From those of you that have looked at both, I need some input. I like the idea of the hybrid, but I wouldn't mind getting away from the canvas. All input is welcome.
Just traded my pop up for a hybrid but due to the cold weather haven't used it yet. The one thing I liked about it even with out the slide out is the inside room,with both beds folding out it gives you more inside room as you don't take up room for a bed room JMHO.
My choice would be a TT if merely for the fact that most have a full thickness mattress which would be a step-up from PU's. The in-laws have a TT and we usually go camping togther. Spending time in their TT, I would go with it.
We moved from a PU to Hybrid. While we enjoy the hybrid and it definitely has many advantages over the PU, it still has to be set up bed-wise and regardless of what others say it takes about as much effort, maybe more, than setting up the beds in the Coleman Utah we traded in. As campingcop and many others have pointed out, however, being able to get in/out and using inside while beds are still folded up is definitely a plus. Doubt we'll ever buy another RV as the years are catching up with us, but if we did and if we had the money and if we had the TV to handle the weight we would skip the hybrid and the canvas and go with a TT requiring less setup.
Not knocking the hybrids, mind you, just stating the facts and "what if's".
Sort of reiterating what Harvey said, but:
I really like the hybrids, especially space-wise. Here's why: Let's say you have decided the largest trailer you can pull is 23-25 feet long. A hybrid will give you more "floor space" because the beds aren't included in that length. A TT, however, has much of its floor space taken by beds.
I just can't get away from canvas (yet), either. Holly and I sorta like the "treehouse/clubhouse" feel of the beds in a popup/hybrid. Guess we are just kids.
Larry
well we have both! the hybrid and the tt, they both have there good points and bad, the bad thing about the hybrid is it is like the popup has canvas so if it rains, your setting up or put down. your going to get wet! and when you get home you have to dry it out. the other bad thing is the bed don't come in king size so you still have to climb over your partner to get out of bed. Thats the biggy for us! i go to bed earlier but get up earlier, so he has to climb in over me, or i have to climb out over him! the travel trailer is great, but heavy to haul, and if you want the same amount of room in the tt as in the hybrid you have get a very large one! since the bed takes up one third of the living space. all the rest are the same. your best bet is getting something like loaded camera got a hard wing hybrid, the best of both worlds, i think those come with king size beds so you can sleep the other way!
After much agonizing over this very question, even posting a poll in the poll forum asking for peoples votes, I "think" we've decided to keep the pop-up for "real" camping trips, but purchase a Class A (New or used) next Spring.
In order to tow a TT big enough to want to spend 30 to 60 days at a time in, I'd have to get a new tow vehicle. With decent tow vehicles running in the $30 to 40K range and then $15 to 20k on top of that for a TT, I'm almost at an entry level Class A or a fairly decent used Class A.
Of course, these decisions may all change over the course of the next 12 to 15 months!!!
Well, if you can tow a full hard side, then you're already one step ahead of the game!
Here's my take on for all it's worth. The only thing I ever wanted was a PU. After three of them, my needs started to change and I bought the Hybrid. Though I really do love the trailer, I'm also thinking like you are, and looking to get away from the canvas. Not that I mind sleeping under canvas, but would like to get away from the issues of canvas...like wet stowage, front opening seals leaking, canvas tearing, ripping, or mildew concerns.
So I'm looking now at Hardsides. It wont happen until next year at the earliest, but I'm once again looking. The current Hybrid will have 2 full seasons on it before I trade it in (at a minumum).
Reason I post all this, is if you really have some convictions about canvas, then you'd do yourself justice to just skip the Hybrid and move on to the hard side. The other option would be hard sided Hybrids like Caravan, Outback etc... I've looked hard at them, and the Caravan has some VERY NICE features that I wish my TC had!!! Items like extra wide entry door, full size Tub and large bathroom, outside stove etc...
I agree with Cliff on the canvas, but I also had another thought! Keep the pop-up and make a deal on the TT separately! The reason I say this is that several people who had trade ins, didn't receive as much for their trade ins as I did for going in and buying without a trade!
If you like the type of camping a PU affords, keep it and then make them make a deal to sell you a TT outright. Use the PU for those places that are ideal for PU camping, and use the TT for any other camping.
One of our favorite places to camp is Hermit Island in Maine. They don't allow TT, Hybrids, or even large PU's. Rather than sacrifice my PU for a net of about $250.00 or less, (What they will allow for the trade as opposed to what they will knock off for no trade!) it's worth it to me to keep the PU, use it where and when I like and use the MH, 5er, TT or Hybrid where it makes better sense.
Sorry to post twice on this, but meant to put that in the first post and lost my train (or untrained) thought as I typed!
lol,thats what we did! we have the hybrid for travel, and we got the TT for the seasonal site we got, so when we want to get away but don't want to tow, we have the site to use, and when we want to have friends over to the site we have the hybrid for them to use if they don't have a pu, hy, or tent!
the class a-c's are nice, but you have to tow a car behind, if you want to go into town!
