Image 631 Hot Tub Review

We purchased the Image 631 Spa in spring of 2003. Well, actually my parents purchased it then, but I was living at home at the time, so I got to help dig up the yard (to run a 220 line out to the patio) and set everything up. I was also the chemical balancer and filter cleaner until I moved out. My dad took care of draining the hot tub, wiping down the insides, and refilling it. Mom took care of sitting in it, heh. But let me go back to the beginning.

My parents visited a couple of hot tub dealers prior to the day we bought the Image 631. I just happened to be with them on that last day. The dealer had about 8 hot tubs set up in the show room with about half of them filled with water. We didn't have our suits along, but the guy helping us said we certainly could have hopped in if we wanted to. That's probably a good idea, so word to the people still in the browsing mode, take your suits along.

Since it was just the 3 of us--and I was only there while I was finishing school--we didn't need the huge 8 person models. The Image 631 looked just about right. It can supposedly seat 6, but I don't think there'd be enough leg room for that to be very comfortable. It's great for 3 people who like to stretch their legs all over the place though (my mom in particular has long legs that always seem to be up on someone else's seat, ahem!).

It took about 4 weeks for our hot tub to arrive, which was pretty slow I thought... but they did tell us up front it would be that long. It was shipped up from Texas somewhere. In the meantime, I got to help Dad prepare the area. It's been almost two years so I can't remember exactly what he had to do to the fuse box, but we had a spare 220 AC spot available (I think the dryer is the only other thing in the house that uses one) but of course no line coming out of it. We bought some power cords at Home Depot (one interior one which we ran through the insulation/beams in the garage to a power box we installed just outside the back garage door. Then from the bottom of the power box we ran an underground power line to the spot where the hot tub would be on the patio. I believe the regulations/building codes (whatever) said 18 inches deep for a power line, so it was a chore digging a trench that deep and long from the garage along the walkway to the patio. Of course, non do-it-yourselfers (AKA the wealthy) could have a contractor come in and do this stuff. Really though it wasn't that big of a deal, and we got it done in a weekend.

After about four weeks, the delivery people called ahead to verify we would be home when they got there. They carried it around to the backyard for us and set it all up. A part of the deal was that we would get an ozonator (this helps reduce the amount of chemicals you need to use), and they forgot to bring that. We just called the dealer and someone brought it out and installed it the next day, so it was no big deal. We also got a cover, cover lifter, and steps for free.

Filling the hot tub is easy; you just stick a hose in and let it run for about an hour. The dealer set us up with some of the Leisure Time chemicals (Renew, etc) but I ended up switching to a bromine feeder later on because it was easy to keep the sanitizer balanced that way. It also seemed a little cheaper in the long run, because a thing of tablets lasts quite a while.

The Image 631 has dimensions of 76" by 81" by 36" and has 31 awesome jets. Having used the hot tubs at my fitness club (older models) with a only a little bit of jet power, I was really impressed by the strength of these jets. There's one kind of bowl seat in particular that has great jets that hit your back and behind your shoulders with a lot of force (you can raise and lower the jet pressure by turning an easy knob--we keep ours cranked up). You do need to kind of wedge yourself into the seat though, otherwise the jets will push you out (I suppose you could turn them down, but what's the fun in that?). There's also a "volcano" jet down by your feet that is very powerful. You can shove the bottom of your foot against it and get a nice massage. That seat is my favorite with the lounge seat coming in a close second. In the lounge seat, you have your legs stretched out along the seat, and there are jets that massage your calves while you lean against the back of the seat which has more jets that hit your back. As you can see, I love the jets with this hot tub.

The Image 631 came with dual pumps 4.0HP/2.0HP (I'm reading this off the little specs list--I don't really know what that means). They seem to do the job. Aside from the jets, there is a light inside the hot tub. Ours came with red, white, and blue lenses that you can switch out when you drain the tub (Technically I suppose you could switch them with the water in, but that might require some goggles). 

The control panel is really easy. Basically there are buttons for adjusting the temperature setting up and down, swapping the direction the readout faces (you can have it face the outside or inside of the tub, but all that's on it is the temperature, so it doesn't really matter), and two buttons that control the jets. You can choose to turn on jets on only half of the tub at a time if you want. Also there are a couple of knobs to control the intensity of the jets.

The hot tub is fairly easy to maintain, though we have a little trouble keeping the pH balanced. I tried the pH lock sort of chemicals, but they left a really nasty slimy ring around the hot tub. This is in the Seattle area; it might just react badly with the water we have. Anyway, the pH always seems to be on the low side, and I'll have to add some.  But then we only check it a couple times a week and we use the hot tub a LOT. Especially when I was still living at home, it would sometimes see visitors three times a day. There's someone in that sucker every day, too. We end up changing the water about once every 2-3 months. For people who use it less (the catalog talks about average being 3 times a week--as if), you'd probably only need to change it once every 3-6 months.

Changing the water is pretty easy. You just open the cabinet, hook up a hose, and let it drain. It won't quite get all the water out (there will be some left in the foot well, below the level of the drains). You can either just leave it there--it's not really enough to worry about it messing up the new water--or you can add some more water and let it drain, add some more, let it drain, etc. until the old water is pretty much gone. It'd be nice if it all just drained out to start with, but I think it'd be hard for them to have the drain on the bottom instead of the side.

Overall, the hot tub is great, and it sees a lot of use. My only cons are that the temperature usually drops while we are in it. If you start it out on say 102, it'll probably be 100 after about 40 minutes (ok, that's kind of a long time to stay in but we really like it...). I think the heater and the jets don't work at the same time, because if you just sit in there without the jets on, the temperature will come back up. It's no fun without the jets, though. The only other complaint I have is a minor one. The pillows that came with it (little foam things with two screws in the back that stick into the walls of the hot tub above the 3 main seats) started falling off almost immediately. The plastic screws just fall out of the foam sometimes. After two years, they still work ok, just they have a tendency to float off, especially when we're all in there and the water level is high. Pillows are pretty cheap to buy, but we haven't been able to find anything that can exactly replace those and thus fill the little holes. Also some of the pillows that spa dealers sell don't necessarily fit the contours of your hot tub and its seats. Really though, you don't need the pillows so you can just stick them on the side.

Those are my only cons. We've all been quite happy with the Image 631 and use it every day. I can't remember how good of a warranty we got with the spa, but we haven't needed to call the dealer about anything yet. Nothing has failed, and all the equipment still seems to be in good order.

For those of you who have grown kids and wish they'd visit more, the addition of a hot tub might be just the ticket. I'm over at my parents' a couple times a week to use the hot tub (and visit with them) and make sure Mom isn't messing up the chemicals (she inherited the job after I moved out).

--Review by Lindsay B. 2005