RE: Reason for purchasing your popup

[SactoCampers]

 Since there may be newbies with trial memberships lurking on the board soon, I thought it would be valuable for them to know why each of us chose the popup brand and model we did, particularly over other brands. Now, this thread is not meant to start a brand warfare (so please resist), but rather for each of us to state what we were each specifially looking for in a popup, and how that popup matched our needs. I believe this will help newbies or lurkers match up their own family needs and help point them in the right direction. So perhaps you can all address the following points in your responses (you need not address them in order, just kinda summarize. If some questions are a little sensitive, then feel free to ignore them):
 
 1.) What were you looking for in a popup?
 
 2.) How much did you research prior to your purchase?
 
 3.) Why did your brand and model of popup meet that need and not others? Did this differ from what you *thought* you were looking for?
 
 4.) How much did cost factor into it?
 
 5.) How much did your tow vehicle/popup weight factor into it?
 
 6.) Did you pick the right one? That is, would you buy the exact same brand and model again? What did you think was important, but after owning it, really isn t?
 
 
 
 
 Here s my response:
 
 
 When we decided to buy a popup, we knew we wanted the biggest one we could find. However, we had a tow vehicle concern so we were extremely limited in that respect (towed for a year with a 1996 Dodge Intrepid 3.5L ES). My wife also insisted that the popup had a cassette potty and shower combination. Well, with those constraints, you can see we were pretty limited with what we could buy. After considerable research, we settled on our Tracker Trailstar 12SC because it is a 12  box with King and Queen beds, shower and potty, and fully loaded weighs around 2250 lbs. It was as big and light as we could tow. We debated between our floorplan and a similar Rockwood with a gaucho couch (which I kind of wanted), but the Rockwood dealer was too far away and didn t have any in stock. It was a blessing in disguise as we use every square inch of counter space. Many people take their stoves outside and leave their coolers outside, but all of that stays inside our popup along with Sterlite drawers, so counter space is fully utilized. I didn t care about brand as much as I did weight and price so that was another factor in our purchase. The Tracker was very affordable compared to similarly equipped popups. Did I pick the right one? Well, yes and no. For us right now, it is fine and I have no regrets. If I were to buy a new popup, I would like one with a slideout and one that is rated to handle a weight distribution hitch. But I am thankful that we bought a large popup as our " starter"  and pushed the rated tow limits of our Intrepid for a year (it towed quite admirably BTW), because the following year a baby came along and we bought a minivan with a higher capacity. Since we use all the space in our popup, I don t think we would be as happy with a smaller one, which is a good thing because it doesn t look like financially we will be able to upgrade  to a popup with a slideout on the horizon....especially with another baby planned in the next year or so.
 
 <sidenote> For those unaware, Trackers from the late 1990s are rebadged Palominos. For example, mine is a twin to the Palomino Filly-SC. Tracker no longer sells popup campers, but Palomino still has a small but stable market share.

[gsm x2]

 SactoCampers
My soon to be DW lived in Michigan, loved to camp, and owned a popup.
 
 I lived in CA, loved to camp and owned a backpack and corrosponding size tent; although unless weather, scorpions, or snakes were an issue, I would just sleep under the stars.
 
 After a few years of compromise camping in a tent in a campground, we went looking for a pop-up, which was to be purchased after considerable research and discussion.
 
 We went to the Coleman dealer in town and immediately fell in love with the openess and seating arrangement in the Sea Pine. She knew that unless there was inclemant weather, almost all cooking and eating would be done inside anyway. We listened to the dealer s rap about the quality and design features of the Coleman product and were sold.  We went home that night, had a " are we really going to use this?"  discussion and decided that we would.  Purchased it the next day and have used it at least once a month ever since.
 
 We would absolutely buy the same thing, but apparently can t because they stopped making the model.  Oh well, we got ours.
 
 What we like most about ours:
 [ul]
 

• We can store it in our garage which is very small
• It tows incredibly balanced...we probably have 15,000 miles on it, without sway control, and have never felt a lick of sway
• Love that it is very spacious feeling in the 10 foot bed
[/ul]
 gsm x2

[fivegonefishing]

 SactoCampers
Good thread!  When dh and I met some 12 years ago, we both were avid outdoors people.  He loved the fact that I knew how to fish and enjoyed camping.  He wasn t too walke about the fact that I ususaly out fished him.  Good reason to get married eh?[]
 
 We tent camped until the twins came...I was done with the ground.  His parents had a trailer on a permenant site and we would visit a couple times a year; I always complained (what else is new[8D]) about our monthly visits, but still enjoyed the thought of going camping.
 