I think deciding between a travel trailer and a hybrid also comes down to how many people camp with you on a regular basis.
Those who have kids, I think, would lean toward the hybrid because of the extra room and bed. At least that's my thinking. We have two kids and having the extra bed (besides the couch and dinette) will come in handy when the kids get older and want to bring friends.
IF it were just DH and I, I'd opt for a smaller travel trailer with seperate bedroom since there is less to set up. I wouldn't want something so small that we would HAVE to convert the dinnette to sleep every night. We don't spend all that much time inside so it wouldn't have to be all that large though. Only thing, unless it's an option, I've only ever seen REALLY short full size beds in the travel trailers we looked at during RV shows. That would certainly be an issue for my husband and I. We can't sleep comfortable together in anything smaller than a queen.
Anyway, we upgraded from a 10 foot Coleman Santa Fe to our 19 foot Trail Cruiser and I don't see us changing anytime in the future. I'm really happy with the layout we have and we have just enough amenities to take a bit of the "roughing-it" out of camping. My family of four fits very nicely with a little room to spare for those future friends of our children or my parents (when they come along).
Hope this helps.
I, like most everyone loves their PU. My vote is the TT. But that is for me. We have four kids, and outside of what we have, I have only seen TT that will sleep 8 without major reconfiguring everything ever night. I am getting point that we are living on borrowed time. I think in a couple years the kids are going to be too big for all of us in the PU. I am looking to someday get an Aruba or Outback that has bunks in the back, and a queen sized slide out front. But that will require a new TV. We are making plans for that in our next vehicle purchase. The old green machine will have to last a couple more years to make that happen. 114,000 and counting.
The advantage to a hybrid is the TV. You can still pull at good sized hybrid without getting a semi to haul it.
My suggestion is to rent both and see how you like either one. Before I drop some serious cash for a new trailer, I am going to spend a weekend in it.
starcraft homestead settler sleeps 10, 27 ft long, gwv 4636 lbs tongue wgt. 624lbs
keystone- hornet also has one 24rs it's 25.5 long
We have our little Taos popup & the new to us Sunline TT (which we can't tow).
Because of my work scedule, it's difficult for us to go far away. We bought the TT & put it on a very large permanent site, next to a stream and will be using it as a summer home.
In many of the places we go, TT's & hybrids wouldn't fit anyway. So, we kept the popup for trips to those places (and our tent for places the popup can't go)! We can store the popup and all our camping stuff (in a shed) on the permanent site with the TT so it all works out for us.
Popups are great from the late Spring through the Fall. But, I don't like all the setting up & taking down normally, let alone when it rains....and it rains every time we go out. I love all their windows & their ease of towing. The main drawbacks are bathroom facilities, moving around space and heating & cooling.
Hybrids allow towing with smaller vehicles, but are as big as TT's. Once past the towing problem, they are a lot of work to setup & take down. Bath facilities, move around space and heating & cooling problems in the popup are eliminated.
TT's are like the hybrids but, with solid sides, require much less setup & take down times. Ours runs the water heater and fridge/freezer on LP/12v or 120v electric with automatic switchover from 120v electric to the LP. The furnace is 12v/LP and the AC is 120v. Big water tanks allow extended stays for the two of us.
Class C's eliminate the tow vehicle but have limited internal space. Crawling into the bed over the cab just isn't for me. Setup's & take downs are easier than with the TT's, but you must either constantly setup & take down when you go someplace or tow along a car.
Class A's are bigger Class C's....much bigger. These are probably intended for people who RV full time, traveling around the country. They're not for weekend excursions. Plus, just where would you store it during the week? They're gas hogs & like the Class C, you'd probably need to tow a car behind it. Forget the NJ State Parks with any of them. But, they have tons of storage for everything the little lady needs to carry.
The true camper probably owns a tent, popup, hybrid, TT, Class B, Class C and Class A, allowing for any type of camping. Heck, buy a really big six flatbed rig & take them all along with you.....plus tow a car behind the last one in case you want to go somewhere. ;)
We looked at the hybrids but the ceilings are too low. If you are about 6'4" or taller, for get about it. You'll be banging your head all the time.
We had thought about a hybrid but decided if we were going to go with something that had all the amenities, then we didn't want to deal with cold bunk ends or condensation, plus privacy. You can still hear a lot with hybrids because of the bunk ends. I always felt like at night when it was quiet and the kids were up laughing and playing or I had the tv going late at night while everyone else was sleeping that the sound could be carried through the popup and outside. Plus I didn' t like hearing other people's noises...especially when I hear people zipping and unzipping screen rooms or tents at night when it's quiet out or someone around a campfire after quiet hours who is still gabbing away. You know how voices carry at night... So we went for the TT, don't hear a thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're happy with our rig, but over the past year, we've had 3 different friends "upgrade" to TT's or 5er's from pop-ups.:(
Each case, "we're sick of all the set-up". A valid point, but every one of them also had to upgrade the tow vehicle. A lot of money for a bit of exercise, as far as I'm concerned.:p
I'll keep what I have, thanks(but those Trailstars are real tempting).:eek:
we are like topcat, but we have the hybrid for travel and the tt for a weekend home!
