Hot Tub Forum
Original => Hot Tub Forum => Topic started by: East_TX_Spa on April 22, 2006, 06:05:55 pm
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Is D-1 a fairly good-sized spa company or are they more of a high-dollar, low volume, specialty spa?
The reason I ask is I know they are highly regarded in the industry but there's not very much discussion about them as a whole. I get the impression they are very expensive, well-built spas (I know one person who bought one several years ago when there was a local dealer), but you just don't read or hear much about them.
Anyone have any ideas?
Terminator
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They are a very well built spa. Very clean electronic compartment, solid insulation, nice mold design etc... Only the Bay series is priced to the extreme, but on the flip side, you get a lot of ammenities with that series. Some think that the spa is over the top on the technical side, but "Super High End" customers eat that up. ;D I would consider carrying the D1 line if the opportunity arose. ;)
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When I was searching, and I knew a lot less about spas back then, I liked what I saw from a price, features standpoint. My turnoff was the dealer told me they only used real (I think it was mahagony) skirts, and I didn't want to buy anything that had to be painted or stained. The dealer at the time also carried COAST, but he told me it was just a lower end line for people who didn't want to spend for a D1. A year later he dropped d1, or did they drop him? Us consumers hardly ever find out. Now, all he sells is COAST. About a year ago, I rechecked at d1 listed a dealer near me that billed themselves as some kind of home improvement consultants. I never did make it over there. Your message today reminded me to recheck, as I like to stop in all the local dealers on occasion. Today, the dealer locater on D1's website seems to be broken, so I can't check 43229.
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I looked at them and they are priced in-line with Hot Springs and the rest of the good spas. One thing I did not like was that to get the better warranty you had to get a white interior shell.
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. Today, the dealer locater on D1's website seems to be broken, so I can't check 43229.
5 minutes later it worked fine. It looks like the dealer I mentioned in my last message is not there. The nearest D1 is now about 50 miles away. 3 different dealers in 3 years.
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D-1 is a great company. I don't sell them right now but I have a long relationship with them. They build in my opinion one of the top three brands of spas on the market. They are the only company that will put in writing that you need NO chlorine, Bromine or Baqua of any kind. (And it really works) They also have a Lifetime warranty on the structure and shell. They stuck behind it (reguardless of what salesmen try to say about 7 years) with a customer of mine that had a d-1 I sold them in 1991 and replaced it with a 2004 californian.
As far as how big they are last I heard was 25,000 units a year. Not the bigest...but no small company. I do know that there is some really bad blood between H.S. and D-1. There plants are about 100 yard away from each other
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Micah, what do you mean by "They are the only company that will put in writing that you need NO chlorine, Bromine or Baqua of any kind. (And it really works)". Do they run on ozone and a mineral cartridge?
Why are they next door to HS? I guess it's kind of like the Golf Club manufacturers being close together in Carlsbad.
D-1 is a great company. I don't sell them right now but I have a long relationship with them. Â They build in my opinion one of the top three brands of spas on the market. Â They are the only company that will put in writing that you need NO chlorine, Bromine or Baqua of any kind. (And it really works) Â They also have a Lifetime warranty on the structure and shell. Â They stuck behind it (reguardless of what salesmen try to say about 7 years) with a customer of mine that had a d-1 I sold them in 1991 and replaced it with a 2004 californian. Â
As far as how big they are last I heard was 25,000 units a year. Not the bigest...but no small company. Â I do know that there is some really bad blood between H.S. and D-1. There plants are about 100 yard away from each other
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My sister in law has a D1 and she said something about a silver sanitizer.
Micah, what do you mean by "They are the only company that will put in writing that you need NO chlorine, Bromine or Baqua of any kind. (And it really works)". Do they run on ozone and a mineral cartridge?
Why are they next door to HS? I guess it's kind of like the Golf Club manufacturers being close together in Carlsbad.
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Micah, what do you mean by "They are the only company that will put in writing that you need NO chlorine, Bromine or Baqua of any kind. (And it really works)". Do they run on ozone and a mineral cartridge?
Why are they next door to HS? I guess it's kind of like the Golf Club manufacturers being close together in Carlsbad.
They have a unit called a Vision Cartridge. It is made by nature II but instead of using 50 mg. of silver I belive they have 350mg. ( my numbers may be off )
There ozone is a little different too. It is a "TRUE" 24 hour ozone. If i'm not mistaken most ozone systems shut off as soon as the jet pumps are turned on. D-1 stays on all the time. They also have a contact chamber to maximize the effeciancy of the ozone
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D-1 is a fairly good-sized spa company that is more of a high-dollar, low volume, specialty spa.
