Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had this for a solid couple of months now, so probably a good time to evaluate it. I'm going to start out by noting that this is the third one that I bought over the summer. The other two had slow, and not so slow punctures, so I returned both of them after a little bit of use, and I've been using this one since the middle of August. I've used it pretty much every night. I've had a visitor use it, and my son has done too. It's a decent size for me and an eight year old, and I guess if you knew the folks, or wanted to, you could get in with 2 others, but you'd be in contact. As you can see from the photos, I decided to create a bit of a platform for it. That's because the small patch of lawn I have is very hilly/ bumpy, and I wanted a more level pool. So the good things you can probably get from the other reviews. I've loved using it, and am now thinking of moving it into my garage for the winter - I enjoy using it, but it will go below freezing soon enough and I know that the pump can't handle that! The things I've learned are hard to find information on but here's what I got. 1. I'm still not sure about balancing the chemicals. I used bromine tablets, used something at the start to supposedly produce a bromine reserve, but every time I've measured the chemicals using a test strip, it registers almost no bromine. I don't know what to do about that. 2. Probably related to that - despite using bromine, a bromide solution as above, clarifying solution and cleaning the filters regularly, the water still went cloudy and then foamy. The first time it was after about 6 weeks, the second time after 2 weeks. Both times I was tempted to apply a shock treatment, but instead just drained the water to start again. When I refill the pool in the garage I'll try to be more on the chemicals, but it just may be that I need to just change the water every two or three weeks, especially if it's used as much as I use it! 3. I don't know if it's connected, but the punctures both appeared after I pumped the hot tub up quite a lot. Maybe it's better if it's not too rigid. Like I say, I don't know if it's connected, but slightly less pressure in the tub now and I haven't had a leak! 4. To inflate the tub you use the same pump that you use for bubbles. If you need to inflate it at all later, it's a real pain to disconnect, inflate, and reconnect. I found it way easier to use a plug in inflator - something like 120 Volt AC Portable Electric Air Pump for Mattress Inflatables with Three Nozzles, 5. I also used hot water from the house to fill the tub up. Personally, I think next time I'll just fill it up from the hose and allow the 2 days for it to heat up (which is how long it took here in eastern WA, even in the summer). 6. The final thing I learned was...well actually I didn't learn this. I expected it, and it was true. It is brilliant to just sit in the hot tub looking up at the stars. When I was there with my son we saw the meteor showers this summer, and generally this works well and provides an excellent experience for around 10% or less than the cost of a 'real' hot tub. It's a bit redneck, but I'm OK with that and I haven't regretted buying it for a second! ***UPDATE OCTOBER 2016 So, I kept the hot tub in my garage, and it has given pretty much flawless service. I started using a non-chlorine shock treatment on a more regular basis, kept an eye on the bromine tablets, and subsequently have been getting a month or more between water changes. Quite happy about that. So happy in fact, that at the end of the season, when the price of the spas went down, I bought another one to keep in reserve. What I did not know at the time was that the model has been updated, and there is one quite significant change. The new hot tub is shallower. I'm 6'3" so that is not fantastic as far as I'm concerned, although I can deal with it! It's probably going to be better for kids and people who aren't that tall. Another change is that the walls of the hot tub are thinner - not the material, but the distance between the outside and the water. This means that although it's shallower, there's more leg room in the tub, making it more comfortable I guess when you have more than one person in the tub. They've also updated the heater. I only used the basic functions, but it does seem to have a couple of updated features. Another thing I noticed is that the power cord is now thicker. That's probably a good thing! It's still highly recommended...but...the one I received didn't do so well on its test run. One of the connections between the heater and the pool (that goes to a filter) was a little askew, which meant that it was a real PITA to attach. Really quite difficult to get it tight enough that it wouldn't leak. Also, the bottom surface of the one I received wasn't properly glued to the base of the tub, so it kind of filled with air. I spoke to Bestway about this, and they have told me that they will replace the tub. I'll update this review as needed. *** UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2018 So it finally died over the summer - in June or July, meaning that I got just under 3 years use out of it, at least every other day, probably more like 3 out of 4 days, meaning that it was used hundreds of times. I don't regret buying it for a second, but I wish I had been able to repair the tiny hole that appeared. It was on a seam so the vinyl patch wouldn't work, and I couldn't make vinyl repair glue work either. So, I started using the one that I mention above that I bought in October 2016 for a very reasonable price (yes, it was sitting in my garage for almost 2 years). The new one is a bit shallower as I mention above, but it seems (although I may be wrong) that the internal dimensions are slightly larger because the walls of the tub are thinner. The new heater seems a little more intuitive, but more importantly, the connections are bit easier to make between the tubes from the heater and the water circulator and the tub itself. My one complaint that I don't think I mentioned above in my review was just how ridiculously hard it was to unscrew and screw back in all the connecting tubes when you change the water (you have to do that otherwise there is no easy way to drain the water). It was really cumbersome, especially in the winter when it was a bit chilly in my unheated garage, and it was way to easy to strip the threads, meaning I needed to use plumbing tape). I hated it, and it always took much longer to do. But no more. The new connections sit slightly further out, and so far it has been remarkably easy to change the water, which I haven't done loads because... ...yeah, it turns out that using a shock treatment in the tub helps keep the water clearer. And also, cleaning the filters every few days. I should probably even do that every other day. So far what I've been doing is hosing the filters thoroughly, and that seems to get rid of all the accumulated stuff. I will change the filters every 2 months or so in the summer, but probably more frequently in the winter when the snow and cold weather makes it harder to hose those down. I'll add a photo when I get a chance of the new one in the garage. It's still highly recommended in my view! ***