First time hot tub buyer

[Whichtub]

Good evening,

We are in the market for our first hot tub. We live in Central Oregon and we get the snow.

We wanted a lounger and a bigger tub for entertaining. Maybe 7+ people. We talked to some dealers, the more we talk, the more confusing it gets. 
 

We are considering Bullfrog A7/A8, Hotspring Flash or Flair and maybe a Calspa. Any recommendations or suggestions will really help us. Thank you. 

[CanadianSpaTech]

7 hours ago, Whichtub said:

Maybe 7+ people

In a spa with a lounger the lounger takes up 1/3 of the seating area. Even in an "8" foot spa if you place one person in the lounge and one person in each of the corner seats... Yes you can likely fit in another person or 2 but the foot well area will get pretty touchy feely on the feet. To fit 7+ you would need to go to a 100" plus "party" spa $$$. A spa without a lounger will have more useable seats.

Be sure to research and vette the dealer/retailer and their reputation as much as you do brand and price. A warranty is useless if you can't get timely service when it's -20.  

 

[ratchett]

On 10/16/2022 at 11:41 PM, Whichtub said:

We wanted a lounger and a bigger tub for entertaining. Maybe 7+ people. We talked to some dealers, the more we talk, the more confusing it gets. 

• The average hot tub owner hosts guests in the spa 3-4 times a year.   Unless you're REALLY cozy with the neighbors/friends, my advice is to focus on a spa large enough for the family living at home. Instead of buying the largest spa your wallet can afford, consider a smaller more luxury spa.
• Lounger seats are build for the average height and average BMI in America. Not all loungers are created equal - you may or may not have buoyancy issues.  Half the people who buy a spa with a lounger opt not to get one with a lounger in their new tub.  I personally love the lounger in my Jetsetter, but the general rule of thumb is that you should always wet-test a lounger from any brand you're considering and skip the lounger if you cannot wet-test to confirm it's comfortable for you.
• Most brands sell multiple product tiers to fit every budget.  Lower tiers will generally have less jet power, less insulation, and fewer jets as well as built with lower quality materials.  These are fine if you only want to soak in hot water, but you may need to consider a higher-tier spa if you want a therapeutic spa experience.  Again jet-feel is subjective, horsepower numbers can be faked/inflated, jet counts don't matter (some use tiny itchy "bullet-jets" to increase jet count numbers) - wet testing is the ONLY way to know how comfortable a spa really is for you personally
• Industry average lifespan for spas these days is 7-14 years depending on care/maintenance.  A budget-grade or bottom-tier spa will be on the shorter end of that lifespan, while a top-tier flagship spa from the top brands might last 15-25+ years depending on care/maintenance.

Last piece of advice - the dealer you buy from is responsible for warranty labor costs. Not all dealers are created equal - do your research on the dealer, how long they've been in business, if they have technicians on payroll or outsource service, customer feedback online, etc.  Do not settle for a shady dealer just because you want XYZ brand of hot tubs - I personally saved 20% because I didn't like my hotspring dealer so I found another dealer equidistant from my rural location (rare for that to happen, most dealers won't overstep into another region) - no haggling needed, just very different business models and operating margins.

 

 

[cranbiz]

Not all Loungers are built the same and you do have to sit in one with water to find out. My Artesian has a lounger. I don't use it a lot when the jets are on, I prefer to sit in one of the captain's chairs with the neck jets. My wife, however lives in the lounger but she prefers to just soak. Our first tub didn't have a lounger, we really wanted one this time but it had to be the right one.

Your dealer will make or break your ownership experience. My dealer is 90 miles away. Sure there are many dealers closer but they all got eliminated for one reason or another. The Hot Springs dealer blew my appointment off, the Bullfrog/Vita dealer outright lied about the different features and was using 4 year old sales material, the PDC dealer didn't have any tubs on display, The American Whirlpool dealer was a good dealer and didn't misrepresent his tubs but the tubs didn't pass the wet test for us. The Sundance dealer was also good but Sundance didn't have a tub that fit my space requirements. The Aqua Living dealer was high pressure, pushed financing we didn't want, wouldn't show us under the hood of their tubs, no wet or dry testing and didn't have an inhouse service dept.  I ended up at an Artesian/Marquis dealer who was excellent, had a lot to look at and had a tub on order that hit all my check boxes. They were happy to set up a wet test of a similar tub (during Covid where other dealers wouldn't), answered all my questions, pulled side panels so I could look at plumbing and insulation, let us talk to existing customers about their sales and service experiences and as it turned out, had a very good price. They had no issues with my distance from their showroom and that still continues to be true today. Because of all this, they sold 2 tubs that day, one to me and one to our friends who were shopping with us.

So dealer IS important.