller lets you choose if you want two 2 hour, two 4-hour, two 8-hour, or continuous filtration. The default setting is for two 2-hour filtration periods per day. This works fine. I've had both systems and I prefer having a circ pump, but don't think it's significant enough of an issue to drive a purchase decision - unless you have the above-mentioned concern about noise and you plan to place the spa on a wood deck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My spa will be on a large cement patio. Although it will be just a few feet away from my Bedroom. Should I be concerned about this?

It's hard to assure you completely either way, since everyone has different tolerance for noise.

The filtration cycles start 12 hours apart. You control when they start by when you switch the breaker to the spa on; so it's easy to get the filter cycles to come on at say, 7am and 7pm. In this example, then, the two hour filter cycles will thus run from 7-9am and 7-9pm. This is pretty convenient if you're up by 7am and don't go to bed before 9pm.

If this is a big concern to you, you may want to go to a dealer and listen to a spa jet pump runing on low speed and make your judgement based on that. Be sure that the spa you're listening to is a "perimeter insulated" type like a Strong, and not a fully-foamed model. The full-foam spas run a little quieter than the perimeter type, so you want to evaluate based on somthing that's as similar as possible to the Strong.

Circ pump spas aren't silent, but the hum is much, much less. It's constant, though. The ultimate quietest spa would be a fully foamed spa with a 24 hr circ pump. I don't like foamed spas because they're harder to service, but again, that's a judgement call.

Speaking for my self, it wouldn't let it worry me. But I can't speak for you, I am up at 6am, so having the filter cycles come on at 7am and 7pm works very well for me. I also like to use my spa in the late evening. In this case, having the evening filter cycle run from 7pm to 9pm works very well. I can set the tub to economy mode (meaning, it will only heat during the filter cycles). Thus, when I get in the tub, it has just heated up. This is a good choice for energy efficiency. As a counter-example, you could set your filtration cycles to run at 3am and 3pm. This would mean that the spa would heat up at 3am, the coldest part of the day... and thus lose the most heat. Then it would again heat from 3pm to 5 pm, and have several hours to cool off before you got in. You might have to heat it up a degree or two before using. Not the smartest strategy. Please note that all this ONLY matters if you use economy mode. If you are in "standard mode" (heater comes on whenever needed to maintain temperature setting) then the filtration cycle timing makes no difference to energy efficiency. IN standard mode, the spa may well come on in the middle ofthe night... the noise may bother you when this happens, so I would say "economy mode" is a good bet.

Hope I haven't confused you too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My spa will be on a large cement patio. Although it will be just a few feet away from my Bedroom. Should I be concerned about this?

My Strong Magnum 90 sits two feet away from my master bedroom wall (with two windows) on a concrete/rock patio. It is set to filter at 4:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. and I never hear it. The low speed is very low.

I am extremely pleased with the spa and its functions!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My biggest concern is no circulation pump. Can anyone, (who is not bias) tell me if this is a real concern? Thanks.

You will move more water across the filter with a jet pump running for 4 hours a day than most small circ pumps running for 24 hrs. But it will cost you more in electricity and it will make more noise doing it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My spa will be on a large cement patio. Although it will be just a few feet away from my Bedroom. Should I be concerned about this?

My Strong Magnum 90 sits two feet away from my master bedroom wall (with two windows) on a concrete/rock patio. It is set to filter at 4:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. and I never hear it. The low speed is very low.

I am extremely pleased with the spa and its functions!

My CSXi80 sits two feet from my house and a window (a litter closer than code recommends BTW ... and yes I do think code are recommendations LOL.) I did hear it for the first few days. I no longer do. It doesn't mean that it got quieter, it's just something you get used to. While I'm sure the decibel level could be measured, it's really the impact of that decibel level that is your concern, which is ultimately subjective. And just for another opinion, I get into work just after 6 and I'm on standard, but my filtration cycle starts at 11:00. At this time I'm at the office, or asleep. Reading hot_water's feedback I may have to rethink this as this puts me tubing a few hours before filtration cycles. Early morning on weekends, and early evening on the weekdays. But since I'm using standard, I guess the argument is filtration when not in use, and heating when needed. Just another scenario to consider.

DK117

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 years later...

Hello, 

I am also researching Costco Spas.     I bought a cheap spa from Home Depot 15 years ago that was a great deal.   Over 10 years spent about $1200 on service calls, new cover and new heater.    It had one pump that worked fine.   Half the time we sat in it with the pumps off to talk.    Our friend bought a spa with all the bells and whistles, more things to break and go wrong.   Spa cover quality and keeping it conditioned is important.     I will buy a less expensive spa again, leaning toward Costco but not ordered yet.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
On 6/10/2011 at 12:41 PM, ataDude said:

I agree with endorfin. Nice spa, no problems. However, unlike another poster said, there are no proprietary parts except for the shell and the cabinet... same as other manufacturers. All other working parts are off-the-shelf... like the Balboa box and control panel, the Waterway jets, the AO Smith motors, etc.

And, like endorfin, I love the plastic construction in the cabinet. It appears to be easy to work on (if needed) and seems to be relatively tight... at least for my use in Texas.

And, if you don't like it for ANY reason at ANY time, give it back to Costco for the cost of putting it on their dock. That is not matched anywhere as far as I know.

.

i bought a evolution spa from costco 4. years ago. i had one small leak and a service man fixed it no charge. he even gave me some spare fittings in case another one leaked but none did. this is my 2nd spa and i@love it. my 1st 10000 spa leaked and i had to drain it and pull it out of my gazebo and turn it on its side. $1000 later i had my hot tub back. ill go with the Evolution every time. im in NJ so we have some pretty cold winters and i leave it run all year with zero issues 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...