Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: ftwiebe on June 09, 2008, 05:47:21 pm
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Well, I must say I love my Radiance from Coast Spas. I wet tested almost every conceiveable spa in Winnipeg including the fact that 4 friends have models from Jacuzzi 470 to a Costco Spa to a Sundance. I compared every single feature and really, Coast won every chance they could get. I sure went through the horsepower game, and whether or not Coast says they are 7HP pumps, and naysayers can say what they want about fake HP, there is no spa made that pumps out the volume these puppies do! Really you canb turn anything down, so why not have the power if you want it! If you are into frills, then lights are even better, and I must say no other spas that I saw have the lights like these guys do. I bought it from LCL Spas in Winnipeg. They seem like fantastic people, so for right now, and 10 days in, I am sold on Coast!
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If you are happy with your spa that is all that matters.
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We too have decided on the Radiance without lounger. Waiting game now as we have a few weeks till ours comes in. I assume since you mention the 7hp that you chose those, we took the standard 4hp. Our dealer really won us over as well and we went to a lot of different stores!
After a lot of the negative reads on some of the brands on this and other forums, I hope we have chosen a tub that will give us years of enjoyment. I am doing my best to read up on chemical, ph and owner responsibilities to prep myself for our maintenance duties ahead. We really have wanted a tub for years and think it will be a family centerpiece and not something "we used to use all the time".
Cheers!
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Actually, I didn't ask for the 2 7HP motors, they were in it when I wet tested it, and I bought it. I am sure the 4HP will suit your family just fine. Maybe, just maybe you should ask the dealer to allow you a wet test on a 7 HP and see if it is worth the $.
I also have the desert slate vs the wood sides, and I added the slate three steps, so it looks like you are climbing rock to get into it. I just got out of it, and do I feel amazing.
Chemicals are pretty well a breeze so far, they take some getting used to the levels and ours is used everyday by 4 - 6 people.
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I compared every single feature and really, Coast won every chance they could get. I sure went through the horsepower game, and whether or not Coast says they are 7HP pumps, and naysayers can say what they want about fake HP, there is no spa made that pumps out the volume these puppies do!!
My 7hp Dynasty can match it for power. I do agree its nice when you need it and you can dial it down.
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After a lot of the negative reads on some of the brands on this and other forums, I hope we have chosen a tub that will give us years of enjoyment. I am doing my best to read up on chemical, ph and owner responsibilities to prep myself for our maintenance duties ahead. We really have wanted a tub for years and think it will be a family centerpiece and not something "we used to use all the time".
Cheers!
Coast is like several brands, including my Dynasty that use similar parts (waterways jets), the key to the many years is a good dealer and user care. Now as far as the prepping for maintainence duties, many newbies tend to over maintain their spas early on by testing too often, which leads to the Chas' law dump. I might also recommend you take a sample of your tap water into the dealer and find out where you are starting from.
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Can you explain the Chas law dump?
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Can you explain the Chas law dump?
I made fun of Chas in a recent message, so in case he doesn't chime in. Most of us that have had our tubs a while hope to get 3 months or so before having to change water. Newbies tend to over-medicate their tubs until they figure things out. Despite help from us veterens, every situation is different and there is a learning curve. That 30 day point seems to be about where you get on top of that learning curve and are doing good with the water, but the damage is done. About the time your comfortable and happy, the water goes bad anyway.
So Chas in his infinite wisdom feels that new users should dump and refill after 30 days. Now if you live in Minnesota and its January, that may be impractical.
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I was not aware of the slate steps ftwiebe..we went with the terra cotta slate (which honestly is the first thing we did not like about the coast spas with the slate siding).
I'm guessing that is an official Coast part? If you don't mind me asking, can you provide measurements on them (length, heighth and width)? Also, did you get the coast guard bottom?
Nice honest comments wmccall, I can see the tendancy already to over-analyze the water in the beginning.
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"I wet tested almost every conceiveable spa...Coast won every chance they could get...there is no spa made that pumps out the volume these puppies do!...no other spas that I saw have the lights like these guys do"
Wow.....sounds pretty nice.....now we gotta see some pics ftwiebe!
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i was browsing the Coast Spas site and saw this model
http://www.coastspas.com/
kind of interesting....it's called the Coast Cascade
does the waterfall "cascade over the edge" kind of like an edgeless smimming pool?
(http://www.coastspas.com/images/views/cascade.jpg)
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I don't think their is really anything wrong with a Coast spa, the biggest challenge here is the closest Coast dealer 40 miles away went under last year and left a lot of people hanging for service. They can be difficult to get parts for. Not so much the jets as they use the same jets as 80% of other manufacturers use, but the 7hp metal headed pumps are hard to find. If you have a dealer thats not going anywhere you are probably fine.
