My new hot tub has just been delivered, installed, has received its first chemical set-up and is purring away just on the other side of the wall I'm facing. Ahhh.

We did almost a YEAR of research before moving on the model that we chose (in our case, a Tiger River Caspian). I can tell you from that experience that there is not really a lot of quick and easy advice to give on something like this. It all just kind of depends on various factors. You'll hear some people say one pump is enough, while others insist on two. Some prefer one filtration system to another. Ditto with sanitizing chemical systems ... real wood vs. synthetic material cabinets ... top insulation vs side insulation ... Hell, some people will even try to convince you to get as few jets as possible vs the tubs that are studded with hundreds of jets. We were 80% decided on one particular brand and model, and then I learned on the website for hot tub repairmen that the company was close to bankruptcy and could be sold off to some other previously unheard-of company. Not good. Your hot tub will probably cost you as much as a used car, right? Before dropping 3 or 5 or 10 grand on a used car, you'd probably check its reviews on the Internet and hit the stacks of Consumer Reports at the public library, yes? Same thing with a spa.

What I CAN say is to talk to as many other hot tub owners as possible and read as many Internet spa reviews as possible; there are a lot of snakey brands out there (including an econo-line one that is manufactured in my own city!) that seem great in their literature, on the showroom floor and on their websites but have HORRIFYING reviews. Learn as much as you can from these sources and THEN hit the showrooms. A lot of dealers let you sample the tubs, so bring a robe, a swimsuit and a towel (I wonder what they would say if you also showed up with a bottle of wine, a single wine glass and half a dozen rubber ducks ...). Listen to their pitches (they're not ALL sleazebag salesmen), ask a LOT of questions, and bring up the things that you learned in your research and hear how they respond. This is just MY experience, but ... I had less luck with the businesses that sold hot tubs AND patio furniture AND pool tables etc etc ... The salespeople seemed to know less and relied on the glossy pamphlets more ... We ended up buying from a place that ONLY sells hot tubs and had a great relationship with them. They even busted their butts to make sure that the hot tub would be here by my wife's birthday.

Electrical set-up can vary from state to state, I think. We didn't have to get a permit to have ours hooked up, but your area could be different. The connection to your house and your circuit breaker box needs to be good enough to handle the load ... not usually a problem with most houses. The breaker box for the tub itself by law must be mounted no less than five or six feet from the spa, so that can maybe limit where you want to place the spa a bit. It took out electrician less than two hours to hook ours up. Now I'm just waiting to see what this thing is gonna do to my monthly electric bill <tremble>

Good luck.