Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: stargazer on August 30, 2005, 10:13:07 am
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I'm considering buying a hot tub and am hesitant between :
Hot Springs (Envoy), Caldera (Tahitian) and Coast Spas.
I have not read much here about Coast Spas...
However HS seems to be unanimously a great Tub.
another question:
- Coast Spas offers 2 lounging chairs...is it worth it?
thanks!!!!
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I'd like to welcome another stargazer with a tip, A large dobsonian doesn't work well in a hot tub! Motor guided scopes don't work well either. Your optics will fog up anyway. But certainly a lot of us enjoy looking at the stars in a hot tub. Many here will debate the merit of one lounger, but two? I come down in favor of the lounger, but don't think I would like two loungers, but I can imagine some people, especially couples, might like having two. How many people in your family? We have a lounger, and I would get another tub with a lounger, but we are a family of 3, with a 6 person tub and the lounger is the least used seat.
As for Coast, I've seen some nice looking tubs, but can't comment on their quality. They SEEM to me to be a bit more flash than substance, and the example I always use to back that up is
(http://www.coastspas.com/site/html/models/tubs/serenityfront.jpg)
This spa cracks me up when I see it in person once a year, and when I see it online. -But thats just me. ;D
Has anyone ever bought one of these?
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I'm considering buying a hot tub and am hesitant between :
Hot Springs (Envoy), Caldera (Tahitian) and Coast Spas.
I have not read much here about Coast Spas...
However HS seems to be unanimously a great Tub.
another question:
- Coast Spas offers 2 lounging chairs...is it worth it?
thanks!!!!
HS does have a very good reputation. Watkins (makers of Hot Springs) also makes the caldera and tiger river lines. I believe Caldera and Hot Springs are made in the same factory. The HS is the luxury line and the Caldera a more every day line?? Not sure how Watkins thinks of the two lines.
Loungers take up at least 2 seats in a tub, so 2 loungers would take up 4 seats. If you have company that can be a problem.
Personally, I don't like loungers and prefer to sit up most of the time to relax, and I like putting my arms up on the sides of the tub.
If I want to lay back my hot tub has no-barrier seating and I use that as a make-shift lounger.
People also tend to float in loungers, which is why wet testing the tubs is especially important. Trying to keep yourself from floating is not a way to relax in a tub. Lounger shape and jet position and your own height make a big difference in who floats and who doesn't.
-Ed
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Wm MCall.,
What the hell is that ? ! ?
Where do you find these things?
;D
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Edited so as not to waste space
Terminator
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??? I don't know how this is relevant to my question???
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??? I don't know how this is relevant to my question???
You're right, and I'm sorry that we took your thread off into a silly direction. Ed's advice in an earlier post is very good advice, indeed.
To answer your question, the 2 loungers is a personal decision which can best be answered by wet testing the different spas. It seems that fewer and fewer spas are made with multiple loungers nowadays. The feedback I have gotten from customers goes about like this:
Approximately 95% of shoppers want a lounge in their spa.
About 75% come back and say "I wish we hadn't gotten a lounge. It takes up a lot of space in the spa and my wife floats in it. Hardly anyone uses it."
Now, this is not a scientifically accurate assessment by any means, it is just my personal experience over the years. That is why wet testing should be a critical part of your decision making process. I hope this helps in some way.
Terminator
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:) thanks!
we haven't "wet tested" any of them.....next phase in the process...
some dealers only allow you to wet test the spas that already have water in them... which may not be the one you want....personnally, if I'm gonna spend $10K on a tub, they better put water in it and let me try it out!
Apparently Coast Spa loungers are deeper, so you don't float up..... that's what the dealer says anyways...
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If a dealer won't go the extra mile while you're shopping for a spa, they're probably not going to bend over backwards when you own one and trouble arises.
It is standing policy in our store to fill any spa that someone wants to try. It is your hard-earned money and you have the right to make sure it is spent appropriately. It is not that big a deal to get a spa up and running. A simple electric pump will transfer hot water from one spa to another pretty quickly.