Whats the second most thing we fix on a coast other than jets that explode out??? Leaks.
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Doesn't the Radiance need a funky cover like the Jacuzzi 400s?
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I'm told the cover will be a 5" to 3" gradual downward grade....so yes, that's funky.
EDIT: Looks like delivery should be next week!
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I was not aware of the slate steps ftwiebe..we went with the terra cotta slate (which honestly is the first thing we did not like about the coast spas with the slate siding).
I'm guessing that is an official Coast part? If you don't mind me asking, can you provide measurements on them (length, heighth and width)? Also, did you get the coast guard bottom?
Nice honest comments wmccall, I can see the tendancy already to over-analyze the water in the beginning.
Here is a picture from Coast's website...
[url][http://www.coastspas.com/images/accessories/rockstep-3-mtn.jpg/url]
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Also, did you get the coast guard bottom?
Well I don't even really know if I did! When they were installing it the bottom was completely closed, so did I?
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Wow.....sounds pretty nice.....now we gotta see some pics ftwiebe!
I will take some pics tomorrow. Now how do I post them on here? Someone please explain it! If I click the "Insert Image" all I get is this... (http://)
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Here is a picture from Coast's website...
(http://www.coastspas.com/images/accessories/rockstep-3-mtn.jpg)
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"Now how do I post them on here? Someone please explain it!
If I click the "Insert Image" all I get is this... (http://) "
You have to take the picture's url address and insert in
between the 1st set of brackets & the 2nd set of brackets.
If it is a picture you take yourself you have to generate
a url for the picture with a site like PhotoBucket.com, then
take the PhotoBucket URL for the picture and place it
between the brackets.
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called the Coast Cascade does the waterfall "cascade over the edge" kind of like an edgeless smimming pool?
(http://www.coastspas.com/images/views/cascade.jpg)
Yes, that is exactly right. I saw it on a demo and it is pretty cool with that infinity water edge. It would be nice but it's only a 5 seater and only 30 jets fo I didn't go after it.
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thats cool
yeah it wouldn't be for everybody
but I could see it being really nice like if your backyard was on the edge of a lake
you could sit there looking at the lake and the edgeless spa would be cool
just like they do with the edgeless pools
(http://southtexaspools.com/southtexaspools.com/DealerImages/9-13-2006-67.jpg)
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Hey Zep, I just looked up your Cal Spas SQ92. WOW... that's a beautiful tub! 92 jets! 3 6HP motors! I love the arm jets on each seat. I think I would have definately seen that as an option to mine, cept there are no dealers here. May I ask what kind of price that is? I paid $10,500 for my Radiance, but that was for a floor model. Randiance's normally sell for about $12,000 after bargaining with them. Remember I am quoting CDN $ which are a bit higher that US $...
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ftwiebe Thanks......I love my CalSpas tub.
I purchased in March 2006 and it was about 8K
with stainless jets, LED light, stone side panels,
stone steps, cover, and delivery/set-up.
(plus i got a doctors note to waive sales tax)
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/ItsZep/Hot%20Tub/Hooters066-2.jpg)
(http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/ItsZep/Hot%20Tub/Parties2008026-1.jpg)
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I'm really mad at myself right now guys....thought I was educated on my entire purchase and now find out that I may be getting (somewhat of) the shaft pricing/warranty-wise.
What I thought I purchased was the Coast Radiance, in reality it is the Northwind Radiance. Without going into specifics about it all here, I'm going to be taking a trip to talk to the owner before I take delivery.
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Oh boy there is a HUGE difference between Northwind and Coast. I disagree the way they call a Radiance in both lines as Radiance ONLY refers to the SHAPE of the tub. The Northwind has far less HP, smaller jets, less lights, LESS WARRANTEE which is HUGE in my books, so depending on what you paid, yes I would make a walk to the dealer.. Let us know what happens!
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Oh boy there is a HUGE difference between Northwind and Coast. I disagree the way they call a Radiance in both lines as Radiance ONLY refers to the SHAPE of the tub. The Northwind has far less HP, smaller jets, less lights, LESS WARRANTEE which is HUGE in my books, so depending on what you paid, yes I would make a walk to the dealer.. Let us know what happens!
That website gets an "incomplete" grade IMO. I went to see what the difference was between the two spas and the spec sheet for each only tells you the dimensions of the spas and # of gallons. No mention of pump sizes (either real or fake HP), no mention of # and type of jets and other simple information shoppers are used to seeing when looking at spa models. I would think that would be information they would want to use for comparative reasons when shopping around.