D1 is one of the Best Made Hot Tubs from a Quality "Fit and Finish" standpoint. It's orgin comes from HS when the owners of D1 were HS dealers back in the 70's, but could not get Watkins to incorporate some of their advanced ideas. They split from HS and began their own company in 1977.
Being Number 1 is not their goal in life, but rather being one of the best quality Hot Tubs in the industry that includes some of the most advance technology. For those who just want hot water and jets, cheapers spas are available, BUT IF someone wanted to look into what is one of the more advanced pieces of equipment, from a manufacturer that holds more than 30 exclusive patents, D1 should be on their list.
They are not inexpensive but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look at them. What ever you are going to buy, you are going to own for a very long time. Imagine being stuck with a BMW for the next 15 years.
They have the Bay series, the ultimate in the top of the line, the Reflection series with some very unique features that are not common to other Hot Tubs and the Home series which is very affordable. They are all made of the same materials, just more bells, more whistles, more money, as you go up to the Bay seies.
They are not expecting to lead the industry in volume, but they are recognized as being on of the industry's best offerings. The equipment areas are fitted with an enclosed compartment that is sealed and screened with foam sheeting applied between the removable synthetic panels to form a compression seal, that eliminates vibrations, muffels and absorbs sound and reduces if not eliminate heat loss. Their systems are designed to run cool, as well as heat.
They are probably one of the best kept secrets in the Hot Tub industry because they don't make a big splash about "BUY ME" or look at my affordable prices. I have never met an unhappy D1 owner, but I have personally known hundreds of unhappy SD owners. They are both good Hot Tubs and there are a lot of good quality choices out there, HS being one of them.
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Since our industry has no audited sales numbers, I find it amusing when someone posts Brand X sells 25,000 a year and brand Y sells 50,000.
However, if you visit plants you can evaluate their capabilities and you can count spas coming off the line.
D1 has the reputation of being a low to medium volume, high end manufacturer. It is true that it was started by former Hot Spring dealers. Again, it is amusing to see the claim they split when Hot Spring wouldn't take their "advanced" suggestions.
EPA would not approve of any claim, written or otherwise that a spa can be sanitized with no chlorine, bromine or biguanide.
As stated before, D1 promotes their propriatary Nature2 system. Even Nature2 has backed away from the no chlorine claims.
D1 has been well known in the past to distribute to their dealers fake energy use signs for their spas that look similar to appliance energy stickers. Don't know if they still do.
I agree most D1 buyers like them.
Bottom line, exensive, unique high end spas with questionable claims and marketing.
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Wow, I'm sold J._McD. I think you have a future in sales. Will you have a D1 in your back yard soon? :)
D-1 is a fairly good-sized spa company that is more of a high-dollar, low volume, specialty spa.
D1 is one of the Best Made Hot Tubs from a Quality "Fit and Finish" standpoint. Â It's orgin comes from HS when the owners of D1 were HS dealers back in the 70's, but could not get Watkins to incorporate some of their advanced ideas. Â They split from HS and began their own company in 1977.
Being Number 1 is not their goal in life, but rather being one of the best quality Hot Tubs in the industry that includes some of the most advance technology. Â For those who just want hot water and jets, cheapers spas are available, BUT IF someone wanted to look into what is one of the more advanced pieces of equipment, from a manufacturer that holds more than 30 exclusive patents, D1 should be on their list.
They are not inexpensive but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look at them. Â What ever you are going to buy, you are going to own for a very long time. Â Imagine being stuck with a BMW for the next 15 years.
They have the Bay series, the ultimate in the top of the line, the Reflection series with some very unique features that are not common to other Hot Tubs and the Home series which is very affordable. Â They are all made of the same materials, just more bells, more whistles, more money, as you go up to the Bay seies. Â
They are not expecting to lead the industry in volume, but they are recognized as being on of the industry's best offerings. Â The equipment areas are fitted with an enclosed compartment that is sealed and screened with foam sheeting applied between the removable synthetic panels to form a compression seal, that eliminates vibrations, muffels and absorbs sound and reduces if not eliminate heat loss. Â Their systems are designed to run cool, as well as heat.
They are probably one of the best kept secrets in the Hot Tub industry because they don't make a big splash about "BUY ME" or look at my affordable prices. Â I have never met an unhappy D1 owner, but I have personally known hundreds of unhappy SD owners. Â They are both good Hot Tubs and there are a lot of good quality choices out there, HS being one of them.
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I looked at D1 when shopping and I was impressed by their equipment bay, it was neat and tidy. I was unimpressed by their price, "claims" of no chlorine and the salesperson.
At the time, 2004, they were using gimics (maybe that was just the sales person) - their proprietary ozone system - a length of tubing that ran the entire spa cabinet to eliminate off gassing, when I asked about a CD ozinator I was told that they are crap ... hmm.
