Jayco is asking for your opinion

[Used 2B PopUPTimes]

Many of Jayco's new camping trailers are equipped with interior stoves. They are looking at an upgraded stove with a piezo igniter that will eliminate the need for lighters and matches and they'd like to know if that is important to you. Please answer the poll question.

[brainpause]

Not a huge deal to us. We will have matches/lighters on hand anyway, for campfires/dutch oven cooking, and such.

I guess it would be nice, but definitely not a selling point.

Larry

[howlinowl]

Not important to us, either.  Kinda suprised that they are asking.  How much can the lighter add to the total cost of the unit??  Seems that they would just add it, as I am sure there are those out there that that sort of thing may be important to them, and it wouldn't deter those who it would not.

Allan

[fritz_monroe]

To me it's not an important feature, but it would be nice to have.  As howlinowl said, it would not be a deal breaker.

The deciding factor between Fleetwood and Jayco for us was the tiny sink in the Jayco.

[Kelly]

Not important at all.  

In the five years that I've camped in PUs I've cooked inside a grand total of once. The indoor/outdoor units that came with each camper spent their time in the garage at home.[/FONT]

[flyfisherman]

Since every camp cooking stove I've ever used ... tent camping or otherwise ... had to always be lit with matches or a lighter, I doubt if I could give anykind of a fair evaluation. However, if Jayco would like me to do a little "field test" this upcoming season and furnish one of those stoves, would be happy to give a first hand report by years end.

In the meantime,  I very much like the K.I.S.S. method of camping.  Don't like having to pay for extra fluff for something just not that important. However, when offered as an option might be a good idea especially for those who might think this is important.


Fly

[GeneF]

If we were still in one of our popups, I would probable say that it really didn't matter.  Either way would be okay.

We never cooked in our popups, always used the outside stove.

Now if we are talking about the hybrid, I wouldn't mind having that feature.  We do a lot of cooking in the hybrid and it would be nice not to have to fuss around looking for and storing a lighter to get the stove going.

[wavery]

I have to say that if I were out looking for a new PU (which I'm not) I would be impressed if I saw one that had a piezo igniter on the stove. It would give me the feeling that the manufacturer was trying to add some quality to their product.

I've also lived with a "light stick" placed by the stove for many years. I find those things frustrating and terribly unreliable. I replaced the stove in my boat for that very reason. We found a nice, stainles steel, stove with a piezo igniter system in it and it was definately a deal maker for us. Then again, we were living full time on our boat at that time.

Again, it would not be a deal breaker on a PU for me, but the feeling of "quality" very well could be a deal maker for some.

[griffsmom]

Not important at all.
 
In the five years that I've camped in PUs I've cooked inside a grand total of once. The indoor/outdoor units that came with each camper spent their time in the garage at home.

Not important at all, and an outright no, if it added to the cost of the trailer.
 
Like Kelly, in the 4 years we've owned our camper, we've used the stove inside our camper once, to reheat something when it was raining outside.  The outdoor high-pressure stove is stored under one of the dinette benches and never sees the light of day. We cook exclusively outside with our Coleman Road Trip grill and dutch ovens.  
 
I don't have any idea what the price point is for this kind of stove or what considerations manufacturers have to make when deciding whether to add an feature like this to a camper.  Even though I have no interest in such a feature, it's a nice idea that might appeal to some people.  Maybe Jayco could offer the feature as an option and people could choose whether they wanted to pay extra for it--that might work well for everyone involved.

[wavery]

Not important at all, and an outright no, if it added to the cost of the trailer.
 
Like Kelly, in the 4 years we've owned our camper, we've used the stove inside our camper once, to reheat something when it was raining outside.  The outdoor high-pressure stove is stored under one of the dinette benches and never sees the light of day. We cook exclusively outside with our Coleman Road Trip grill and dutch ovens.  
 
I don't have any idea what the price point is for this kind of stove or what considerations manufacturers have to make when deciding whether to add an feature like this to a camper.  Even though I have no interest in such a feature, it's a nice idea that might appeal to some people.  Maybe Jayco could offer the feature as an option and people could choose whether they wanted to pay extra for it--that might work well for everyone involved.

Lori,

Your Coleman Road Trip Grill is equipped with automatic lighting, isn't it? If it is, I would think that it may have some importance to you.

