I actually bought this from Wal**t.com on sale under $400 with free shipping. Arrived in less than 4 days. Very happy with that part of purchase. Set it all up in no time by myself….less than an hour. I used a pool cover pump to transfer water from my nearby pool into the spa. The pool water is already chemically treated and substantially warmer than water from the hose. It was filled in about 3 hours. Turned on the control panel and everything worked! I was thrilled. Now I just had to wait for the water temp to get up to 98 or so….which would take overnight. (2 degress per hour is accurate). Next morning the spa was 98 degrees. Perfect. Put on the bubbles……it looked great. Appeared very impressive on my deck by the pool. My 8 year old daughter was anxious and wanted to go in….so I let her go in for a little while. She went back and forth from the pool to the spa…numerous times. She got out, I turned off the bubbles and put the cover back on. A little while later I came back outside and heard the control panel beeping. I went over and the entire control panel was lit up. No buttons worked. I reset the panel (basically unplugged it and plugged it back in) and the same thing happened. All icons on panel lit up, beeping, and buttons unresponsive. My wife and 2 other children wanted to go in…..and here I am all bummed out that the thing is broken. I called the Intex customer service….and like others who wrote reviews…..was talking with someone who’s primary language was not English. At least I wasn’t on hold for more than 5 minutes….and the phone call was over pretty quickly. She just took my contact info, what the problem was, and told me I would receive an email to file my claim. I opted to go through Intex first….as I could always return the entire thing to Wal**rt in the future if I have to. Within 10 minutes I was online and uploaded my receipt an filled out the claim form. The next day I received an email that I would be shipped a new control panel. Later in the day…I got a shipment notification and a FedEx tracking number. VERY impressed with the customer service so far. The only downfall is that the “estimated” delivery date is over a week away…..now I have to decide to drain the spa or not until it arrives. As for the overall experience……if it eventually works as well as it looks….this will have been, even with this hiccup, a great purchase. I have purchased Intex products before….having 2 Intex pools and related intex filter pumps….and have been very happy with their products. Intex is based in California and Canada…..but evidently some, if not all, of their products are imported. If you read the negative reviews….perhaps the people did not properly follow the instructions when filing a claim, or perhaps Intex knows that Wal**rt is a huge retailer of their products compared to smaller vendors on Amazon…and expedites claims. Who knows….but there hasn’t been any issues with customer service delaying anything for me. In fact……it only took 1 day to get a FexEx tracking number from my initial claim. We will see….and I will keep posting to this review as things progress.
UPDATE: a week passed and I got my replacement control unit. I had drained the spa….so before I replaced the new control unit…I filled it with my pool water as mentioned earlier. After a few hours it was filled. I replaced the control unit, plugged it in, pushed the power button and presto! A loud beeping noise, all the icons lit up, and nothing working. Reset the control unit numerous times….nothing. Another call to INTEX customer service…phone call answered promptly, and was over in 5 minutes. They will be shipping me a control BASE this time as they think the power supply unit or something electrical in the base is causing the issue. This was yesterday…and I got an email confirmation that my base unit was approved and will be shipped. If all goes well, I will be getting a shipping confirmation today or tomorrow. But then the week wait again…and deciding to empty the spa or not once again. Third time’s a charm? We’ll see. I have a 90-day return policy with WALM**T…so I will play the game for now and keep my fingers crossed.
UPDATE: been another week and the BASE unit is scheduled to arrive today. Weird thing is that for some reason I decided to reset the spa last night (I kept the water in it)…and the control panel beeped once and started working! I “gently” pushed the heater control up to 100 degrees…and the filter pump turned on. I pushed the bubble button and the thing started bubbling!! I turned off the bubbles and left the thing, checking from my window if it was still lit up every so often. I went outside before bedtime and the temp said 80 degrees. It was still going. This morning I got up, and it had died over the night. Control panel all lit up and unresponsive. What a roller coaster….up and down. I am so anxious for this thing to work. I will hook up the new BASE tonight and give a final do or die update in the next few days. Thumbs up….or back to Walm**t. No more chances with Intex customer support.
UPDATE: BASE unit arrived yesterday and I immediately switched it out with the old one. I also attached the new control panel I received last week. Plugged it in, switched it on and…..everything seems to be working!! The hum from the base is not as loud as the old one, so maybe that’s an indication in a positive direction. Water was at 76 degrees…and I set it to 100….which it was this morning when I checked it. Still going. Good. Hopefully this will be my last post. We will give it a try later today.
UPDATE: 5 days later, and everything working well. Tub is great, and it looks as good as it feels. Everyone who sees it wants one. I am keeping my fingers crossed that this will last a few seasons or more.
