Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Shower Panels/Shower Towers. Worth it?

We're in the budget/planning stage of our bathroom renovation. One of the things we're investigating is adding a "vertical spa" or "body" feature into the tub-shower area.

First we looked at Moen's built-in stuff, but at $1,200 for just the trim kit, that seems more than just a little steep. It's also a hell of a lot of plumbing and, at 16 GPM, it's more than a little sinful as to its water use.

We're now looking at possibly doing a "shower panel" or "shower tower" — one of those all-inclusive things that has the jets built in. The plumbing is easy (just a wall bracket and hook it up to hot/cold water). Several also have an integrated tub-filler, which the Moen built-ins don't have.

The are also very much more reasonably priced. I've found several Vigo Industries panel showers on sale with free shipping that are aluminum construction (not plastic, blech!) and retail for $1,100 but are on sale in the $500 range.

But we realize that, being an all-in-one unit, they may not be able to stand up to years of use. We don't want to have to renovate the bathroom again because the shower panel is crap. We also don't want to have to replace the entire unit if one part breaks.

Anyone here installed a shower panel? What manufacturer? How has it held up and for how long? Are these all-in-ones just not worth the easier effort/lower price compared to the built-in kind? How much water do they use and do you have any problems with maintaining hot water with these shower panels?

And if you like them, what features should we be looking for and/or avoiding?

Thanks.

We're in the same situation, except we're already remodeling the bathroom. I was thinking to install a hand shower with a mounting bar instead of the showerhead, in order to avoid too much clutter on the bathroom wall. However these shower panels are very attractive in features, ease of install and relative ease of repair (try to repair a leaky in-wall jet). This is not a new thing, and good European units will cost you $1500-2000, plus you gotta find someone who carries them here. I guess Americans are too lazy to use a hand shower (which works much better and uses less water btw).

From what I understand, these Chinese units (they're not knockoffs) are either hit or miss. If the unit you're looking at is made of good materials, with some decent engineering, it should last you. The major difference in the price between a comparable Moen unit in such a case would be the brand name and all the perks that come with that (yeah! Moens leak too!). So if you're an avid diyer, you're probably not going to need the corner-to-corner warranty that includes labor costs.

I read at least one review complaining about a defective Vigo unit. Ariel seems very cheaply made as well (a jet in a spa shower got clogged with loose glue). My advice is stay away from these thermostatic controlled units if possible! Especially if the cartridge cannot be replaced easily. I'm personally looking at the Koen 2500 unit, which is not the most stylish, but looks well made.

Anyone actually has experience with these panels? Any comments?

Got one of these panels, and am very impressed by its quality. The brand I got might be the most popular chinese brand..Gentory. Really simplistic design, all stainless steel, and decent looking brass fixtures. Even so, those could always easily be replaced. Honestly, I don't understand how can companies justfy charging $1500 for these things, when they are really simple.

Will report when I set it up and get it running...bathroom is currently gutted, but hopefully if the tile is up by this weekend, I can install and test the panel by the end of next...