 Finally when the kids were old enough, we stopped complaining and rented a pop-up for our holidays...we loved it!  Renting was good for us because it gave us a chance to see what features newer models had and to really feel what we wanted.  We discovered the only feature we didn t want was to climb over the dinning table to get to bed.
 
 We looked that whole summer at campers, went to every dealer we could and read every post on PUT.  I felt confident that we were ready.  The annual End of Season show rolled around and we went with three things in our mind...no dinnette beside the bed, under 5000lbs and under $10,000.00; that was it!  Also, we left the kids at home, they were 6, 3 and 3 and we didn t want our attention split.
 
 We checked every single pop up that fit our needs and ended purchasing from the very first dealer we stopped at when our journey began earlier that year!  We got a great deal on an end of season camper and a lot of extra s thrown in.  That was in November 2001 and we took possession in May 2002; those were such long months.  The brand wasn t too important, more the cost for what we wanted, and could afford.
 
 We talk about getting a hybird one day but realize it won t be for several years.  We don t regret getting what we got at all!  It s our castle and our family has made some great memories in it so far with many more to come I m sure!  The new models of our unit have several better options but we bought at the right time for us.  I enjoy the creature comfort s that the camper provides and love the fact that we can go where ever we want and meet up with some great people.
 
 Tammy[]

[Tim5055]

 SactoCampers

ORIGINAL:  SactoCampers
 
 1.) What were you looking for in a popup?
 
 2.) How much did you research prior to your purchase?
 
 3.) Why did your brand and model of popup meet that need and not others? Did this differ from what you *thought* you were looking for?
 
 4.) How much did cost factor into it?
 
 5.) How much did your tow vehicle/popup weight factor into it?
 
 6.) Did you pick the right one? That is, would you buy the exact same brand and model again? What did you think was important, but after owning it, really isn t?
 

 Well the DW & I have camped for several years in a tent.  I guess I m getting to old and oft so I wanted to get up off the ground but didn t want a TT.  The primary reason for a PU over a TT is that we can still tow it into the same National Forest areas we tent camped in (that is if you are careful, on our first trip we ripped the back bumper off the PU, click [link=http://www.title-3.com/Trips/GeoWashington1.htm]Here to see[/link].
 
 We went to RV shows and stopped at dealers for over two years before deciding on a Coleman Santa Fe.  It was the right size and had a nice floorplan with no need to climb over a dinette to get to a bunk.
 
 The price and tow vehicle really didn t factor in.
 
 Yes, we bought the right one!  While I m hoping I ll have it for many years I would get another one.
 
 I must say I was glad to find Pop Up Times while I was shopping.  I learned a lot about ABS roofs before I walked into a dealership.  I actually had one dealer tell me Coleman had NEVER had a problem with an ABS roof, and this was 4 years after they were introduced.  If he would lie about that, what kind of service would I get in the future?  I walked.
 
 I actually bought my unit over the phone form a dealer about 1 1/2 hours away.  I call and they had the unit I wanted in stock with all the options I wanted.  I made a deposit with a credit card and scheduled a delivery date.  While we were doing the walk through the service dept installed my hitch and we were out the door.

[GeneF]

 SactoCampers
Our first TENT TRAILER, not a popup was a freebee so there really wasn t much choice in the matter.  It was basically a tent on a box.  Vintage 1969.
 
 I will not go into the reasons but this one ended up back with the original owners.
 
 We decided to buy our own popup and took a ride to our local Jayco dealer.  Actually, this was the only popup dealer that we knew about.  Didn t even know there were so many other brands.
 
 We ended up with an 8 foot Jayco with just the bare basics.  No heater, fridge, or a/c.  We were a family of 4 and the children were about 9 and 5 at this time.
 
 Too big factors that affected this purchase was the price and that our Caravan could tow it or at least the dealer told us it could.  This was in 1990.
 
 We took this little popup all the way from NH to CA in 49 days and about 10,000 miles.  
 
 About 5 years went by, children are now about 14 and 9.  It is not very comfortable having dad and ds sleeping on the same small bunk so we have to go about using the table as another bed.  The children have gotten bigger and so have their toys.
 