Terminator
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If a dealer won't go the extra mile while you're shopping for a spa, they're probably not going to bend over backwards when you own one and trouble arises.
It is standing policy in our store to fill any spa that someone wants to try. It is your hard-earned money and you have the right to make sure it is spent appropriately. It is not that big a deal to get a spa up and running. A simple electric pump will transfer hot water from one spa to another pretty quickly.
Terminator
I thought this was against health codes to transfer the water?
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I've read a lot of your comments...and you seem to have a very soft spot for Hot Springs Envoy....
you sell those I gather...you're a dealer?
but is it an objective opinion you're giving ?
I'm just trying to get something good, solid that's gonna last me a long time...
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Good point Drewstar.... :-/
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Also.....are all service calls to the US?
I live in Canada...and wonder if this could be problematic..
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I thought this was against health codes to transfer the water?
??? Never heard that before. We've never had a problem in 21 years. I'm not saying you're wrong drewstar, I learn something new every day on this forum.
Terminator
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Also.....are all service calls to the US?
I live in Canada...and wonder if this could be problematic..
You will likely receive better after sales service from the HS dealer, in Canada, than you will from the Coast dealer, especially if you live in Ontario.
I have worked in three spa stores. Two of them had International Pool & Spa as a competitor. I have a steady stream of customers coming here for chemicals, water care advice, parts etc, because they "don't want to go back there"
If they are very insistent that the price is "today only" and you can leave a "small deposit" to secure the price.....RUN AWAY
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Terminator: I don't know for fact. And I'm not one to argue with someone who has a gun rack on thier tub ;)
I'm not sure Terminator if it is, that's why I asked, rather than stated.
A while ago in this forum we were discussing how some dealers thought a wet test was a pain....and I was thinking out loud and wondered why dealers didn't just have one big tub of heated, filtered water available that they pumped into different tubs. I was told that it was against health codes.
Anyone Know for sure?
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I've read a lot of your comments...and you seem to have a very soft spot for Hot Springs Envoy....
you sell those I gather...you're a dealer?
but is it an objective opinion you're giving ?
I'm just trying to get something good, solid that's gonna last me a long time...
I hope it's pretty obvious I sell HotSpring Spas! ;D That's something I sure don't try to hide. Heck, I've got my website, e-mail address, age, gender, location, even my bald-headed picture in my profile. 8)
I'm as objective as anyone else on here, or try to be. I do love the Envoy, I sell a lot of them to happy customers that love them as well. I know a lot about HotSpring, some about Caldera (we sell them in a roundabout way), and nothing about Coast. I try my best to answer about subjects I'm familiar with, and in that vein, a HotSpring Spa will last you a looooooonnnnngggg time. I've got several customers that have had them over 20 years.
As far as your question regarding service to Canada, HotSpring has dealers all over the world, including Canada. I don't think you'll have a problem. Good luck whichever spa you choose.! :)
Terminator
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Can't speak to Coast but we love our Envoy and I'm an owner not a dealer.
We had to travel to another dealer (about 30 minutes) to wet test the Envoy and ended up saving several hundred dollars as well.
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A previous employer carried Coast....STAY CLEAR!!! They had major issues with leaking to the point that while filling brand new spas they would leak so much it ruined the showroom carpeting. Parts were forever to get, but that might not be as much of an issue for you being in Canada yourself. Hot Spring makes a nice tub, Caldera as well.
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You cannot go wrong with HS! I personally like the Vanguard better than the Envoy...Loungers suck! But I sell tons of them and people love them. We used to carry Coast as a second line about 4 years ago and they were a service nightmare. Literally a 50% failure rate right out of the box and their warranty is so full of holes you could serve it with turkey on wheat as a great sandwich! They may have improved since then, but I am doubtful. Good Luck!
