Insignia shower units vs Alternatives

[JLow75]

I have decided on a shower cabin with overhead rain shower, separate hand shower & body jets for my new bathroom installation. I initially decided on the insignia GT9001 for it's features & dimensional requirements etc.

Obviously there are quite a few alternative makes with similar features (some alot cheaper) - Insignia seem to be the 'market leader' & claim to be the best etc etc, as they would of course but a friend of mine has recommended I look at alternative manufacturers.

basically, they had an insignia in their en-suite & they were disappointed with it - there were incorrect components supplied with it & they have had problems - it has broken down twice in less than 3 years & the build quality didn't seem all that good for what it cost! + compared to their previous unit which wasn't an Insignia, he said don't spend the extra!.

The only thing they did say was the after-sales service was very good, but I think that was more down to their supplier, rather than the product manufacturer itself (M.I Group)

So basically I have 2 questions:

1. Are Insignia indeed the 'best' in comparison to other manufacturers?, if not can anyone recommend another decent brand(s) or brands to stay away from!

2. Also suppliers - any recommendations (or anyone to stay away from!) I am based near Coventry, Warwickshire

I have a max budget of around £1100 for the shower unit, so I am willing to buy the Insignia if indeed they are 'the best' as such - or was my friend correct in saying they are not worth the extra!

but if I can get another similar-spec unit for a lot cheaper bonus! (I'm not that bothered about fancy lighting / ipod inputs etc!.

Thank-you in advance

 

[JLow75]

Anyone please?

 

[SithLordHood]

I have just purchased an Insignia 1700 series steam shower bath.
Bolted it all together today and got it working..
It does look nice but i was not impressed with the instruction manual, lots of key points were not mentioned or described. It seemed to me that for the harder bits the poor guy that was given the task of writing the manual simply did not know how to write the harder steps that require 'fettling', so the manual did not include them.
I also had to drill a few holes in one part as the pre-drilled ones did not allign and i replaced all of the 'wing nut' bolts with proper nut/bolt/spring/flat washers, i did not trust the wing nuts to not loosen over time.

Took my son and I 1.5 days to get it all installed, i also had an added issue of not having much space at the edge and rear to bolt it together so took quire a bit longer. Make sure you have plenty of room to build it!!

I'm very much in the camp of 'it was a struggle but looks good now and want it to last', but there is something in the back of my mind that says ill be buggering about with it in the years to come sorting issues out...


They have a showroom just up the road from me in Milton Keynes so i was able to visit and query parts of the build and take lots of photos of their example unit. If you are able to id suggest a visit and see what you think of the one you want.