Well for us the hybrid option just wasn't really an option. We would have had to buy a new TV anyway. The difference between a 1/2 ton truck with max towing options and a stock 3/4 ton truck is very small. So we bought a new 2500 truck and a used 26' 5'er. Hey it still pops out, just push a button and the side slides out!
To me it greatly depends on how you feel in a TT. My parents moved from a PU to a TT about 10 years ago. Their TT is nice, but it gives me a closed in feeling. And the air doesn't move around at all. Added to that is the fact that their queen size bed takes up about a third of their space. I could see myself going to a hybrid but not a TT. I camp because I enjoy camping and although I have a very comfortable PU it still feels like camping. Having camped in my parent's TT I don't get the same feeling.
I just bought a new hybrid and love it. I do agree with the canvas issues and that the bunk neds are colder than the rest of the trailer, but I like the amount of room I have in a small box. most of the TT's I looked at had a regular bed and any other bed had to be converted from something exept ones with bunkbeds which I found rather small. it's nice to be able to close the cutains and close off the bedrooms.
We moved to a hybrid due to issues with the popup that we owned. Also we were tired of cranking up and down for each weekend of camping and of course the tight packing. Seemed our friends were packed and leaving the CG and we were still packing up, the dw lost it one wknd with the packing and the mechanical issues of the camper compounded the issue.
We bought the hybrid and have not regretted the purchase. We back the camper into the spot, unhitch it, lower the bunks, and we're done. The 05 Jayco's have the cable support system so no poles to deal with and it's a snap to setup camp.
We just did 62 days and 10,8232 miles in our hybrid and had no issues with it that we couldn't live with.
Setup time was a lot less than with a popup and a lot easier. If we had a level site, dw and I could have it set up in about 15 to 20 minutes. It took us a while to work out our routine but once we got it, it was simple.
I really enjoyed not having to move sleeping bags, food boxes, clothing bags around while setting up. Everything was already in its place.
We loved the versitility of the hybrid. We turtled, used one bed end or two bed ends depending on the situation. Sometimes we didn't even unhitch.
The slideout made a big difference in the amount of room we had and we never felt crowded. Even with the slide in, we had plenty of room.
We did have some condensation problems but we found that by opening the canvas a little, this helped and that by running the small bunk end fan, the problem was nonexistent. We also used the solar covers on occasion and that helped also.
If I were to compare the two, I would say that the tt offers larger baths, heftier furniture and carpeting compared to the hybrid but again, the bed in a tt takes up a lot of room.
If I was going to full time it, I think I would lean towards a tt. I think it is better insulated and you can get heated tanks for colder camping.
We were very satisfied with our experience living in the hybrid. Major thing we missed compared to the popup was the view. Much more viewing area in a popup.
Cost was a factor for us when we retired. We bought the Kiwi in October as a left over and saved some money. Still got the full warrantee and we really liked the layout.
I looked at new trucks and most cost more than what I paid for my house. We settled on a used 2002 Chevy 1500 with low mileage and it had the towing package. It still had some mileage left on the warrantee. Compared to biying a new one, I figure we saved about 8 to 10 thousand. The truck did a great job of towing the Kiwi even though it has the smaller motor, 4.8.
We do miss the popups, (had 4 of them) but at our stage of maturity, the hybrid has been the right choice for us. Especially with the full bath.
Quote from: Dee4jI just bought a new hybrid and love it. I do agree with the canvas issues and that the bunk neds are colder than the rest of the trailer, but I like the amount of room I have in a small box. most of the TT's I looked at had a regular bed and any other bed had to be converted from something exept ones with bunkbeds which I found rather small. it's nice to be able to close the cutains and close off the bedrooms.
Uh...I'm sorry, but did the woman who just bought a
26 foot hybrid say she likes the room she has...
IN A SMALL BOX???? :confused: :eyecrazy:
Even I want to poke a hole in your beer for that one, Dee. Some people are such show offs! ;) :p :D
Quote from: griffsmomUh...I'm sorry, but did the woman who just bought a 26 foot hybrid say she likes the room she has...IN A SMALL BOX???? :confused: :eyecrazy:
Even I want to poke a hole in your beer for that one, Dee. Some people are such show offs! ;) :p :D
Lori all I have to say is NEENER NEENER NEENER :yikes: actually what I meant was you get more room in a 26ft hybrid than a large 35ft TT
BTW messing with ones beer could mean war ;) :D
if you are a single or a couple TT work out fine, if you can tow them, twice as heavy, and longer/bigger if you want the same floor space. If your a family hybrid is better, more sleeping space. Its true, i have a 21 ft hybrid and a 35 foot TT and the working for space is the same.