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I was looking at the Coast Spas down at the Ex today. They sure are deep! I really think our short family would drowned in them but I didn't actually climb in and we have never wet tested one. They did have the one with the stereo and the TV. I think it was normally priced at 19K plus a little and they had it for about 17K (Cdn$) as a CNE special. As WMCCALL said, there was a lot of flash and I don't watch THAT much TV. Didn't see that odd one he posted a picture of. Most of them were listed at a price and marked down by 1K but I didn't note any particular models or prices, sorry.
You can't go wrong with the HS, and some others, as they're probably much better built and service around the Toronto area is very good for the big names. I haven't met a HS dealer I liked much but that doesn't mean they won't do well with service and support and the International Pool and Spa folks out Oshawa way have an ok reputation compared to some in the west end I think. One of the sales guys at the Ex mentioned they were made in BC., don't know if that means much for parts etc. since the bigger names come from south of the border anyway. My wife and daughter weren't overly impressed with them compared to our Majesta nor the HS and Sunrise (out of Grimsby) we were interested in before buying, except they did have some nice gazebos to go with them. Good luck, paul
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I recently switched from a Caldera Geneva Utopia to a HotSpring Envoy and can comment on those two. I cannot comment on Coast Spas. If you go to the reviews section of this site, I have posted reviews of both the Caldera and the HS. Both are very high quality spas. Frankly, I cannot find much difference between them in terms of quality. When you wet test them, however, you will be struck by how different they feel. The Caldera has a LOT more power and in consequence offers a more vigorous message. I consider the Caldera to be the better tub - for me - your results might vary. That does not mean that I dislike my Envoy, it is a very nice tub and I am greatful to have it.
You need to wet test each spa that you are considering. There is no substitute for wet testing. Don't buy anything you haven't tried. Wet test, wet test, wet test.
As far as loungers are concerned, I like a lounger, but would consider two loungers to be a serious compromise. The thing that you should try to understand is that in a well designed, high-performance spa, each seat offers a different hydro-message experience. The jets hit the body differently, hit different parts of the body, and so forth. The experienced user will usually move from seat to seat during each use to get the optimal overall message. One company (Marquis) takes the variations to another level by offering different configurations of jets even in the same seat.
If you select a spa with two loungers, you would be losing a lot of space and with it the versatility of having more variety. Keep in mind that one lounger takes up the space of three upright seats. You just lose too much versatility in the trade-off when two loungers are installed.
Regards,
Bill
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Usually if a lounger is made deeper, you will float out of it more. There really are no special design considerations which will make one lounger more 'floaty' and another less, other than the depth. Some will put in foot rests which allow you to push against the jet action, and if the back of the lounger is steep enough, that works.
Of course, if the back of the lounger is steep enough, it's not much of a lounger...
If there was ever a seat that screams out for a wet test, it's a lounge seat.
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If you still haven't made a decision, I'd like to add a few things to consider. I am also a dealer, and have sold Coast spas in the past. From a customer service stand point, I am thankful every day that I no longer have to deal with the headaches associated with those tubs. While they weren't that much different from most tubs on the market, we had numerous service issues (leaks, slow response on parts from the factory, etc.) and the energy costs our customers had to deal with were outrageous. If for no other reason than that, I'd tell you to look elsewhere for your hot tub.
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What Tubs said would do it for me. If I was new and looking at spas, his comments would steer me away from Coast.
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Wm MCall.,
What the hell is that ? ! ?
Where do you find these things?
;D
I first saw that spa at the Ohio State fair and thought it was the dumbest thing I have ever seen. This year, they didn't fill it with water though. You can find out more about it at coastspas.com. I'ts basically a 4 person spa in a 6 person shell.
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I remember they filled one at the NSPI show about 3 or 4 years ago and it leaked all over the booth.
Can't remember which city.
Anyone remember this?
The spa was in another booth, not Coasts, it was in a general info/backyard area booth.
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I was at a homeshow once and a TP manufacturer had there spa leak all over the place. It was hilarious...our booth was about 30 feet away, we had a good laugh.
Unfortunately, it could happen to any tub. At the time we did use it as ammo. I wouldn't now and I deliberately left the manufacturer name as not to start a flame war.