 So about 1995, we visited some popup dealers, (by this time we knew there were other makes out there.)  We ended up buying a 1995 Rockwood 1940 with refrigerator, heater, larger beds and this was a 10 foot popup.  The room compared to the 8 footer was tremendous to us.  You know, we should have thought that the kids might get bigger someday.  Price and size were the major factors in this choice.  We thought the Rockwood gave a lot of value for the money, however, this one turned out to be an Edsel.  Dealer told us that our Caravan would pull it.  It did, but not as well as when we were towing the Jayco.
 
 Didn t know about electric brakes but that might have been a good investment.  Also really didn t know about tow ratings, reese hitches, etc.
 
 After living with the Rockwood and complaining about it for 4 years, DW said let s get a new camper.  She was tired of me complaining that we can t go on one camping trip without something falling apart on the camper.  (Rockwood owners, I know there are good ones out there, this one was a lemon.)
 
 We had seen a Coleman Mesa at a campground, got a  tour of it and really liked it.  So, the Mesa was going to be it.  We went to our local Coleman dealer and were discussing the 2000 Mesa when he mentioned that he had a couple of 98 Colemans.  He took us outside to show them to us, and both dw and I immediately liked one of the used 98 s.  We now had a 2000 Sienna and the dealer assured us that we could tow it with no problems.  We negotiated and bought the  98 Mesa.  
 
 Found out later that the 98 Mesa was about 200 pounds lighter than the 2000 because it did not have the front storage compartment.  This turned out to be a good thing because I later learned about tow ratings.
 
 So we now have a 12 foot popup, the kids are now 21 and 17 and neither of them have the time to go camping with us.  Duh.
 
 The day after I put a down payment on the Mesa, I made a little discovery on the internet.  This discovery was POPUPTIMES.
 
 I found a bunch of great people who knew what they were talking about and really gave me some great info.
 
 Like
 
 Maybe the Sienna isn t the best vehicle to tow the Mesa with.
 Coleman roofs may have roof sag
 Sway
 Towing Safety
 How to set up a controller and tons and tons of other information.  I either found this information on the board or posted a question.
 
 I know I may not have answered the original question, but what I am trying to say is that this board provides anyone with a ton of information and if I had discovered this board a long time ago, I would have done things a lot differently.

[tlhdoc]

 SactoCampers
1.  I was looking to get up off of the ground.  My DM was 68 and sleeping on the ground.
 
 2.  I spent around 4 weeks shopping
 
 3.  I liked the swing level galley, the stepper door and the one piece door on the Colemans.  I still love all 3 features
 
 4.  I bought used, new was not an option
 
 5.  I knew I had to buy a smaller trailer, I had a 2000 lb. weight limit
 
 6.  I did not pick the right trailer.  I bought the right trailer the second time.  I do not like climbing over the table to get to bed, I didn t know you could get a shower/cassette potty and I wanted a front trunk.[&:]

[marybeth1024]

 SactoCampers
I can answer this in 2 words - air conditioning. We borrowed a friends popup a few years ago and I had a great time. So this summer, I shocked my husband by asking him if he wanted to buy one. He just assumed I hated it.
 
 So from June to November we were looking for a used popup. We d go online, check out all the dealers in PA and NJ; it seemed like every weekend it was popup hunting. The main thing we were looking for was a/c  for my husband. I didn t care. We finally went to a dealer down by Atlantic City and he had a  96 Rockwood with a/c and heat and it was a great price. It was a family-owned dealership. They are about 2-3 hours away but we like them alot. When or if we get a new one, we are going back there.
 
 We didn t know anything about the TV, when I first came here and everyone would talk about their TV, I was wondering why they were all talking about televisions. [8D]
 So as you can probably tell, we have ALOT to learn.
 
 Mary Beth

[garym053]

 SactoCampers
Let s see if I can remember! This is a test, isn t it? I just know I m going to flunk! Anyway, we tried tent camping at a nearby state park with my BIL & SIL one summer and we loved it! Even though my air matress sprung a leak during the night and I was sleeping on rocks by morning!
 The pop up wasn t really a planned purchase! During the next Winter I happened to deliver some paperwork right next to a Coleman dealer so after the delivery, I wandered through the lot admiring the pop-ups. The price seemed high for a glorified tent, so I didn t give it any more thought, (for about two weeks!) then we happened to attend a home show where a Jayco dealer had a Qwest 10 set-up. The price seemed much more reasonable, so I started shopping between dealers. and bought it. We still tent camp sometimes, especially when we re going to be driving a long ways. Tent camping is still very special to me. I love the smell of the tent, but on a rainy day I like the roominess of the camper!

