What brands do you like?

[Unregistered]

we are new campers just beginning our search for a pop-up. what are the pros and cons to all the different brands?

Viking? Coleman? Fleetwood? Trailmanor?

[griffsmom]

You've asked a loaded question; most owners will say the brand that they bought is the best!
 
We have a Coleman that we bought new 3 years ago, and although we also looked at Jaycos and Starcrafts, with all features being equal, we finally made our decision based on the finishing of the Coleman. We haven't regretted our decision even once. But we have friends who have a Jayco that is also very nice, and they love it. I think that it ultimately comes down to what features you will not do without and how much you are willing to pay.
 
The most important thing though, if buying new, is to be sure you buy from a reputable dealer who understands the importance of providing top-notch service to its customers. We bought our PU from Carl's Acres of Trailers in Ontario, CA, and in our humble opinion, Mark in the service dept is the best there is this side of the Mississippi! (and maybe even East of the Mississippi to boot!)
 
Good luck on your search and purchase. Whatever you end up getting, I hope that you will feel welcome to come back to PUT and post any questions you have or to find people to camp with. My family has been blessed with some wonderful camping friends as a result of these boards.

[tlhdoc]

There are pluses and minuses for each brand.  Most important is finding a good dealer/service appointment.  The floor plan and accessories (fridge, shower, toilet, furnace, etc) that you want can play a mojor decision on what brand you buy.  Distance to dealer, what your tow vehicle is capable of safely towing, are you planning on buying new and used, etc. all figure in the decision.

An easy test of the service department is to call and ask how long it will take to get your imagery PU in for some type of service.  It will not prove if the service department  does quality work, but if they tell you it will be six weeks until they can work you in you know you will not get speedy work out of them.

[vjm1639]

We bought a Coleman, we love our Coleman, but...as Traci recommended, besides the fact that we personally thought the finishing was nicer on the Colemans, the final deciding factor for buying Coleman was because of the dealer. We love dealing with the company we bought from!

[PLJ]

We also bought a Coleman. Been very happy with it.

We went to a camping/RV show in the Twin Cities. That way we could look at all the different makes and features side by side. We secured a display model with lots of goodies thrown in for a discounted price.

Basically as already stated, its going to come down to what you want to pay, and what features you cannot do without. But whatever you end up buying your bound to rack up a lot of great memories.

Good luck

[hoppy]

As mentioned in the above posts, the first and foremost important thing when picking out the PU is the limitation of your tow vehicle. No sense picking out a PU that you can not tow safely. Kind of like picking out a Coleman Niagra model PU, and trying to tow it with a 1996 Yugo.  Just ain't gunna happen.

  The next consideration is the absolute "must haves" in the PU. This would be the number of people it will sleep, slide out dining for added floor space, a biggie consideration with children maybe a porta-potti, or cassette toilet, in-door showers, etc.

  Next will be the "nice to haves". This could be air conditioning, 3-way fridge, furnace, hot water, front storage area, etc.

   Once you have all these considerations out of the way, it may limit your field of choice of manufacturers based upon layout and other options.

    You will find that most manufacturers  producing PU's will have simular quality. (If they didn't provide a quality product at a competetive price, they would not be in the biz. very long)  Many of the items in the PU's are actually supplied by sub-contractors.

    The best way to choose options, layouts,  and manufacturers is just walk through as many as you can. You will notice the things that appeal to you, and the things that don't.

    I owned a 1978 Palomino for twelve years, and a 2001 Coleman for the past three years. I can say both these units provided me with good service. At minimum, 125 trips with the Pal., 35 with the Coleman.

    Good luck in your search for the perfect PU that will suit your needs.

[4campinfoxes]

As others have stated it really comes down to personal preference.  My preferences have been Coleman, Jayco & Starcraft.  Now, I don't have a Starcraft dealer anywhere close to me so that is pretty much out if I were looking for a new one.  We had a Jayco as our first trailer & we didn't like the dealership, one of the reasons we switched to Coleman.  Our dealer has been great & we haven't had any major problems.

Floorplan, trim & cost really top the list for me.  I want the storage to be convenient, the placement of the fridge to be convenient (so I can get in it while it's popped down) and for it to just "feel right".

Good luck on your search,

Sharon

[campingcop]

We had a Jayco before moving up to a hybrid and were happy with it.

Only reason for not going with another Jayco product was the dealer was to far away.  The new dealer is closer to home and so far has been great.

Make sure you are happy with the dealer no matter what brand of pop up you get.  A bad dealer or service dept. can make for one very sad  :% camper

[Old Goat]

Over the years I have owned four popups. Three of them, including my present one, are Coleman....I have never been sorry...........

[TheViking]

I can't complain about my Viking.  It's been great so far.  One thing I can recommend is don't scrimp.  By that I mean with options that you say "do we really need that".  Because chances are down the road you will say I wish we would have gotten that.  Trust me on this one.

[Popups4Rent]

Check out the signature. I am not to brand choosey. I am currently looking at a Starcraft PU and another Jayco. All of the PU's came from the same great dealer. With so many brands in one location it is like going to the RV show everyday:-()
 
They all hold up about the same with the torture they get put through.
 
Find the dealer and floorplan you are like and go with it.

[carlstone00]

we are new campers just beginning our search for a pop-up. what are the pros and cons to all the different brands?

Viking? Coleman? Fleetwood? Trailmanor?

We tent camped for years and then this past year began looking for a pop-up.  It seemed every time we found the floorpan/options we wanted that there was another issue.  Either the roof sagged or leaked or some other thing needed fixing.  And the price was still around $5000.  So we looked at new pop-ups and found that they are $8000 and up.  

That's when we found the Coachmen Spirit of America.  It is a travel trailer vice a pop-up, but cost $9995 new!!  It is 25ft, with everything we wanted and more, plus there is more room for the family.

It makes for very nonprimitive camping but is wonderful.  If you have the tow vehicle (trailer weighs 4300 lbs), which I already had, and you aren't dead set on a pop-up, you may want to look into the coachmen.  There are 3 floorplans at this price and then some spendier ones with slideouts.  Here are a couple links if interested, I have the one listed in the article, but my dealer, Howard RV, sells it at $9995.

http://www.campinglife.com/site_page_903/article_page_264.cfm
http://www.coachmenrv.com/products/soa_tt/soa_tt.htm

Just another option you may want to look at.  Best of luck camper hunting & Happy Camping!!

Carlstone