I replaced my 15 year old used spa with a brand new Gulf Coast Spa after looking at several different brands. I chose my Boca after looking at the other spas in the Gulf Coast line.
I sat in the Boca and fell in love with the lounge. It is perfect for length and the jets are awesome. This spa has 57 jets and 2 powerful pumps that are claimed to be 5 hp each. The waterfall was a feature I didn't think would impress me but the cascading water,sounds and feels great on the back of your neck. There is plenty of room and you can hold a conversation with everything running. Most of the noise comes from the movement of the water and not the pumps or blower. The volcano jet in the center of the spa is wonderful for a foot massage. The best part of the spa for me is the lounge, it has jets that just massage your stress right out of you.
I am happy I decided to buy the "Big Boy Boca" as I call it. It has met every expectation and then some. I highly recommend a cover butler as an accessory.
I got mine from spa depot with free shipping. I can open and close the spa with the slightest of effort and it closes perfect everytime!
I feel there isn't any feature on this spa that doesn't meet at least one member of my family's needs. If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing or buy any other spa.
As far as cost of operation goes, if it costs me $1/day to run I will be suprised. My opinion is that if a slight rise in your power bill is more important than the luxury of pampering yourself with a spa, then you shouldn't be considering the purchase in the first place.
Also, the nights are starting to get colder in upstate NY and I have felt the outside of every panel of the spa to detect heat loss and haven't felt any.
(My old tub would radiate heat out of the service area of the spa)
I am mechanically inclined so I wasn't intimidated by not having the dealer close to my home. The only problem I had seemed to be caused by the shipping process.
After I installed the Boca myself,it ran fine for a few minutes and then began to shut itself down (not trip the breaker)when I switched from low to high on the first pump. I telephoned the service line and got a quick solution to the problem by an apparent novice employee.(Replace my GFCI because he claimed it wasn't compatible with the Spa) After consideration of his answer compared to the facts of the problem, his solution didn't make sense. (The spa was heating up ok, didn't trip the breaker, and seemed to shut down during specific operations) I called a second time and spoke with Joe who started asking me logical questions and walking me through some trouble shooting. He never asked about the GFCI and didn't consider it as a probable cause. After a few minutes of trying different things, he suspected that my spa pack, or the wiring box on the spa that houses all of the electronics, was defective for some reason, possibly from something happening to it during the shipping.
He gave me the option of scheduling a technician to fix it or he could send the replacement part to me and I could replace it myself. I chose the latter and my part came 3-5 days later. I installed it and they scheduled UPS to pick up the defective part at my door. It took me 20 minutes to swap out the part and the spa has worked perfectly since. I have read complaints that the number is long distance. I called on my cell phone which has free long distance or you could use a calling plan easy enough. After I made a couple of calls, they called me back to save me charges. Their service advisors seem very eager to help solve any problems and I got the impression that they will stand behind their product. ( They were in their office the day after Hurricane Jeanne went through their building and tore off some of the roof)
In closing, if you refuse to be bothered by some hands on trouble shooting or have trouble screwing in a light bulb, this spa line probaly isn't for you. You should spend the extra $2000-3000 at your local dealer for the peace of mind in knowing that he will hopefully come running as soon as you call with a problem.
For those who don't want to pay a high markup and can do some basic trouble shooting over the phone with a technician, this spa is highly recommended by me. I have owned 3 other spas in the past 14 years and this is the best by far. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, please feel free to email me. ( Five Smile Rating!)