This is my 2nd hot tub and it replaced a 2003 Dynasty Excalibur 4000. I'll try not to make too many comparisons as they are two different units. I waited till I have had the unit more than a month.
For starters the Sundance is a smaller footprint and we did that on purpose as we are now empty nesters and we don't invite a lot of guests over for hot tubing as we originally thought. I also decided to go no lounger this time. Had I wanted a lounger, I would have probably went with a larger Sundance model or possibly Jacuzzi or Hot Spring.
To be honest I went into this search with a Hot Spring Vanguard as my first choice and after a round of wet testing thought I liked the Jacuzzi 345 best. But this is a husband wife purchase so a consensus must be made.
The Vanguard has a lack of jets in terms of numbers. We aren't looking for 75 jets as some manufacturers claim, but a few more. My wife didn't like that the hot water input to the Vanguard is right where we step out of the tub or our feet naturally migrate too during a long soak. (The Majesta put this in a much more intelligent position (IMO). Now I said the Vanguard had less jets, but what they had were great. I easily could have enjoyed that tub for years.
The Jacuzzi 345 was a favorite and I gave it a slight edge in appearance. I found the seats the most comfortable of any tub I have ever been in. However they recline enough my wife floated in a majority of seats even without jets running. One last comment on the Vanguard/J345 since this is a Sundance review. Had I been a single guy ordering, I would have went with any of these three tubs and probably would have went with the best offer.
My wife instantly loved the Majesta and I liked it very much. Our previous tub has removable jets that you could place different types of jets where you wanted them. This was a great feature and led us to buy the previous tub, however, the jets failed frequently and towards the end of the tub, the jets were failing quickly. This tub doesn't have that feature, but it doesn't lack power or therapy results. After learning all the controls we know how to get what we want and with two us we can be flexible with where we sit. I can also sit on the floor and get a great lower back/his massage Iike I did in my Dynasty. The Majesta is a little shallower in the center of the tub, but one seat is deeper which is great for me at 6'1 and the other corner is perfect for my 5'4 wife and my daughter loves the cool down seats when she is in town.
I was attracted by buying a full foam circ pump tub this time around. Sundance can be made to be a 24 hour circ pump, but they choose to use a part time cir status via default setups. So far I am keeping my tub clean with the default 12 hour circ/filter setting.
A quick tour around the seats of the Majesta tell me it is a better engineered tub than the Dynasty. The Dynasty had a couple of controls that had no function and a couple of jets that had no power at all. The Majesta definintely makes effective use of plumbing to deliver great power to all jets/seats. When I bought the Dynasty, I got go up in the "7 hp pumps" I don't even know the rating on the Majesta pumps, but they deliver.
Last weekend I did my first water change after a months use. I did this because its November now and I want to make it to late Feb or March to dump and refill again. The water outlet on the Dynasty was another pour design taking 24 hours to drain and left me bailing 30 or 40 gallons. The Majesta drains much faster, but I will say the drain while easily accessible, is in a nuckle scraping position.
2 year update! Still very happy with the tub, its suits us just fine. Only issue in 2 years was we had to have a temperature sensor replaced last fall. We had the tub set to 102, and it was too hot to stay in more than a few minutes. While I can tell a hot tubs temp within 1/2 degree, I wasn't insulted by the fact that they didn't take my word. They had me set the tub to 98 and then when it reached that temp check it again. Obviously a healthy person will feel water that is basically neutral at 98. I could tell it was still very warm. They replaced the temp sensor the next day and all was well. Still very happy customers.
2015 update - 3 years of great operation. Still happy.
Date Purchased: 9/30/2012
Price Paid: $8000
Recommend: Yes |
Pros:
2 level cool down seat, plus a 2nd seat that is like a cool down seat. We didn't have a cool down seat in our previous model.
Tub can be set to 106 by those "in the know" without modifying the tub.
Very quick to heat up after fill. My old tub heated at around 4 degrees per hours. This one is closer to 9F
Cons:
The Economy mode is different from what I am use to. It's probably well thought out in function, but its too easy to accidentally put the tub in this mode and its not real obvious when you do so. Now, I'm use to looking, but my old tub flashed ECON in big letters when in that mode. I was ready for a 104 soak one night and came out to find 101 and the tub in econ mode. Lesson learned. (3 years later, I don' do this anymore. Just a little retraining I guess)
Sundance could have made the power connection a little more accessible by dressing the control box wiring and moving the terminal strip to a better location, but that is only a problem on day 1. Also as mentioned above, a 1/4" raise of the drain might save my knuckes, but now I now better.
2 year follow up - I didn't like the display telling me when to clean the filter. Its not sensing a dirty filter, its just a date based reminder. My dealer told me how to turn it off. (found it in the manual.
The only new con I am adding is I believe the neck jets on all seats should be angled downward. With only one person in the tub they can spray across the tub. I just turn those off and turn them on when needed. |
