Be Well vs Hydropool: Which Hot Tub is Best?

If you’re in Quebec and hot tub shopping there is a good chance you have heard of two brands: Hydropool and Be Well, which are both Canadian brands. There’s a good chance you’ve heard of these two brands anywhere, actually, as both sell locally and around the world. 

The two Canadian companies are both in the hot tub business but make very different hot tubs. That’s why we wanted to write this article. We know people ask about Be Well and we wanted to go through and compare products as a result. 

We understand it’s unusual for one company to write about another, but we have been in business for more than 40 years and have always understood there will be competition. We write these articles because we know our hot tubs or Be Wells aren’t built for absolutely everyone. We want people to know what they are getting, so we try to write in the most unbiased way possible.  

So in this article, we will go over: 

• What’s the lineup of each brand?  
• Which hot tub looks best?  
• Which hot tub is easier to maintain?  
• Which hot tub is less expensive?  
• Which hot tubs massage is best?  
• Which hot tub is more efficient?   

Hopefully, by the end, you’ll know which is the right hot tub for you. 

 

 

Be Well vs Hydropool: What’s the Lineup of Each Brand?

Be Well has three collections compared to Hydropool’s two. So if you’re comparing brands:  

• The Original is comparable to Hydropool’s Serenity. 
• The Executive Collection and the Special Collection are best compared to Hydropool’s Signature collection of hot tubs. 

What appears to vary the most between the Be Well collections is the size of hot tubs and the number of jets in each. 

With Hydropool, Serenity is built with well-established methods, like Be Well is, and takes a traditional hot tub approach to filtration and insulation. Signature is the premium line because it contains Hydropool’s unique self-cleaning system, as well as what Hydropool calls advanced Zone Therapy massage. 

Be Well vs Hydropool: Which Hot Tub Looks Best? 

Both companies take a classic approach to hot tub design. 

The Be Wells light up well: They have lights around their jets in some cases, and some of the hot tubs have many, many jets, so they look technically impressive. 

Hydropool’s look is conservative, on purpose, as it is designed to blend into backyards. We place our jets selectively, so there aren’t as many as what Be Well has. 

In terms of color selection, Be Well offers four acrylics to Hydropool’s six in most cases, and each hot tub for both companies comes with two colors of cabinet choices. 

You’d want to look at the fit and finish on any hot tub and compare them in person if possible. 

In some cases comparing hot tubs can be like comparing cars. There are people who like quiet, effective elegance like Audis and there are people who prefer Camaros and Mustangs. There’s no wrong answer here, just a preference on what looks best. 

Which Hot Tub is Easier to Maintain? 

Hydropool’s Serenity line and Be Well use a very common, standard hot tub system of filtration. Serenity has a filter bag that helps skim finer elements out of the top of the water is the only thing that stood out to us as being appreciably different. 

Be Well offers a salt water system that converts salt into bromine. It’s not available in Canada, as that has been banned here as a process.

Hydropool used to have a similar salt water system, but found they were too difficult for customers to maintain. We instead switched to offering what we call a Pure Water system. That’s one that uses ozone and UV light to help clean your water, similar to what’s done to purify drinking water. 

Signature’s self-cleaning system, which includes the Pure Water component, is built to the higher standards of commercial pools. It features a top skimmer and floor drain, as well as pressurized filtration to ensure all of your water is cleaned, as well as ozone and UV. It’s a patented system, unique to Hydropool.

Be Well vs Hydropool: Which is Better at Massage?

Hydropool doesn’t believe in giving people jets they do need. Their extra energy consumption only costs you money. 

Instead, we worked with doctors and physiotherapists to come up with intelligent placements around the hot tub so that people were ensured a good massage all over their whole body. Or they could break it down to a specific area. Hydropool calls that approach Zone Therapy.  

Be Well’s approach to massage is to have an impressive number of jets on each hot tub, and talk about the horsepower of each pump the hot tub has. It also has a specialty volcano jet, which erupts in the middle of the pool and can be used to massage your feet. 

Be Well vs Hydropool: Which Hot Tub is More Efficient? 

Insulation is usually a key point of difference, but here the two manufacturers are similar. Be Well uses foam-backed foam insulation around the perimeter of the hot tub, with base insulation as well. There’s also foam under the lip area, which seals a crucial gap. 

We think it’s a great approach, and ours works in a similar way. We use a foam-backed blanket which achieves much the same effect and also insulates our base and top. We use a reflective foil blanket on the bottom and around the plumbing to trap heat in the cabinet, warming your water and saving you money as a result. 

The concern with this kind of perimeter insulation is that it doesn’t support the pipes sufficiently. We added a wrap to help support all the pipes as a result. Without it, we found leaks develop over time. 

Be Well vs Hydropool: Which is the Best on Cost? 

Be Well is about 15 percent cheaper than Hydropool across the model lineup. In many ways, we are selling to different consumers, as we alluded to, above, when we talked about cars. 

If you’re looking for a well-insulated hot tub with lots of pumps and lots of jet action with lights at a low cost, then check out Be Well. If you’re looking for a product built to be efficient, consistent and low maintenance, then you might want to start with Hydropool. 

Be Well vs Hydropool: Which Hot Tub is Best? 

There are splits in the market in how companies approach building hot tubs. 

There are many companies that make hot tubs the way that Be Well does: Coast, Wellis, Cal Spa all work this way, as examples. 

There are many who are closer to what Hydropool does. Hydropool has been around for more than 40 years and is more like brands such as Jacuzzi, Sundance, Master Spa or Marquis.  

And there are others that want to provide a good old-fashioned basic hot tub, that has everything you need and nothing you don’t, like Nordic or Beachcomer, as examples. 

So what type you’re looking for is one of your first decisions. Be Well is a very well-thought-out hot tub. It’s well insulated, easy to service, looks good with a lot of lights and jets, it’s inexpensive and made in Canada, in Lachute, Quebec. 

Hydropool is also made in Canada and for Canadian winters. Its style is deliberately subtle and unobtrusive. It’s also well-insulated and offers specialized elements like Zone therapy massage and self-cleaning, which you can’t get anywhere else. You also have more opportunities for customization with Hydropool. 

But both companies sell a lot of hot tubs because they are giving people what they want. We hope this article helped you decide which is right for you. But if you still have questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us through your closest retailer.