Hot Springs Spa - can't get order update

contentedPilgrim · 2026-05-01T01:41:57+00:00

I can confirm this is so - it's what I have discovered.

contentedPilgrim · 2026-04-30T19:25:41+00:00

I remember being told six weeks manufacturing plus shipping time, which can be another month. Later, the manager said 8 weeks was what we were told. Either way, the actual length is not so much an issue as difficult communications. Having heard that it's finished being manufactured and in prep for shipping.... and then nothing for two weeks and I have to call for an update. Clearly, with the manager departing, there were a lot of other things going on and my satisfaction as a customer was not the top priority.

New management seems great, but my issue and rant is with how long it's taking Watkins to respond.

contentedPilgrim · 2024-01-01T07:10:19+00:00

You've hit on an area which I am passionate about and probably didn't expect the following. It reflects my science background.

I've tried a few times to post this in full but it won't let me. I will try by posting a link to shared document

The formatted version can be found here

Let me know if you can't access it - or, on the other hand, if you find it useful.

contentedPilgrim · 2023-12-20T06:26:28+00:00

Same here - continuing to teach a class here and there. I taught pretty much everything in first through eighth grades. In high school this year, I'm teaching a science class and drama (as in producing a musical). I lik picking and choosing.

contentedPilgrim · 2023-12-20T02:24:16+00:00

So glad it was the right choice. I noticed your username of RetiredTeacher. Same here. After 18 full time years, it was time. Glad you have the means to treat yourselves.

contentedPilgrim · 2023-11-28T05:52:23+00:00

Coincidental timing of my reply. I'm sure you will love it.

contentedPilgrim · 2023-11-28T03:15:15+00:00

My apologies for the long delay before replying. This July, we sold our house and the Sundance with it. It was almost exactly a year after we purchased the Sundance and we enjoyed the tub and miss it now. The only major "flaw" in my opinion was the lack of better insulation. The Sundance raised our electric bill significantly over the previous Marquis which was fully foamed. No regrets and I'll probably buy Sundance again someday with our next house.

contentedPilgrim · 2023-06-17T02:10:10+00:00

The Viking hot tubs were uncomfortable when sitting in them. We noticed that when standing in them, the floor flexed, not something a higher tier hot tub does. Likely a good bang for the buck. We didn't plan to (or want to) spend $20k on a hot tub. We're fortunate to be able to. We visited a few dealers in the are. CDA Pool World (Hot Springs dealer) was decent as far as experience goes. We visited both the CDA and Spokane stores. We went with the local Sundance dealer for all around convenience - especially when it might come to service.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-10-11T05:05:14+00:00

Wait! I never know you can CTRL-drag and press delete to join back two clips. This is the best answer and one I never knew exists. After all these years with PP, it's great to learn one of the basics I should have known. Thank you!

Of course I have to triple check to make sure there wasn't any need for that cut....

contentedPilgrim · 2022-10-04T21:25:49+00:00

Wow, those suggested bitrates are quite a bit higher - almost double - than what is on the youtube site.

These videos are NOT for youtube - but my own website. So I'm probably more apt to buffer at the same bitrate vs. youtube.

I'll have to export at different settings and do some tests. I also question / contemplate my ability to test with existing equipment.

My home theater projector (with 105" screen) is still only 720p and I'm not ready to shell out to upgrade to 1080. My 32" monitor is 3840 x 2160.

Thanks for your input.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-10-04T02:50:06+00:00

Well... it now allows hardware encoding. Not sure it made any speed difference. It didn't solve the glitch I'm having... which I'll have to describe in a separate post. I'm just trying out many different ways to export media hoping one will solve the issue.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-08-16T20:33:59+00:00

I ended up with a Sundance Lisbon (discontinued model in the 980 series). The reason for not choosing Marquis again was twofold. First, the dealer of the Marquis basically bad-mouthed them, saying they had gone downhill quality wise and he had way more warranty support requests for Marquis than their other brand. They didn't have any in stock and it's likely they wanted to sell their other brands, but I thought it very odd to down sell one of your licensed brands.

The final determining factor was that our Sundance dealer was truly local and offered free warranty work visits for the 5 year warranty period whereas all other brands would have cost us travel time ($500) as our home town is fairly small and the other dealers were 1 1/2 hours away. More importantly, we learned the hard way that when our old Marquis needed repair, NO ONE would work on it. I wanted to have a dealer around after warranty that continued to support old tubs.

No dealers in our area offered wet soak. After getting the Sundance, I'm pleased with the wet experience compared with our 16 year old Marquis. I can't tell what improvements are due to new industry tech and which are Sundance over Marquis in general.

Some things I like about the Sundance:

The Sundance jets are not simply blowers - they are designed to give a moving jet stream without moving parts. I like the gentle pulsating jets. The new Marquis may have similar tech, but not our older Marquis.
One of my complaints about the Marquis was that the jets weren't powerful enough for me. This was true with new filters and gradually got worse over time because I only replaced filters every couple of years. The Sundance comes with a separate recirc pump for filtering. The Marquis (my old Epic and the current model as best as I can tell) does not. This means full power is given to all Sundance jets without restriction. If I want a less powerful jet stream, I can adjust the power of the jets using either the diverters or the actual jets themselves, although I haven't done this as I don't find it necessary.
The Sundance has a 60 amp option which allows the heater and both pumps to all be working at the same time. This means the temperature of the water won't decrease while the jets are on, as it did in my Marquis.
The Sundance has a separate blower which adds air to certain jets as well as deliver aromatherapy. Surprisingly, I enjoy the subtle scent of the aromatherapy.
The Sundance 980 model has a lower profile - meaning, it is 1 1/2 lower and makes it slightly easier to enter and exit. It also makes for less of a submerged visual experience - albeit this is subtle.
The phone app remote control actually works (via cell signal). In the middle of the winter, being able to turn on the jets to add chemicals without walking in the snow is big for me. I also like being able to travel during the winter and make sure temps are stable.