[Miller Tyme]

 SactoCampers
1. When we started camping, we were just looking for a big enough camper for the five of us.
 2. Not much research, just went out and bought what we could afford.
 3. Our first rig was a soft-side Venture. But after some cold weekends, we started looking for a hard-side pop-up similiar to our friends.
 4. The Palomino cost $2300, but it s almost in showroom condition, being stored for 6 yrs.(Even got the dealer paperwork-brand new in 85-$4800)
 5. No problems towing with the F-150(I-6 EFI A.T. 4X4), lots of torque and lugging power. Had some tranny problems with the Caravan, so we don t use that too much.
 6. If I were to upgrade, I d go with a bigger bunk set-up(king size), and possibly more storage room. Don t need air or hot water, but do like the insulated hard-sides.[8D]

[MtnCamper]

 SactoCampers
All of you put so much thought into this, I m impressed.
 
 We were tent campers for 25 years (motorcycle). In  95 DW became ill. So the Motorcycles and tent camping went away.
 
 In the spring of 2000, I felt we needed to do something together again. So one day, I told her we are going for a ride.
 
 " Where?"
 
 " I want you to look at something I found" .
 
 We went to the Coleman dealer, he had a SantFe all opened up and ready for us. I think he knew we were coming.[]
 
 Well, DW walked into it, looked around, sat at the table, pushed on the bunks, asked if it had a heater?
 
 " Yes, and Hot water, and a Fridge" .
 
 " Gosh"  she said, " You could live in this" .
 
 So I bought it. We now have something we share again together. Someday we may trade for a bigger and better. But I don t think we will ever quit camping!
 

[jackgoesthepopup]

 SactoCampers
We got our camper rather cheap. Dw found one on the internet for $50 bucks. So we got it am i spent most of last summer working on it. We were very happy th eway it turned out. Before we got the camper we camped in tents. The main reason we got a camper is because no matter how will you clean rocks from under your tent. They sneak back under where you are sleeping. And look for where the small of your back is. They can t jump high enough to get into the camper and do the same thing.

[Jeffrey]

 SactoCampers
1.) What were you looking for in a popup?
 Pretty much the basics ... alot of room, furnace, hot water, room for everyone to sleep and still room to sit inside. 2 seating areas for kid separation, on rainy days.
 
 2.) How much did you research prior to your purchase?
 We checked out the main brands around here and went to the Spring show.
 
 3.) Why did your brand and model of popup meet that need and not others? Did this differ from what you *thought* you were looking for?
 It s big yet seemed to give us the most for the $$$, and dealer is 20 minutes away.
 
 4.) How much did cost factor into it?
 Alot
 
 5.) How much did your tow vehicle/popup weight factor into it?
 Sure, I wanted to just use our van.
 
 6.) Did you pick the right one? That is, would you buy the exact same brand and model again? What did you think was important, but after owning it, really isn t?
 Yes, 2003 will be the fifth summer, no regrets. Would buy it again, pretty much exactly the same way.

[rednekrubbrduck]

