Seeking unbiased opinions

[Tsunami]

**Sorry, This is a repost with the correct subject line**

We recently went camping in a borrowed Fleetwood Chesapeake popup and fell in love with it, unfortunately we had to give it back and are now actively seeking to purchase our own.

I've done the expected online research and have visited dealers in our area to check out the different brands and have come to the opinion that the Fleetwood/Coleman line is the most reputable or better built. Knowing that you shouldn't always believe what you read, I am very interested in hearing about any unbiased opinions from those that have owned different popup campers for those jewels of knowledge that one can only gain by actually using them.

Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

[Gone-Camping]

Don't be fooled by shear numbers. There are more of them out there by far, but not sure about them being the best or not. They do make a fairly good product, but be very weary of used Coleman trailers with the ABS roof...they have some known issues, and as a second owner there is no warranty. Do yourself a favor, research this board using "ABS Roof" and see what comes back, read it over carefully before making any decision. At issue is units with 10' & 12' box with the one piece ABS tops that tend to sag, bulge, and seperate. Not all of them have done that, but there is a problem that is NOT acknowledged by the manufacturer.

[moderator1]

This is actually a post which should be in the general forum.

Tsunami, drop me an e-mail and I will set you up with a trial account so you can get into the other forums.

Gone-Camping is correct, there have been numerous posts regarding the FFT/Coleman ABS roofs.

[Lablover]

Putting the roof issue aside, the things that we like so much about Coleman popups, and we are on our second one now, are the one piece doors and the small stove for cooking inside or outide. We also like the way the dinette table can be removed and set up outside, although most all of the other Cos. have this as well. Because we have not owned anything else I will let others speak for what they know and like. In researching popups, I did notice that Colemans do not seem to depreciate as much as others. We have only bought used popups and our first popup sold for what we paid for it after six years of use and I am certain our current one would do the same but we have no intentions of selling it since we love it so much. We really like the front trunk for easy access. If I had been asked how important hot water or AC was important to me before we bought our 2nd popup I would have said not at all. It happened to have these features and now that we have them I am so glad we have them. Good luck in your search. I looked at the Chesapeake and really liked it as well, especially with the built in cassette potty, but the dealer wanted too much $ and it did not have the front trunk, a must on the list for my husband. I still look at classifieds for fun and saw several Chesapeakes for sale at RVtraderonline.com. just yesterday. We bought ours from this website from a private owner. Though we traveled a good distance, it was worth it.

[HersheyGirl]

I don't think that you what to tell a Jayco, Rockwood, Forrest River, Starcraft, Viking, Coachman, Aliner, Chalet, or other brand owners that Coleman, ahem, Fleetwood is the best made camper.  That is just a matter of opinion.  I love my Jayco and have had no problems with it at all, as I am sure other popup owners can say the same thing about their camper.  All of the campers are good.  The most important thing about selecting a camper is how if feels for you, the right floorplan for you, and THE DEALER!  If you don't have a good dealer, you may not be as happy with your camper as you could have been. The dealer can make or break your experience.  Good luck with your hunt for the perfect camper.

[Tsunami]

Thank you very much! This is great information to know.

Don't be fooled by shear numbers. There are more of them out there by far, but not sure about them being the best or not. They do make a fairly good product, but be very weary of used Coleman trailers with the ABS roof...they have some known issues, and as a second owner there is no warranty. Do yourself a favor, research this board using "ABS Roof" and see what comes back, read it over carefully before making any decision. At issue is units with 10' & 12' box with the one piece ABS tops that tend to sag, bulge, and seperate. Not all of them have done that, but there is a problem that is NOT acknowledged by the manufacturer.

[sandykayak]

lablover...I like my 2-piece Jayco door because I can open the bottom half and have access to the interior.

tsunami: I was comparing Coleman (Taos) and Jayco (Qwest 8U) but at the lower end of the food chain, but here are some things that you might want to take into consideration:

The Coleman stove folded down, which is good because you can keep stuff in it.  The downside is that it takes up most of the floorspace.  I liked the Jayco that flips over to the side and leaves a lot of space to store things.

A real biggie (for some people) is the ability to access the fridge when it is popped down.  You can chill the fridge before a trip and load it.  Taos didn't have a fridge option so that was another black mark, but I don't think that this is a Coleman option - others can comment/confirm/deny.

A lot of people absolutely hate having to climb over the dinette to get to bed.  I found that at 5'0" the bunk without the dinette is a bit of a stretch...but another thing is that the two small doggies (who sleep with me, of course!) can jump from the bed to the dinette to the floor easily.

This is a very personal issue, but I absolutely hate all those gathered curtains hanging around in the colemans.  My '02 Jayco has fabric curtain/blinds that roll up and are secured with velcro.  (Ditto the bunk privacy curtains).  So, I have a completely open camper without obstructions.

Coleman has some nifty accessories such as hanging storage bags.  Also, there's a 12-volt "outlet" in the lights and you can plug in the fan/lights.  I also prefer Coleman's white shepherd's hooks and other interior poles.  (Jayco is bare metal, but I painted them white.  However, there is some rust).

I wish I had a front storage box, but that was not an option with the small camper.  Also, I was told that if I were to hang anything from the ceiling it would void the warranty.

Just a few more things to think about

[OC Campers]

You didn't really think you'd get an unbiased opinion did you?

 
Randy

[Wild Wild Qwest]

Find the PU that fits your budget, your family's needs, towing capacity, which can also be serviced by a reputable dealer, and you have a great camper.

Oh yeah, we love our Jayco!

[Miss-Teri]

We have had our camper now for 4 years and have had zero problems with it.  That's right, none. We haven't had to fix anything, and we haven't had to take it back to use the warranty.  We have three kids and two dogs that camp with DH and I and no problems at all.  I don't have any experience with other brands, so I can't help you there, but I would buy another Starcraft in a heartbeat.  

One of the advantages to the slide-out dinettes in the Starcrafts is they pull completely out, leaving more room in the PU.  A disadvantage is they have jacks to hold them because they do go out so far (Coleman's don't go out as far and don't need jacks).  The jacks are no problem at all most of the time, but we keep saying we need to replace them with scissor-types - then they won't ever be a problem.  It's just one of those things we talk about all the time but always forget to do, lol!

Before we bought our PU, I did YEARS worth of research and there was only one brand that consistently had owners reporting really bad problems (not counting Coleman's ABS roofs because they were covered in warranty), and that was Dutchmen.  They may be better now, but it looked to me like a pre-'00 Dutchmen would be a bad idea, based solely on those reviews.

[JonesFamilyJayco]

I purchased a used '95 Jayco Eagle 8 pop-up camper 2 years ago and I have been very happy.  On purpose, I bought one without a lot of options (no fridge, A/C, etc.) but have since added them on myself.  It has been fun to work on my camper and MANY of the ideas came from here.  I have also been blessed with a good local dealer (Terrell Camping Center) to help me along the way.

Several times I have considered a hybrid or a TT, but I just love my Jayco too much to part with it.