Original > Hot Tub Forum
Which one should I go for?
cranbiz:
I have an Artesian Island Nevis coming in April. When we looked, I was most impressed by the Artesians. I have a space issue and in the models that would fit, the Nevis was the most comfortable for us, had a lounge, which we wanted and we were able to wet test them, which was exactly what we needed to make the decision. The Artesian dealer in my area has a better reputation for both sales and service support over the other dealers. The Bullfrog/Vita/American Whirlpool dealer really didn't have his act together, was working from 2017 printed worksheets and was saying the tub I was looking at had features that didn't match the new documentation. The PDC dealer had no tubs on the floor, the Hot Springs dealer blew off my appointment and Cal Spa didn't have a tub that fit my size requirements. The Aqua Living dealer was extremely pushy, wouldn't show me any of the internals and the reputation of Aqua Living is not good at all. I mostly went there to see if the things everyone says they are lacking was true and seeing that the dealer wouldn't let me look at the internals, they probably are.
The footwell was a bit cramped on the Nevis but that is also a function of needing a tub that was less than 79" in one direction.
You are also choosing a dealer as well as a tub so buy the tub that fits from a dealer that you have a good feeling about and has good reviews. In my case, the only dealer I felt 100% comfortable with was the Artesian dealer.
Artesian as well as Cal Spa have been around for a long time. The Atresian reputation is a bit better than Cal Spa but both are good manufacturers.
A.O.:
--- Quote from: cranbiz on March 01, 2021, 09:52:09 am ---I have an Artesian Island Nevis coming in April. When we looked, I was most impressed by the Artesians. I have a space issue and in the models that would fit, the Nevis was the most comfortable for us, had a lounge, which we wanted and we were able to wet test them, which was exactly what we needed to make the decision. The Artesian dealer in my area has a better reputation for both sales and service support over the other dealers. The Bullfrog/Vita/American Whirlpool dealer really didn't have his act together, was working from 2017 printed worksheets and was saying the tub I was looking at had features that didn't match the new documentation. The PDC dealer had no tubs on the floor, the Hot Springs dealer blew off my appointment and Cal Spa didn't have a tub that fit my size requirements. The Aqua Living dealer was extremely pushy, wouldn't show me any of the internals and the reputation of Aqua Living is not good at all. I mostly went there to see if the things everyone says they are lacking was true and seeing that the dealer wouldn't let me look at the internals, they probably are.
The footwell was a bit cramped on the Nevis but that is also a function of needing a tub that was less than 79" in one direction.
You are also choosing a dealer as well as a tub so buy the tub that fits from a dealer that you have a good feeling about and has good reviews. In my case, the only dealer I felt 100% comfortable with was the Artesian dealer.
Artesian as well as Cal Spa have been around for a long time. The Atresian reputation is a bit better than Cal Spa but both are good manufacturers.
--- End quote ---
And I feel the exact opposite And I have owned both the Artesian and Cal spas spa.. Cal Spa seems much better all the way around.
cranbiz:
I know, A.O.
It happens, every manufacturer can have a lemon. With the issues you had, I don't blame you.
Cal Spa went thru a period of time where their quality went south for many years. They have gotten their act back together on the quality front. Hopefully, the customer service has improved as well as there was also a period of time where Cal Spa would deny warranty claims.
I have a friend that had a 20 year old Cal Spa and loved it. He had one issue with a fitting that he couldn't get because it was a metric fitting and Cal Spa had discontinued that particular heater a few years before he needed it. It was a good tub.
I have had others that I know that have Artesian's. They also have never had any issues and those are between 3 and 15 years old. Heck, my first tub was a low end Leisure Bay (a brand known for cheap and shoddy tubs) 110V 4 person that other than a fitting on the heater corroding thru, which I was able to fix with a fitting from Ace Hardware, worked for 9 years and may still be working as it went with my house when I sold it.
castletonia:
Look at it this way. You are going to own the hot tub longer than you are going to wait for it to arrive. For a product you could be owning for 10-15 years, I wouldn't let waiting a couple months sway my decision especially when I wouldn't consider it an apples to apples comparison. I don't currently sell either Artesian or Cal Spas but based on the brand and company reputation, I would be suggesting Artesian all day every day. Maybe things have changed but in my experience with Cal Spas (I sold them for 5 years), I would never as a dealer go back to them. If you do decide on a Cal Spa, make sure you have an awesome dealer who will be there to take care of you after the sale.
Sam:
This is the problem with anecdotal evidence. It's a person's individual experience, but not necessarily indicative of overall experiences. The people in this industry who see thousands and thousands of hot tubs know that overall, Cal Spas are not the best quality and their support is terrible. They have they have their reputation because they earned it. They paid consumer affairs a lot of money to help turn around their reputation. Consumer affairs itself is a shady company that plays on the good name of consumer reports who is actually reputable.
https://www.truthinadvertising.org/consumer-affairs-com/
On the flip side, people in the industry generally believe Artesian to be a good company that builds a good product. Again, they have earned this reputation through years of doing this. There will be a few people out there whose experience would contradict this, but overall they make a fantastic hot tub.
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