 SactoCampers
Having fond memories as a kid camping with my dad in the Adorondaks (though I m sure he would say something a lil different), and when DS was about 2 1/2, I wanted to create some of those same memories.  I ran out and got a 4 room tent, a gazebo thingy that covers your picinic table, and all sorts of camping stuff, and off I went.  The plan was for me to have the site all ready for when the now ex showed up with the kid.  Well, several hrs later, I was still struggling with the tent (3 seperate sets of poles to set up just to make it stand), when the ex showed up.  Getting her to help was close to impossible (she might chip a nail or something).  Finally got it set up, loaded the gear into it..set up the gazebo thingy, and ready to camp.  While I was messing with the tent, a retired couple pulled up across the way with a PU...and had it set up in like 15 mins...the husband had his dinner caught in like another 30 (he was a good fisherman also), and was cooking over a fire.  It rained for like 2 days after that (wasn t forcasted), so gazebo was out..humid as all get go..etc.  I said enough.  Sold the tent to a friend for like 50 bucks.  
      We went to the only rv dealership that we knew about (thought it was a Jayco, but it wasn t), and was told my truck wouldn t pull anything (had an S-10 at the time).  As a matter of fact...we were ignored for like the first 30 mins apon arrival.  We weren t there to buy a 5th wheel...or big old RV, so they couldn t be botherred.  Went to the RV show...and talked to a Colemen dealer.  Liked the Fairview, but decided to wonder around and look at other campers before deciding on it.
      I was looking for something in a Pop-Up that could fit the family comfortably, options was second.  The only thing that was necessary was air conditioning.
      I didn t research at all...and wished I had, I was pushing the weight with the S-10 it seemed like.  Truck is rated at 2000lbs, camper is 2500 dry.  I was probabally 1000 over truck rating. Dealer said I should have no problem...which I didn t (thank goodness for those trailer brakes, and no real hills between home and campsite).
      Cost and brand didn t really factor in as much as options and the slide out.
      Would I buy the Fairview all over again...sure would.  They don t sell it anymore...as others pointed out...it was about 5 grand less then the higher end model with all the same features.  Coleman must of realized people were buying it instead of the other one...so they only made it for 3 years.  I don t think you can get a slide-out on a Coleman anymore unless you get the higher-end version anymore.  Don t know if I would go with Coleman again  cause it seems like you can get the same thing cheaper with other brands.  Sorry this is so long.

[Tentcamp]

 SactoCampers
Our main reason for getting a popup was HEAT!!  We have been tent campers for many years and our major camping adventure was always in Sept. usually the nights were very cold and when you are paying for fire wood you don?t have that big of fire, so we would wind up driving around and going to bed early.  On our summer camping adventures it usually rained (it?s a wonder we like camping!) once you get wet and chilled it?s hard to get warm again even in the summer.  We did a lot of research on the internet looking at the different brands and floor plans.  Loved the Coleman site with the virtual tours (at this point we had never actually even been in one). Then we went to a show and the dealers represented there didn?t seem all that much interested in talking with us but we at least got a chance to go in and look around.  We eliminated several brands because we didn?t like tinted windows and others didn?t seem to be very well made.  We spent another summer in the tent and when we came home after the cold Sept. vacation we decided to go over to the local dealer just to see what they had.  We had a great time looking through them and knew we just had to have one.  A furnace was the only criteria; we eliminated some as too small and others as too expensive.  We didn?t like the idea of crawling over the table to go to bed.  The dealer mentioned he had a new last year?s model on the lot, a 2000 Coleman Sun Valley (we hadn?t seen a Sun Valley yet) and if we wanted to look at it they would set it up for us to see the next day.  So we said OK.  When we walked inside we knew it was the model for us!  We bought it that day and they stored it on their lot over the winter.  At some point during the two days we were at the dealer I had picked up a little magazine that was laying there called POPUP TIMES, I noticed a web address and checked it out and wound up here.  After reading all the information on the web site we realized our vehicle would probably need to be replaced.  Went back to the dealer and asked them what they thought, they said it would do OK on the flat lands but we like Colorado, so we asked them to recommend a truck that would allow us to pull it up mountains, the guy was great told us to not let car dealer talk us into too much of a truck and gave us recommendations.  We made a good choice and it pulls the popup easily.  Sometimes as I lay in bed in the Sun Valley I look at it by the light of the propane detector and can?t believe it is ours, it?s like a little house.  We love it, camping is much more enjoyable again.  Backing still is hard but we are getting better.  It has been a great camper with no problems.  We were back to dealer to pick up something this summer and looked at the new ones and came away knowing we had made the right choice and would still pick the same model again with all the same features.[]
 

[Viking99]

 SactoCampers
1. Well we bought our pop up for many reasons. The first was to get us off the ground when we sleep. We also got it to extend our camping season and to store our stuff inside of it. We do not forget as much stuff now![]
 
 2. We did a little research on them before we bought it. Not much though.
 
 3. We bought our Viking becuase of price and how it looked. Plus, the Viking dealer at the RV show was the only dealer who would tear it down and put it back up for us there at the show. That is what sold us.
 
 4. The price was great. It made it affordable and we had saved up a little for it anyway.
 
 5. Not much at all.
 
 6. Would I buy the same brand again? You bet I would. We never had had a problem with our Viking. I would probably get a larger model though.
 
 My wife and I have been very happy with our decision to buy a pop up. We have never regretted it.