The fact is, the piezo lighting system is very inexpensive. It would probably be more expensive for the manufacturer to offer it as and option (thus demanding two separate assemblies) then to just put it in all of their units (uniformity in manufacturing). It would probably add less than $10 per unit to the manufacturer's cost. However, when you multiply that by the thousands of stoves that are built, it may well be a major decision and they would want to make sure that they are going to see some return on their investment.

I would certainly be willing to pay $15 more for a stove with automatic lighting then one without. In the long run, I would be paying more than that for those pesky light sticks :swear: .

 

[griffsmom]

Lori,
 
Your Coleman Road Trip Grill is equipped with automatic lighting, isn't it? If it is, I would think that it may have some importance to you.

Yes, you're right Wayne, the Road Trip Grill does have automatic lighting, which is nice and convenient, but that isn't the reason why we bought it. I didn't want to cook inside the camper and we didn't want to mess with our Coleman gasoline-powered stove anymore. The propane is much easier with this grill and I love all the griddles and grills accessories the Road Trip has. The cooking surface is huge and allows me to cook a mess of pancakes in very little time. I would have bought the Road Trip even if it didn't have the piezo lighting.
 

The fact is, the piezo lighting system is very inexpensive. It would probably be more expensive for the manufacturer to offer it as and option (thus demanding two separate assemblies) then to just put it in all of their units (uniformity in manufacturing). It would probably add less than $10 per unit to the manufacturer's cost. However, when you multiply that by the thousands of stoves that are built, it may well be a major decision and they would want to make sure that they are going to see some return on their investment.
 
I would certainly be willing to pay $15 more for a stove with automatic lighting then one without. In the long run, I would be paying more than that for those pesky light sticks :swear: .
 

You raise an interesting point, which makes me ask: if it's so inexpensive, then why ask our opinion in the first place? Why wouldn't Jayco just add the feature to the trailer, increase the price slightly--probably imperceptibly--to accomodate the higher cost, and then let their marketing dept go wild marketing the Jayco product as the only one with the "innovative piezo lighting feature." It's nice that Jayco is interested in hearing what consumers want, but given what you've posted, what's the point? :confused:

[wavery]

You raise an interesting point, which makes me ask: if it's so inexpensive, then why ask our opinion in the first place? Why wouldn't Jayco just add the feature to the trailer, increase the price slightly--probably imperceptibly--to accomodate the higher cost, and then let their marketing dept go wild marketing the Jayco product as the only one with the "innovative piezo lighting feature." It's nice that Jayco is interested in hearing what consumers want, but given what you've posted, what's the point? :confused:

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!

Marketing is everything. What you see here is marketing research. As I stated before, they want to make sure that there is return on investment. Trust me, they couldn't care less whether you or I like it or not....it's all about market share and the almighty $

I am sure that their product is priced very close to their competition. It has to be or the manufacturers of the campers wouldn't buy their product. If they are going to increase the cost of production (even by a few cents) they have to justify the expense by either a larger piece of the market or increased profits on the market share that they have.

I'll bet that the stove manufacturers sell these stoves to the camper manufacturers on a contract basis. They will usually contract for a certain # of stoves per quarter with a yearly commitment. Let's say that Coleman contracts for 100,000 stoves over a year period. If the stove manufacturer wants to stay competitive and win that contract, they have to to be able to sell based on 4 criteria (maybe more), price, sex appeal, weight and dependability. I'm sure that it is a big risk to change the product and they must be feeling pressure from the competition.

If adding this lighter increases their expence and it has negative consequences, such as market rejection, the ramifications could be huge.

[kwatson51]

Ok, I get to be the contrarian this time. []

I would very much like to have the piezo lighter becuase:
1. It tells me the compnay is keeping up with technogy, which may speak of the rest of the trailer
2. I don't like having to keep up with a light stick or matches
3. My matches are always wet because they are near the sink
4. I feel that having a lot of gas escape before I can light it is dangerous
5. It is functionally consistant with my stove at home. I don't have to think about how to light it (I don't want to have to think too much when camping!  

[GrizzlyTaco]

Its not important to me, we dont cook inside our PU. When I need an outside stove i use my coleman double burner. I leave the Jayco stove at home, we utilize the space. If you want to add something, add a double sink, just having one sucks.....Ed C. :sombraro:

[DGrant09]

We just bought a new Wedgewood stove for our PUP and the Piezo Ignition was a small attraction.  I look at how many lighters and sticks we have to keep our home BBQ going and didn't like the thought of all of that in a light camper.  I always (99%) have a lighter, but when it fails it is usually at a bad time, so no worries with the ignition..   Just my two cents..  :eyecrazy: