I have a 17 year old 8' Cal Spa. It was a good tub for the first few years, except that water quality with my very high alkalinity well water was always a challenge, especially with the poor filtration of the tub. It was great when the kids were young for the whole family. Over the years, I've gone through 3 covers, 3 pumps, and 3 ozonators. It needs more work now... and the cabinet has gotten very rotten. It's time to move on. We moved it to another area of the deck, and discovered extensive evidence of leaking underneath. Am replacing all the decking in the area.

We mostly want a new tub now with good hyroptherapy massage primarily for an aging couple. The best dealer/service in our small town area is Hot Spring. I wouldn't consider buying from anyone else because of the extensive service and support they can provide.

We wet tested the Tiger River Sumatran and Bengal and the Hot Spring Prodigy and Jetsetter. Honestly, the Jetsetter seemed the most comfortable and had the best overall hydrotherapy. The lounger in the JS is the most comformtable and has the dual moto massage plus the neck/shoulder jets plus the powerful Jetstream foot jet. The lounger is reversible so that you can get a great lower back massage from the Jetstream. The other two seats work well together as a lounger or as two individual seats, and they offer good back and shoulder/neck massage. When you put the diverter in the middle position, all the jets in the tub are able provide a very acceptable level massage at the same time. It's supremely comfortable for two, but it's tight for 3 persons, and 4 isn't viable.

The Bengal, Sumatran, and Prodigy are larger, but just didn't seem to have the same level of comfort for two persons, and none had the moto massage, which we liked in our wet testing. It's just that I'm a little bit worried about the size of the Jetsetter.

On the one hand, it will cost less to operate (only 225 gallons), be quicker to drain and refill, and is more portable and moveable (it will fit through a standard entry doorway). And our kids are older and not likely to join us often in the tub, and we rarely have hot tubbing guests, so for our purposes a two person tub is fine. Son a two person tub should be fine for us 90%+ of the time.

I've looked at the next step up in the HS line, which is the Sovereign. It is about $2200 more (plus tax). We didn't wet test it. The Sovereign has a similar lounger to the JS, but the lounger has a deeper swoop and is a bit shorter. It does have the same shoulder jets the moto massage as the JS, but the foot jet is just a basic hydrotherapy jet, not the larger Jetstream. There is a Jetstream in the footwell, but it is not located where you get a lower back massage from it (but then more people could get a foot massage simultaneously). Obviously, this is a bigger tub which would seat 3 comfortably and up to 5 in a pinch. But it was our feeling that the JS would still be more comfortable for two.

So we've ordered the JS, but delivery isn't for 4 weeks so we could still change. Besides sharing my observations, I guess I'm wondering if anyone has any comments. I don't really want to spend the extra $2K+ to move up to the Sovereign, but I don't want to regret not getting a bigger tub, either. Any comments are most appreciated.