I don't have any experience to offer, but I am jumping on the thread because I am also looking for a tub, and will have to order one soon. I am not considering an air or whirlpool tub.

I have gathered from this forum that the finish on the Toto cast iron tubs is especially nice. I am considering the Toto 1550, but I am worried that it is too deep - it is almost 24", and it seems that it will be hard to step over into it.

I currently have a 5 foot Tea for Two, installed in 1994 by the previous owner. My main complaint about it is that is too shallow. I'm thinking of replacing it to get something deeper. (Alas, longer is just not an option.)

After all these years of using it several times a week, the finish is still perfect. I don't use the jets often, and only clean them every few years, but I have never seen any mold come out of them. So, if you fit-I highly recommend it.

hi marie louise-
how deep is your tea for two? we're trying to also figure out how deep we want it (im 5'1, dh 5'8). i figured i didnt want it tooo deep where i'd be floating :) but i'd like to feel i'm at least soaking w/the water up to shoulders.

The measurement you are looking for is the depth to overflow. You can find that on the spec drawings-look for the line from the floor to the overflow. Kohler is also nice enough to write it in plain English. They say the current Tea for Two is 13 5/8 inches. I measured mine and that looks about right.

Since my tub is only 5 feet long, I have to sit up in the tub-and my torso is longer than 13 5/8 inches. Sigh...another 3 or 4 inches in depth is required to get all the way up to my neck. It seems so wasteful [expensive] to tear out a perfectly good tub merely to get a few more inches of water in my life. I want to make some changes to the way the shower is configured. I feel okay about ripping out the tile okay because I don't like it. Changing the tub is a now or never situation: If I retile it with new, expensive tile and a reconfigured shower, I'll be stuck with it forever.

I've attached the pdf of the Tea for Two so you can see what I am talking about. (It is on page 2.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Tea for Two

www.faucetdirect.com has a great search that allows you to select by height to overflow. I did not order from them but found the search there to be helpful. I got a Toto 1525 which is only 16 5/16 inches high but the height to overflow is 15 1/4. Alas I also only had 5' and was also concerned about having to step over it.

I love my Kohler Caribbean, but it is 6' so no help to the OP, but I am partial to cast iron.
Marie-Louise if you'll google "bathtub overflow cover" you'll find a little plastic thing that fits over your overflow cover and gives you an extra couple of inches. Low tech, but at under 10.00 it might be worth a try!

love the responses :)
gbsim- we could do 5.5' (with tub surround). our GC thinks 6' is tight and it'd be w/o tub surround.

sounds like no one has any thoughts/pics of kohler archer airbaths or the toto??

marie louise- it is a shame to have to consider changing the tub if you've really enjoyed it, but at the same time, it's not quite relaxing if you cant lean back. what would you consider getting?

sbjglick, Good point about the depth to overflow. I guess what I want is good DTO but low height. The 1525 might do the trick, but it doesn't seem to be available in a drop-in model.

I don't know about the Archer model per se, but in general we found that Kohler airbaths produced light champagne-like bubbles - nothing with the force or any similarity to a Jacuzzi bath. We bought a BainUltra, which came closest to the stronger massage bath we desired, and are very happy with it.

marisany - you are right, that Toto model doesn't come in a drop in. It's funny, it seems like when I was searching for a low height, higher DTO all I could find were drop ins! Too bad I erased all those finds when I found what I wanted.

Keep searching, you'll find it or somebody will know of one

Bloved, I have no idea what to get. I need to set aside and afternoon or two and drive around to a few showrooms. There's no substitute for sitting in them, one at a time, and seeing how I fit and how comfortable each one is.

I used to think I wanted one of those deep soaking tubs until I stayed in a hotel with one. It was not at all comfortable for me.

I do like the look of the Kohler Bancroft tub. Does anyone have one and like it?

*sigh* these forums are quite addicting! after looking through previous threads, the aquatic serenity 4 airbath looks quite appealing now and most people seem to love it! possibly more than i would have wanted to spend, but it also sounds possibly quite luxurious to pass up. anyone else in recent times have this tub? is it worth it? do i now have to consider where else to save on/cut out in order to seriously consider this?

I ordered the Toto FBY1500P. It is cast iron, 22" high w/ a soaking depth of 15". It doesn't have an apron so I had a simple front made to match my cabinets because it is in an alcove. The remodel is still in progress so I haven't taken a bath, but I did sit in it and found it comfortable. I considered the Barrington 6036, 22" high w/ a soaking depth of 16.5", acrylic. I currently have a cast iron and really like it so that's why I went w/ the Toto. I didn't like the Tea for Two because the soaking depth was only 13.5". Good luck.