They do want you to use the Vision system, it's a $125 N2 cartridge. That buys an aweful lot of dichlor. Salesman and I disagreed about dichlor use too.
Their self diagnostic control panel seemed interesting ... hopefully it's not needed too often.
Something that I didn't like being a tech, their movable neck jets. They probably don't break but in my mind I saw the flexibility wearing after a while and blowing out the tubing (hey, with my luck with my jets ... it probably would have happened).
Finally the presentation and the price. Salesman wanted me to buy it with any color as long as it was white because of the warranty and when I told him it was too much for me ($8000) and asked about the lower end series, he wasn't giving up any more info.
Too bad, it could have been a contender.
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Having just recently "been out there" shopping, I find this an interesting thread. I was pretty interested in the D1 californian, and I did not think that the price and value of that spa was that much different than the HS models that I looked at. I'm sure some would disagree, and I'm not trying to stir anything up: just giving you the "buyer's" perspective.
The dealer raved about D1's ozone system, and about the vision cartridge, but never tried to tell me I'd need no sanitizer.
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I sold D-1 many years ago. We opened a store in the middle of another HS store's territory so we couldnt display HS. The owner of our company flew 3 of us out to D-1 to tour the factory. It is every bit as high tech as Watkins. They are ( or were) a privately owned company. So we bought them and I found myself selling against my own stores that had HS. To be honest, it was pretty easy. Similar stories in alot of areas but I could sell the Aurora vs the Soveraign and be the same price but the Aurora was bigger, deeper, more pumps, more jets etc....... sorry I drifted off there. ;)
Anyway, HS changed the zipcode territories and opened the door for that store to have HS so, we screwed D-1 and dropped them.
I would say D-1 would rival anyone in quality.
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Since our industry has no audited sales numbers, I find it amusing when someone posts Brand X sells 25,000 a year and brand Y sells 50,000........
Again, it is amusing to see the claim they split when Hot Spring wouldn't take their "advanced" suggestions.
D1 has been well known in the past to distribute to their dealers fake energy use signs for their spas that look similar to appliance energy stickers. Don't know if they still do.
I agree most D1 buyers like them.
Bottom line, exensive, unique high end spas with questionable claims and marketing.
While we attribute opinions, and that is mostly what we state here, to ones Bias or background, I find your perspective about numbers to be very interesting. HS simply makes a claim about numbers and they are the number 1 leader. But yet your claim is not as you say "audited" against other company productions.
The concept of "advanced" suggestions, does not mean "advanced technology, but thinking outside the BOX. Watkins would not produce a product contained within a box or cabinet form. We call these "Portable Spas". At that time is was considered to be advanced thinking because no others were doing it. Soon after Watkins began making there own "Portable Spas". Today we have an industry full of "Portable Spa" manufacturers producing a wide variety of choices. To me, that was "advanced" thinking in the 70's.
your statement regarding energy use or consumption has long been touted by your own manufacturer.
"Bottom line, expensive, unique high end spas with questionable claims and marketing", you seem to want to discredit them for similar things HS has done over time. It is kind of like, the kettle calling the pot black.
D1 is a viable, alternative choice for the quality minded buyer. It's "white shell" bears a very strong similarity to what HS "used" to offer to its consumers and as I recall, the salesperson would always impact it with a "Louisville Slugger" to impress the crowd. ;) ;D
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We looked at D1. Didn't find a layout we really liked and didn't think the dealership was the best and those moveable neck jets threw me off right away. I saw maintenance disaster written all over them.
I do think they have the best water feature I've seen though. My BIL had one and moved to a Prodigy. A local dentist has a Californian and raves about it.
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The dealer raved about D1's ozone system, and about the vision cartridge, but never tried to tell me I'd need no sanitizer.
The dealer I visited told me no sanitizer was needed. I grinned and said "whatever" but I find that hard to believe.
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For years I would repeat the HS line, "with this system you can soak chlorine free."
The problem was that people WANTED to hear me say that you didn't need any chems AT ALL. They mislead themselves. I now say, "You can soak chlorine free and only need to put chlorine in at times you are not in the spa, such as after a crowd, once a month for a heavy chlorine shock or any time my brother-in-law gets into your tub."
Point is: I did not want to mislead, and I am now going to greater lengths to be sure they understand.
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I bought a D-1 @Home series spa last June and I love it. It was affordable (around $6K) and we have enjoyed it. Have had no problems at all. The spa seems very well made. I didn't get all the bells and whistles, didn't think I would need them. I am very happy with the spa and would recommend them.
I'm lucky in that my dealer is only 5 miles from my house. He is very responsive and helpful.
As for the no chlorine issue, that is not the case for the @ Home series. I do have ozone but I use chlorine and my dealer never made a claim that I could run the spa without chlorine. The more expensive models do have a special ozone package I believe.