UPDATE: Been 3 weeks since I hooked up the replacement BASE unit. Everything working fine. Had to clean the filters about 5 days ago, because of an error code indicating the filters needed cleaning/replacement. Last night I had my window open and I heard the spa bubbling. I went outside and sure enough, under the cover, the bubbles were going. Pushed the “bubbles” button numerous times….still going. Pushed the heat button and they stopped. Pushed the heat button again and the bubbles turned on. Now the bubbles go on every time the heat is on. NO GOOD!!! I reset the breaker, etc., and the same problem. I have the original control panel and will hook it up later today, but THREE STRIKES YER OUT!!!. It’s only a matter of time this thing will crap out again. GREAT CONCEPT….but poor quality concerning the electronics on this thing. Still have over a month to return to WALM**T….but it looks like when I emtpy it for the winter (or the old control unit doesn’t work)…it will be making that “RETURN” trip. COLEMAN just started advertising a spa on Amazon…..I may look into that.
FINAL UPDATE: Hooked up the old original control unit and the same thing. Turn on the heater and the bubbles turn on too. I am so bummed that I am one of the few that isn’t having luck with this…..but in the long run, it is probable that the lack of quality concerning the electronics will eventually catch up with a lot of these 5 star reviewers. My spa will be going back to the local Walxxxt in the next few days. Thank heaven for their 90 day return policy. Can’t deal with Intex customer service again…even though they will send me new parts….they just crap out.
Ok, Its summer 2015 and Walxxt has it on sale for $329 and free shipping. I must be crazy…but I ordered another one. It is sitting boxed in my garage waiting to be set up. Maybe I will be lucky this time around. It will be set up this weekend and I will post the results. Worst case scenario….another return back to the store. That’s the good thing about purchasing it online from Walmxxt….if there is a problem (within return policy), you just bring it back to your local store,,,,no hassle concerning shipping it back to somewhere.
8/10/15: Set up new spa with no problem. (Have had much past experience). Filled with water from hose. Was up to temperature (100 degrees) by the next morning. Been going about 4 days now. Had a BIG pool birthday party for my daughter 2 days ago….kids in and out….many, many people commenting on how cool it is, etc. So far so good. I kept my eye on the kids making sure they didn’t push buttons too many times, etc., and was yelling at them if they got too rough. I’m making sure it’s babied for a while. Hopefully my over reaction will diminish the longer it keeps going without issues. You would think that Intex would beef up their products since there are so many returns. It costs them an arm and a leg to manufacture and ship out free replacement parts. Using thicker wire or bigger blower/heater would help cut back on most of the problems (In my case its all been electronics). Even if they upped the price $100.
8/27/15: Been going over 3 weeks without issue. Drained it once and refilled with fresh water as the developed a strange smell. Noted in other posts that the rubber/laytex sides will leach out a bit since the product is new. This will go away with time. New water has been in it for 2 weeks and it is still clear without smell. Washed filters out last week and will again soon. Keep a small 1″ tab of clorine in the little floatie and test water every 3/4 days. If clorine tests high, i take out floatie for a few days and keep in glass dish by spa. So far so good on this one.
9/21/15: Still working without issue. Did note that those who complained about the sides getting slimey were correct. Even with the chemicals balanced correctly, there is a slight film (rubs off easily) that developes after a period of non-use. Especially on the bottom of the cover pillow that makes contact with the water. Not sure how to correct that problem….but can live with it for now……a quick brushing and its gone.
10/15/15: The spa is still working fine. Getting colder outside, and my pool is covered for the season, so I guess this is a wrap for now. Time to empty it and put it away. Will report back next spring.
February, 2017: Sorry for not getting back sooner! Spa got set up in late Spring of 2016. After inflating and filling with water, turned on the unit and everything lit up correctly. After I pushed the circulation button….nothing. After a few seconds got that familiar beeping noise with the code that indicated pump was not working. Tried a few times…..still nothing. I decided not to panic…and let it sit. After a day or two, I turned on the unit, pushed the circulation button and to my surprise….the pump started working!! Turned on the heater and had no problems at all for the rest of the season. I’m thinking that slight corrosion over the winter prevented the impellers from moving and caused the problem. After sitting for a few days, the water loosened up the impeller. I think. Who knows. At any rate, the spa worked flawlessly for almost 4 months until I packed it away in September. Keeping fingers crossed for next season.
Finale’ 8/5/2017: Got it out for 2017 season….everything prepared to inflate it. Control unit turned on and inflated the tub to the correct pressure. Didn’t start filling it with water as I didn’t have time. Returned later in the day and the damn thing was deflated. Checked everything, hooked back pump and reinflated it. A few hours pass and its soft again. It’s out to the curb. Good riddance.
