I was surprised that Lowe's let me use the gift card for another brand, but it was a gift card, so I guess I could have used it for anything Lowe's sells. Whether things went as they were supposed to or not, the GE Geospring heat pump hot water heater is in our basement purring like a kitten and making hot water. Currently it is running in the heat pump only mode (with the slowest recovery), but there are 3 other modes "hybrid" (with conventional electric resistance elements assistance for quicker recovery), "high demand" which brings the electric heaters on sooner, "electric only" (electric elements only), and a "vacation" that reduces your water temp until 1 day before your return.
So far, so good. The unit is fairly quiet (somewhat louder than a refrigerator), but probably too loud to be in a bedroom closet. An added benefit is that the unit dehumidifies the discharge air (since it blows through the cold evaporator coil and drains the condensate to a drain pipe) and circulates all of the air in the basement.
The jury is out on the overall value of the unit, but in the "heat pump only" mode, it is only using 575 watts of power instead of 4500 watts on the elements. I'm sure it will be using the 575 watts for a longer period of recovery time than the 4500 watt elements, but the idea is that the heat pump will be much more efficient than the resistance elements. I will advise how the unit does as we move into the future. GE says $300 or so dollars per year electric savings in the hybrid mode with temp set at 135 degrees. I expect somewhat similar $$$ savings in the real world as we have the temp at 125 degrees and in the heat pump only mode, but don't have the lab conditions that the data was derived from.
After checking GE's website for more specs, I found that I was wrong about the "heat pump only" mode power consumption. It is only 550 watts instead of the 575 I had in the post earlier. If it gets any better, GE will be paying me to get hot water.