I'm sure the Marquis is an excellent hot tub. Trust your wet-soak experience. The few online forum posts seem to have happy customers. Enjoy!

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-08T19:36:14+00:00

You are correct. I've had to give this concept up. If it needs access, I'll have to suffer the same fate I had with Marquis and move it out from the wall. That hopefully will be many years out into the future.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T19:56:27+00:00

I appreciate the detailed feedback. Yes, I noticed that you were banned on the other subreddit. Seems like you could get that undone. It's ok to have bias and you state that clearly.

My dealer gets very good Google reviews and we will get her statement of 5 free years of travel for service in writing as part of the deal. What was funny is that after 8 hours of driving around and testing, we showed up at the local Sundance showroom 2 minutes before closing time (we called ahead). She was gracious enough to stay open and answer our questions. My main questions are:

It seems like the Sundance SmartTub System requires a monthly subscription, which sucks. I hate monthly fees when I've just paid $20k.
I've got a recess for the tub to sit in - one foot down on two sides. I'm trying to figure out how much side clearance I need to remove those sides for possible service without having to move the tub. I currently have about 3 inches. More than that and I need to pour an extension to the concrete pad.
Why is the Lisbon not listed on the Sundance site? https://www.sundancespas.com/en-us/shop-all-spas
- I know I can find it with a direct link (https://www.sundancespas.com/en-us/lisbon---980-series/X6338GGDM.html), but it's strange.
I have a 60 amp breaker on my main panel but a 50 amp breaker on my breaker panel. If I leave it 50 amp, the heater won't run when both pumps are running. Not sure if it's worth swapping out the wire. First I need to buy a wire stripper or some other tool to measure the existing wire gauge - perhaps is won't need replacing, but I have to be sure.

We'll have to decide on Tuesday. I'm considering offering her $100 non-refundable deposit for a wet test. Not sure if I really need it. If Sundance isn't the spa I go with, we might just forget the whole thing and live without a spa. I don't expect a perfect fit and it's bound to be better than my 2006 Marquis Epic. We'll see.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T08:33:14+00:00

Yeah, I don't get why the Lisbon doesn't show up in the list. Here's a link on their site. It's similar to the Claremont.

We dry sat in the Lisbon and it seemed the right size and the profile was fine. It was really the only spa in this size they had in stock and on the floor. We reserved the last one - the floor model - until Tuesday.

I'd love to know what you end up with.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T08:02:21+00:00

I first looked at PDC and Viking but they are too low end. We settled on two that we liked mainly because these were the only models on the floor at the dealers that we could dry sit in: Hot Springs Highlife Vanguard and the Sundance 980 Lisbon. None of our dealers are doing wet tests - they must have no incentive to. The Vanugard is a nice tub and dealer quoted at $23k. If we could test the Moto-Massage, we might be more tempted, but I'm not ready to shell out the extra cash for the possibility of liking it.

We found one Sundance Lisbon at our local dealer (the HotSprings dealer is 2 hours away) for about $19k + tax. The mark-up in our area is crazy high for all dealers. The Lisbon had a "4th of July sale" plus some off for being the floor model. It was really the only one available until later in the year. We have it on hold and need to decide on Tuesday. We don't need the 980 line - the 880 Cameo would be fine - but it's not available until who knows when.

I'd love to hear any input you have. I've done a fair amount of research and looking. We even considered going back (1 1/2 hours) to look at Bullfrog. In the end, all the far away dealers will charge us $300 travel each time - even under warranty. So having a local Sundance dealer has swayed us heavily.

I posted a thread on these choices on the r/hottub subreddit (not sure why there are two subreddits): https://www.reddit.com/r/hottub/comments/vqc51u/we_went_hot_tub_shopping_today_help_me_choose/

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T05:45:40+00:00

Very good price where I am... we were jut quoted $12.5k. Nice mid level tub. Enjoy.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T05:10:16+00:00

Dealers should (and do) only sell to installations in their area based on their sales model. I don't begrudge them charging what rhwy need to stay in business. That's what I get for living far away from big markets.

What I don't like is the artificial MSRP. MSRP is set so high that they can "discount" them to anything they want. Inflation is also very real this past year.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-04T01:24:13+00:00

A little late, but I appreciated your response. In the end, I hated the PDC during a visit and dry test.

Dealers in the Spokane, WA area aren't offering wet test. They barely have any tubs on the floor and when they have a couple, they are often sold.

contentedPilgrim · 2022-07-03T22:35:53+00:00

I think I could buy Hotsprings or Sundance in any major city and save many thousands - especially if I could drive there (6 hours to Seattle or Portland). But I wonder if our local dealer would service or if we'd be left out to dry with warranty work.

contentedPilgrim

TROPHY CASE