Well, it's getting close to crunch time to pick one, as I will be installing it the first week of August. Dana, I know you feel reviews may be skewed, but the GE hybrids continue to get terrible reliability reviews, even on purchases in the last 6 months (or even within the last 2 months), so it's highly possible that GE is has still not worked out all the kinks. Given my remote location, and me not living at the home for several years, I simply can't afford to have issues that I will have to deal with (being so logistically disadvantaged). When I go there to work on the house, I want hot water, and not to have my limited time monopolized dealing with water heater issues.

So I'm considering an A.O. Smith (or Reliance, they are the same units). A lot more money, but their reviews are quite a bit better, and I'm willing to spend a little more money for the potential increase in reliability...even though it is a much smaller sample size of reviews. I am also looking into Steibel Eltron, as they are similar money to the Reliance/A.O. Smith. I have not yet had time to parse through the reviews of the S.E.

Alternatively, I could purchase 2 of the GeoSpring, one for a back up. While that sounds like sarcasm, I actually considered that. But that plan has flaws too. In the event of a failure, it would take me 2 days minimum to switch out the bad unit and have hot water (they take a while to heat the water). When I go out there to work on the house, I plan on asking a local friend to switch on the unit 3 days ahead of time so that I have hot water waiting for me. It might often be 3-5 months in between visits, so not much sense in heating the water during that lag time.

Another thing that impacts my decision, is that I will need to have it shipped to the location. Amazon sells the Reliance and I can ship it for <$200. The units are too tall to fit in my trailer and I''m not keen on strapping it in the bed of my pick up. They cannot be transported laying down on their side. Must be kept upright. I'm not sure if that is because of the coolant or compressor oil (or both). My trailer is only 60" tall inside but the opening is 59".

Obviously, whichever brand I decide on, local repair will also be a factor. So I need to check on warranty repair ofr all 4 brands (GE GeoSpring, Reliance, A.O. Smith & Stiebel Eltron)

I purchased one last year with full intent to install it in a month or two. My addition turned into a big project and it has been sitting in the box. I will get to it. I am looking forward to installing it into a large closet with home network / server equipment so it can draw the heat off the PCs and heat the water. It will also dehumidify at the same time. Seems like win win. Should last longer than one of those little tiny ACs. Considering the closet I have the stuff in now is smaller and does not have AC it should be fine and not overheat.

Well just got back into KS from No Cal. I was there for 3 weeks, working on the house. I installed a Manabloc plumbing manifold, 2 breaker boxes (sub panels from the main meter panel) a toilet and some rudimentary power and plumbing. We (my college age son and I) were basically camping in the house, while we worked.

Since I didn't want o haul the water heater upright in the bed of my pickup from Kansas (you shouldn't lay a heat pump water heater down for long periods of time and it would not fit in the trailer standing up), I opted to purchase the GE locally in NoCal and install it.

It was the first thing I did, so we could have hot water (and showers). I must say, they thing performed beautifully in the 3 weeks we were there...so far, so good! It never flinched once. Time will tell but since I won't be moving in the house anytime soon, it may be a while (out of warranty) before it gets a long term acid test. But for now, I give it a thumbs up. I shut down power to it (and turned off the main water supply to the house) before I left. I will have a local friend that lives a mile away, turn it back on for me a few days prior to my next trip there, so I'll have hot water when I arrive. Eventually I will be able to remotely turn it on with my automation system, but I am still waiting on the local internet provider to pull service to the house.

What about the RHEEM unit?  I realize that is what the first post was, but that was also 2 years ago and I'm pretty sure it has been updated.

http://www.rheem.com/product/water-heating-heat-pump-professional-prestige-series-hybrid-heat-pump

One of my concerns with the Rheem is it is 50 gallon, not 80 gallon which both Stiebel Eltron Accelera and AO Smith Voltex are available in 80 gal. 

One more thought... The AirTap ATI's cold air can be ducted.

Not sure if this would work but could we vent the cold air outside during the winter and open a vent to bring it inside during the summer? Might help save a few bucks on cooling the basement and then trying to keep it heated...?

ould we vent the cold air outside during the winter

Where would the replacement air come from?

Good question,  it'd probably get sucked through cracks... but wouldn't it be similar to running your clothes dryer?

Venting cold air to the outside and having this cause infiltration of cold replacement air is, under many weather conditions, not a win. Agreed, most cloth dryers aren't an energy win either (although some type of lint proof HRV could fix this).