I sat in the Archer today (several times, LOL). It is very, very comfortable-much more so than my current Tea for Two. It is narrow, but the arm rests were in just the right place, and the slope of the back was comfortable.

We went to a place called Tubz in Fremont, CA. They have hundreds of tubs to sit in. It was AMAZING to sit in all these tubs-each one is so very different. I had my heart set on a tall deep tub, like the MTI, and while they are wonderful, they are almost impossible to get in and out of. Where your arms rest also makes a huge difference; too tall wasn't pleasant.

More than ever, I am convinced that I would never buy a tub I couldn't sit in first.

As I mentioned on another thread, my favorite was the Ios by Victoria and Albert. OMG, what a beautiful tub. DH is pushing me to get it because it looks so cool. (He will never use it.) I could stretch my legs straight out. The back is a little straight but it wasn't uncomfortable.

I sat in a Toto that was comfortable too. It was old-fashioned looking, almost like the Memoirs tub. I can't remember the name-sorry.

marie-louise, after agonizing over the decision for months, and having as recently as last week been sure that I would order cast iron, I am about to order the Archer (soaker; no jets) tomorrow. You are lucky to have a place like Tubz. I have dragged around to more than half a dozen bath showrooms, and each had only a few tubs for me to try. I tried the Archer on Friday, and went back and tried it again on Saturday. It is, as you say, very very comfortable. I have found that I don't usually like lumbar support (strange lump at bottom of tub slope), and the reason I went back was that I saw the drawings and noticed the lumbar support. I went back to make sure that it was comfortable. Somehow the lumbar support doesn't bother me, maybe because it is minimal.

For those who are wondering, I am 5'8" tall, and my feet don't quite meet the end of the 5' long Archer. The width is something like 32" and that is plenty for me (and I am not, alas, thin!)

I was, at one point, on the brink of ordering a 24" deep tub. Then I learned how difficult it is to get in and out of. The Archer is a good compromise - the high overflow slit means that it fills up more, so you get a good DTO with a low tub height.

It is also very inexpensive - I was quoted under $300 for 5' long.

Oh, and I somehow became sold on acrylic in the last week - a combination of reading posts here, looking at the tubs, and learning from salespeople.

Hope your reno goes well, marie-louise. My contractor started Friday, and demolition is almost done.

Good luck to you as well!

You are right, those deep tubs are hard to get in and out of, and I am "only" in my 50's. It could be a real issue down the road, even with grab bars.

I have yet to find a Bancroft to sit in. I keep calling around and no one seems to have one on the floor.

Decisions, decisions. The price is right on the Archer, but oh, that Ios is so pretty...

Hi,
I just got the Kohler Archer. I've only been using it about 6 months now but I love it. Mine is a whirlpool with the in-line heater. What I liked about the Archer is the horizontal overflow. It allows deeper water, with a lower step into the tub. The tub deck is 19" from the floor. It's 15" to the overflow.

hi spacechallenged,
although we were looking at the kohler air bath and not the whirpool, how is the sound? really loud? we couldnt understand why the archer airbath was so much cheaper than the other airbaths and were afraid it might be due to the sound.

since i first posted, we're now considering an aquatic airbath, but many people recently have been singing the praises of the archer that i wonder if i should reconsider again...

Just wanted to make a correction. I stated the DTO from the faucetdirect site on the Toto 1525 and it is not correct. When I recieved the tub it is looking to be more like 12" not the 15" stated on the site. Oh well. Anyway I just wanted to correct for anyone that might still be deciding.

bloved - what did you finally get? I am looking at the same tubs you were. I may be going yet another route - an acrylic tub with an in-line water heater. I want the heat, not the noise...

hi lacrist,
i went in another route too :/
sorry, i was just looking thru the threads and found this just now (are we suppose to get an email that tells us if we got any responses on our older threads?)

anyways, in the end we ordered an aquatic serenity 33. it hasnt come in yet so we'll see. didnt hear back from anyone on the site who had any experiences with it so i'll have to let you know in a few months! * fingers crossed*

now i've got to worry about bathrm tiles...turned out the marble i thought was crema marfil (basing it on vanity backsplash) turned out to be jerusalem gold on the counter!!!!