Ask 'Dr. Spa' Q & A Message Board

No, you won't want to hear my opinion. Good luck with your new spa.

John

: Pilates H20 XP1. Our family had been looking for a spa for a year or so
: and it was so confusing for the average Joe to tell the difference
: between the middle grade spas. I looked at Hot Springs, Tiger River,
: Sundance, Diamante, and others as well. Obviously Hot Springs and
: Tiger River are very nice spas and I would love to have one, but for
: 10-15k I just don’t see the justification. Not impressed at all by
: the Sundance spas. My neighbor has a newer Jacuzzi and it is very
: nice but all the local dealers are out of business. So anyway, I
: called Costco and asked them what their return policy was on this spa
: and it is unlimited. Really how can you lose as a consumer with a
: deal like that? I order the spa and 3 weeks later it arrived.
: Curbside delivery is total BS not too many people have the equipment
: to move a spa into their backyard not to mention the xp1 at almost
: 8x8 is a big spa. Of course for $250 you can get” white glove”
: delivery and they will put it in your backyard. I got the green glove
: delivery with the drivers and my neighbors help, it was in my back
: yard. After filling and electrical hook ups we were off and running.
: The spa is very nice looking. We got the cobalt with the mahogany
: cabinet. My neighbor’s wife says its on steroids compared to their
: Jacuzzi.

: Time for the good. It has 5 pumps, 3 GE water pumps, 1 blower and a 24
: hour circ pump. The main pump is 2 speed and the other two are single
: speed and control the Captains chairs. I have found this works really
: well. The Captains chair pumps work separately from each other and
: the main pump, so if I get in by myself I can turn on the pump for
: the Captains chair I want to sit in and no other jets are on. These
: chairs really are the highlight of this spa. They have sequencer that
: has been pre programmed with six different massages settings. It
: somehow controls the flow of water to individual jets in the chair
: depending on the setting. My explanation is not doing it justice, all
: I can tell you is it gives you a really nice massage, and works
: unlike any other jet configuration I have seen in a spa. The jets are
: super strong and if I open them full, they can blow me out of the
: seat.

: The shell is made from GE Geloy Acrylic. The GE website states that this
: is one of their best acrylics, and from Gulf Coast web site and other
: references, Gulf Coast is one of the few manufactures that can vacuum
: mold this acrylic. Shell thickness is approx ¼”. 1/8” actual acrylic
: and the rest shell backing, not sure if that is fiberglass or some
: other acrylic. It measures the same as my neighbors Jacuzzi, but much
: thicker than our friends fair bought Master spa. Gulf Coast
: warrantees this shell for life if you buy the spa direct, 5 years
: from Costco. The shell mold quality is probably a second from high
: end guys like Hot Springs or Sundance, difficult to tell whether some
: of what I consider to be slight defects are ergonomics in the shell
: design though. I know in my travels as a construction company
: estimator, I have seen what Sundance and Hot Springs consider seconds
: in peoples backyards and in some cases unless they point the defect
: out to you, you would never find it. I am sill considering sending it
: back for this reason though. The spa pack is in.xm. The installation
: is very clean and access is right in front. I have no idea of the
: quality and it would be great to hear if any regulars like nloty have
: had any experiences with in.xm products. I can tell you from my
: experience so far they work fine. Since this is our first spa, I have
: no other first hand experiences to judge it against, I can tell you
: the heater and insulation combo work great for us. Example, a week
: ago my wife did not put the cover on thinking I was going to shock
: it, I fell asleep and woke up at 3 am and realized the cover was not
: on, thinking the spa was probably like 90 degrees by then, I went out
: to put the cover on, it was 103, and that is what it was set on. We
: do live in California and I don’t want you guys in Minnesota to give
: me crap but it was 52 that night. The pumps automatically shut off
: after 20 minutes as a safety reminder unless you keep them on, so
: thankfully they were not running that whole time. Last night, my wife
: and kids got in, I like 103 which it was set on, she likes 102 so I
: turned it down a notch, after they got out 30 min later it was still
: 103. Last night was 55 and raining. Seems pretty good to me. The
: filtration is adequate and the ozonator really helps with water
: quality. Gulf Coast says non chlorine products only.

: Construction is 2x2 with a ¼” abs base. I do not understand why
: manufacturers would not use 2x4s or at least 2x3 but this is still
: the same construction as Sundance. The spa uses a combination of foam
: and cabinet insulation, instead of full foam. With 92 jets there is a
: complete maze on the underside. If it was full foam, I am convinced
: there would be no way to correctly work on this spa. On the topside
: the main control panel works well and is easy to configure, digging
: deeper the panel reveals my spa # which is in the low 20’s so there
: is not very many out there. When talking to customer support, the rep
: told me this spa had been out for 6 months, so the sales on these I
: would consider slow. The remote is a nice feature and works well but
: can be confusing for some as most buttons control 2 or 3 functions,
: much like your AVR control for your home theater. The stereo w/
: subwoofer work well but the sound is not nearly as clean or powerful
: as the Hot Springs. Still very nice for a backyard player. The
: waterfalls are useless as far as I am concerned, but the kids like
: them, I would much rather have a smooth waterfall like the one on my
: neighbors’ Jacuzzi. The spa led light does the job and has soothing
: colors.

: Now for the bad, two days after I got the spa I noticed a small leak, 1
: drip every 2 or 3 seconds. It was right in the center of the spa,
: possibly the ozonator or a close jet. Looking at the maze I thought
: how is anyone going to get to this even if you could, working on it
: would be extremely difficult. So I called customer support and he
: said no problem they will send the parts and I would be contacted by
: the service tech shortly after the parts arrived in about 1 week and
: quote “ we will have you up and running in no time” that was on
: August 20. The parts arrived yesterday September 21st! Their only
: saving grace was I kept an eye on the leak and after 4 or 5 days it
: stopped. I am thinking some part had to seat or something not sure,
: but it stopped. The tech never told me so drain the spa or quit using
: it and with the Costco warrantee if figured what the heck. Still kind
: of concerning I got the spa quicker than the parts for the leaking
: spa. The person I spoke to at the 24/7 support # was super nice,
: friendly and answered quickly.

: I have no reason to think Gulf Coast is going anywhere and they
: certainly aren’t hiding from anyone the way they answer the phone, so
: for now I am keeping this spa and for $7,600 into my backyard, the
: quality of the shell and pumps, I got a fair deal. Time will tell.
: If anyone has any questions or if any regulars want pump #s or any other
: specific info let me know.

: Oh yea the hard plastic massage balls are good for the adults but keep
: them in check with the kids.

: Scott