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That website gets an "incomplete" grade IMO. quote]
100% agree. While I still maintain the Coast Radiance is the best tub for the price, I am very much against how the market their tubs to the public. This website really makes a buyer BEWARE!
The thing is I did my research on this website and others like it as I am in the marketing game and know the games suppliers play. Thank goodness for frums such as this!
I mean opinions are one thing, while I may think my tub rocks, so does anyone else's to them, and that's what is important.
However, when manufacturers play games, that's where they lose credibility. And why do they do that to themselves? Know why? Not enough consumers use forums like this, and my goodness when you spend this much money... wow
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I went to plead my case today but to a person whom I had not met before. I want to be honest here; I still like the tub, even the Northwind version but I have a few problems.
(A) When I was ordering our tub, it sounded like things we were choosing were options. Increasing the total price when the dealer could of up front told me the differences between the Northwind and Coast models. As the Coast model has more of those features standard, I most likely then would have jumped in...OK with the price increase (even though I was trying to stay within a budget). This would have been a perfect time to talk about the differences between the two lines they make, especially in regards to filtration size, power and most importantly warranty. This is the dealer that had already won us over all other dealer/lines, this final education would have been the icing on the cake.
(B) Price...I'm not going into specifics but I feel that I'm paying a big markup for a lesser equipped tub. I've already called a dealer in another state who was very open and forthcoming to my inquiries. He is selling the same tub I am looking at for about 1100-1200 less (he gave me his price, I did not disclose mine). He sells the Coast Radiance for about 800-900 more than I am paying for the Northwind.
As I said, I'm more upset at myself for not being as informed as I thought I was as my wife and I are very investigative and thorough on large purchases. I simply ended up not knowing the difference between the two lines that Coast manufactures. I still want to purchase from my dealer with either of two options (as yet undecided): purchase the tub we ordered at a lower price and understand this is a smaller equipped tub but a better bargain that we originally aqgreed to (have not paid for it yet) or pay more and get the Coast Radiance. Both of these are still up to a mutual agreement between me and the dealer.
As I first stated, I met a new person today. He told me he would relay my concerns to the owner (who I knew was out of the office when I stopped by) and would fax be a breakdown of my current spending and what it would take to get into the Coast model tomorrow morning.
More to come...
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That website gets an "incomplete" grade IMO. I went to see what the difference was between the two spas and the spec sheet for each only tells you the dimensions of the spas and # of gallons. No mention of pump sizes (either real or fake HP), no mention of # and type of jets and other simple information shoppers are used to seeing when looking at spa models. I would think that would be information they would want to use for comparative reasons when shopping around.
Specs and standard equipment/options are on the following links; this side-by-side is where I finally understood the differences between the two. BTW - I am/was purchasing a Northwind Radiance 47 (no lounger)
Coast - http://www.coastspas.com/downloads/legend/Coast-Luxury-Platinum.pdf
Northwind (elite) - http://www.coastspas.com/downloads/legend/NW-Elite.pdf
Coast Warranty - http://www.coastspas.com/downloads/warranties/Coast_NAm.pdf
Northwind Warranty - http://www.coastspas.com/downloads/warranties/NW.pdf
Northwind offers a 2 year extended warranty (news to me)
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So Have you got your tub yet?
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Didn't have a final update till today.... it fell through :(
Essentially I went to the owner with my concerns and he left me with "at least see it when it comes in before you make your decision (to deal or walk). Truck came in today and we were told twice it was on this shipment; today it was "it's on the next truck...couple more weeks".
On Father's Day I emailed a full 2-page outlined experience I had both with their website and the dealer. Honestly, the dealer was less of my concern. I was most afraid of the Northwind warranty. I did ask the dealer for a quote on a Coast Radiance and never received it.
I brought along a copy of the letter I had emailed Coast to show the dealer and something tells me they might have received it already from Coast..a few things were mentioned that to me referenced the email versus our past discussions. Basically the dealer began filling out a refund of my deposit while saying he thought we were'nt going to be able to do business together. I kid you not, the dealer walked away from (what would have been) a paid in full deal.
I am at a loss. Either look at a Coast from an out-of-state dealer (and deal with this one locally for service) or move on. Already looking at Cal-Spa and Jacuzzi again.
Bummer,
trippn
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As much as I love mine, (just got out actually... after 90 minutes) I don't think I would buy out of state just because I want it. I dunno, I think a good relationship with a dealer is very important. Let us know what you do eh! I am Canadian you know...