Kallagtunet Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 New user with questions for you experienced users and or dealers. Anybody have experience with Swimspas and quality of the various makes. It will be used primarily as a play place for our kids (8 and 11 years) as well as some water therapy for mom and dad and maybe some swimming. The swimming performance is not highly prioritized. We live in Norway (cold climate in winter but nice and warm in summer and the swimspa will be used year round. There are not many established makes represented here (A lot of not so cheap Chinese produced on the market but we will not have that) and we have narrowed it down to three potential candidates: Canadian produced Coast spa Wellnes II Size 384 × 229 x 135 cm - 5043 liters Only 3kw heat, no (one) massage seat. Do not know the Coast spa and this is a quality manufacturer? Not dealership in the close vicinity, the Norwegian retailer of this make is new in the Spamarket. Price is the lowest of the tree alternatives approx. $19000. Arctic Ocean - Size 436 x 236 x 129 cm - 5900 liters. Saltwater, 8 seats 6 with massage, produced by Arctic in Canada. Local dealer has been around long time. Arctic is expensive approximately $10000 more than the Coast spa. Catalina MONTEREY 14 - Size 430 x 230 x 130 cm - 6800 liters. 4 seats with massage jets produced by Catalina in the United States, not local dealer but retailer have been in business for many years. Approximately 2500 more expensive than the Coast. The most important for us is to get a Swimspa that is reliable with minimal maintenance and have quality that makes us happy with the swimspa for a long time. Anybody have experience with any of these swimspa or producers? Is this quality products? We have as an alternative to a swimspa considered large regular spa bath. The the two models we've seen that large is Sundance Maxxus and Hotspring Limelight Gleam. These large spa baths seems more "proven technology" and works good at recreation but probably not as well as an playground for the kids. Comments related to Spa bath versus Swimspa choice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markee Posted June 8, 2015 Report Share Posted June 8, 2015 Check out the Marquis ATV-14 if you have a Marquis dealer in your area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan The Spa Man Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 Full disclosure: I am a Catalina Swim Spas dealer. I will not make a sales pitch here (though it might come off that way). However, as you have asked about quality and specifics to the product, I'll speak specifically about the Monterey 14' swim spa... As you live in Norway, it should be noted that eventhough the unit is produced in the USA, they are sold in over 40 countries worldwide. The three largest dealers outside the USA reside in Canada, England and Norway. These tubs will not just hold up to the seasonal conditions in said countries (in terms of efficiency, insulation, etc) but will thrive. Catalina has been manufacturing swim spas for over 32 years and is the baseline of the industry: Swim spa shapes, widths, lengths, etc are all modeled after what Catalina built first. Knowing this will help explain why you may enjoy owning the Monterey. There are no sliding-scales in terms of quality with Catalina swim spas. Ergo- its all about the model that is the right size and price for you. They use pressure treated 2"x4" framing on verticals and horizontals which allows for flex, or the expansion/contraction of the shell based on the seasonal temperature. This helps prevent the shell from spider-cracking. That may be helpful for you if you have extreme temperature fluctuations. The Monterey is a newer model but based other traditional units. If you're looking at that size range, and based on what you specified, the Monterey is the better option vs other Catalina models in that same range (Freestyle, etc). Coast and Artic are fine manufacturers. And, again, I am a Catalina dealer so I am partial to my brand. But I like that Catalina has been building swim spas 3x, 4x longer than most competitors. Its the reason they have over 50 swim spa models to choose from. I am not the biggest advocate of "salt water" systems as they are not actually salt (NaCl) but rather Sodium Bromide. Yes, the system helps regulate the sanitizer more efficently than other alternatives. However, I do not like the additional cost for the system nor the cost for sodium bromide that has to be continuously added. And I offer salt systems on my swim spas. But that is just my opinion. Overall maintenance should be easy with my brand and to be fair- most brands. I've not had a major warranty issue (shell, frame, etc) on any of my swim spas sold- we've carried them for over 25 years- and all other parts come from quality suppliers (Balboa controls, Waterway jets & 56k frame executive motors, etc). These suppliers have great products that will effeciently heat and move water better than most, if not all, units in the industry. Okay- So it is a little "sales pitch-y" but as Catalina does not advertise, does not pay to be on sites that rank spas/swim spas, etc, there isn't the amount of info out there that one could find when looking at other brands. Finally- myself and others have mentioned this numerous times on various threads in the forum- Local distributor is key. If you are comfortable with whoever is selling the product and they are reputable, that plays a big part in your decision. I like my product but quality service should never be undervalued. I hope this helps. I am sure others have opinions on this topic. Hopefully someone can chime in on the other two brands in question to help you get a better opinion of all your options going forward. And I am sure that you can/have gotten more information about the specific benefits of the Catalina brand and the Monterey specificially from whoever you spoke with. Good luck going forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kallagtunet Posted June 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Dan Thanks for your thoughtful input. Anyone with experience from Artic Ocean or the Coast spa Wellness II swimspa feel free to comment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetofloat Posted October 29, 2016 Report Share Posted October 29, 2016 I see this is an old post so likely too late..I have an arctic swim spa, have had it for five months and I love it. It's salt water and ozone and not too expensive to run at all because of the insulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollie Posted January 30, 2017 Report Share Posted January 30, 2017 Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylieforsyth31 Posted February 7, 2017 Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 I just bought Lazy Z portable hottub and works great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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