Coleman 471 review: I copied this from my posting on the hottub board in reply to someone's request for info on the 471 so please forgive the lack of punctuation.

I have the deluxe and believe the premium is the highest level they have. But having the extra control panel and lights or whatever else was premium, wasn't a dealbreaker for me. I was happy to take the floor model 471 D

The $5800 included the start up chemical kit, std cover, orientation (great for those that hate to read manuals), delivery and if there was anything else i forget.

What sold me on this spa was seat orientation and
size. I'm a decent size bigger than my wife and with her only 5ft 1, and fearful of drowning, finding a higher seat was #1 priority for us. while we didn't wet test, we could tell by the position of the jets she would be ok in the lounger and the seat opposite her..while the other corner opposite the filter was perfect for me. i initially thought i wanted 2 loungers but am glad i didn't get them. on the lounger more of me is out of the water and it's brrrrrrr on a cold winters night.

the first time we sat in the thing full, which was at home, it was disconcerting. the floating thing almost made me mad i got a spa without wet test. however now it's no issue at all. so be warned if you don't do a wet test and if you have never been in a 'real' spa. This will feel quite weird.

having the neckrests on the 3 main seats is also a big thing for us. while you can buy aftermarket stuff, it's nice having them already there. i was amazed to look at 7-10K spas that had no cushions. the 2 pumps have off/low/hi which you get at by pressing a button 1, 2, 3 times. you cannot run pump 2 without pump 1 on. pump 1 runs the lounger and the seat diagonal from you. pump 2 runs the bigger corner seat, the mid position seat between the lounger and big seat, the jet positioned near the filter, and at least one of the floor jets. I forget what powers the other mid position seat. pump 1 low is timed for 4 hours shut off and all other pumps/speeds are 30 min shutoff. filter cycles are totally adjustable by you and occur 2x a day.

at the lounger you can control the size of the waterfall (but not turn it on/off) and the air at the lounger (if you had the premium, the 2nd control panel would be right near the lounger)

at the big corner seat you can control the neck jets there, the air jet, and the flow to the waterfall/floor jets/jet near the filter. if you make that waterfall go, you lose some juice to the seat, so you almost always need jet 2 on high to make the waterfall really do anything yet feel all the jets in the big corner. however even at full waterfall, i think a few jets still hit you on the big seat, i just never figured out which ones

at the little corner seat you control the neck jet and the air jet for that seat

a few of the jets are spinners but i'm not happy with the randomness of them sometimes. they don't always work consistently the way i think they should. perhaps in spring i'll investigate specifically which ones and see if anything can be done. i feel an irregular pattern of spinning, nothing really serious, but i'm a perfectionist and want everything working the way it's supposed to

they tout the position of the jets/ picked by a chiropractor blah blah...that's nice..but wasn't really what sold me on the thing.

the feel of the jets while dry and look of them also sold me. call it personal preference, but i hated the other spas that had the stainless ones or ones that just felt icky and 'not right' in the dry spa. while i agree they all feel different when water is coming out, some of them looked like they would be intrusive to your body on other spas. also the positioning of the foot well ones on some spas was not for us. who wants water coming up behind your calves? not me...the footwell on the 471 is very nice and even my short wife can feel them

oh and the armrest on the lounge is useless unless you consciously hold your arm under water. but the grip handle on the lounge does come in handy to lift yourself up

i liked the way you climbed into the spa, it was a nice level place to put your feet on the step and floor. very important also that the bottom is flat and not have the mountains that some do. didn't want to stub our toes and wanted to easily move around

one thing, if you ever take the covers off the sides, they are a pain to line up and screw back in. not a dealbreaker, just informing you and you should really never have to do that. also the main filter is a bit hard to pull out but it's probably just because im so gentle scared of breaking it...but i doubt you can break these things

the pre filter than came with the spa clogged within a month or so, since i never figured out how to get it clean, and was tired of hearing a slurping sound as the spa was trying to get water, i took the thing out and never bought another one. if i can clean it, i'd use it again, it definitely did it's job as evidenced by the discoloring and stuff collected.

oh and all the jets can be turned off (except one i think). but of course if you turn them all off you will burst something. but it's nice to know if you just want lower back etc, you can get it.

the control panel can be reversed so the time/temp etc face you in the spa..kinda neat..however the time doesn't stay set when you kick off the breaker, i may have to call the dealer about this to see if it's supposed to be this way