PA RV show in Hershey, PA

[HersheyGirl]

My sister and I went to the PA RV show today in Hershey,PA.  It is billed as the largest RV show in the nation.  We looked at popups, and Aliners, and Chalets.  We were not interested in anything else, and besides, it was raining. Here is my assessment of the new lines of popups for 2007......WE DIDN'T LIKE ANY of THEM!  I just was not impressed with any of the lines, and I really didn't like the fabric or color combinitions of most of the campers.  My sister didn't like them either.  I don't know what the deal is, but they all pretty much the same and we just didn't like them. The brand that I liked best were the Palominos...liked for the most part the color scheme and the layouts.  I am not a blue person and most of the campers colors were in blue.  The Pals were in a more neutral color scheme.  Now the camper that I really did like, but will never get was Aliners new 32' Retreat...it is a TT with a front deck that folds for travel.  It is one very nice camper and we both liked it alot. It runs about $29,000  Another one that I liked was the Serro Scotty Sportsman trailer...it is a retro trailer that it being brought back into production.  The one they had was a 13' model, but they have a 15' one with a shower and pottie.  It is a very cute retro trailer and I would love to have this one too, and the 13' one only weighs in at 1740 lbs!  Very cool.  So there you have it from my point of view.  :eyecrazy:

[batsignal2]

We went up there also on Wednesday....in the rain.....and cold.....in a traffic jam on route 30.....and 283....etc....etc.....

I will agree with your assessment of the pop-ups.  We saw two high wall pop-ups there and those really did not impress us either.  We were shocked at the lack of storage space and cabinets in many of the models.  We have many cabinets.  Some of our cabinets have pull out drawers, others are just shelves.  We feel it is a nice mix.  The newer pop-ups seem to add "state of the art" equipment like stainless steel stove tops, ovens, microwaves, etc but it really comes at the cost of usable storage.  We did not like the idea of putting our clothing under the dinette seats but we could not figure out where else to put them.

The other thing we thought was the gap between high end and mid/low end seems to be widening.  The higher ends have everything I talked about up top, what many of the dealers there considered "medium" grade seemed low end to us.  I will add that since Fleetwood was clear across to the other side, we were not able to spend much time there because it was closing by the time we made it over to them.  However the ones we did get a chance to look at, we sort of were wondering where the middle ground units really were.

I was glad to see they added an evening, reduced rate this year.  It always made me mad when I went at 5pm and had to pay full price for only 3 hours.

[jcd]

We are headed up tomorrow...

The plan is to check out Popups and Hybrids. I'm sure the family will want to check out a few of the 5ers and Class Cs. Neither of which are on the shopping list.

Hopefully the weather will clear up by tomorrow!

[Monterey]

I'm sure the family will want to check out a few of the 5ers and Class Cs. Neither of which are on the shopping list.

That's what you think now  

[Black Water Tank]

Hey all,

Wife and I are going to begin the process of buying a camper, a camper we hope to purchase in 4 years.  Having said that, we are going to head down to the Hershey, PA RV Show.

For others that are interested, here is the map;  http://largestrvshow.com/GC%2006%20POST%20DRAW%20copy.pdf

Any feedback would be appreciated for a noobie couple checking out an RV show.

Edited - We are definitely looking for a pop-up.

[wynot]

Any feedback would be appreciated for a noobie couple checking out an RV show.
 
Edited - We are definitely looking for a pop-up.

Are you looking to buy this year, or in 4 years?
 
If you're looking to buy this year, I have some tips for Hershey (and other RV shows).  
 
If you are looking to buy in 4, don't tell the salesperson that.  The minute they hear that, you will get very little (if any) information, and they will disappear.  By the way, a saleperson will know your actual buying timeframe in less than 5 minutes, whether you tell them or not, and no matter what you say.
 
Having worked in RV sales (I don't anymore), we learn not to "waste" time with future and retiree sales - they rarely materialize - and the sale will go to someone else.  When you are on full commission - immediate and imminent sales are what pay your bills.
 
Sorry for the frankness.

[Black Water Tank]

Sorry for the frankness.

Not at all.  When I grew up, my family camped in a pop-up quite a bit.  My wife (from Jersey) was only familar with campgrounds in which people actually live out of.  So basically, my wife just wants to see what one looks like.

Our timeframe:

1) May 23, 2007 - First kid expected
2) Fall 2007 - Buy wife new car (she has a Maxima, I have a Civic)
3) Summer of 2008 - Hopefully our 2nd kid
4) early 2009 - Start seriously looking for an RV (most likely a pop-up).

Given our plan, we want to get a good idea of what we both want as a camper (in 3/4 years) so we know what size (TV) vehicle we will need to purchase next fall.

So our objective is just to 'look around'.

[tlhdoc]

Not at all. When I grew up, my family camped in a pop-up quite a bit. My wife (from Jersey) was only familar with campgrounds in which people actually live out of. So basically, my wife just wants to see what one looks like.
 
Our timeframe:
 
1) May 23, 2007 - First kid expected
2) Fall 2007 - Buy wife new car (she has a Maxima, I have a Civic)
3) Summer of 2008 - Hopefully our 2nd kid
4) early 2009 - Start seriously looking for an RV (most likely a pop-up).
 
Given our plan, we want to get a good idea of what we both want as a camper (in 3/4 years) so we know what size (TV) vehicle we will need to purchase next fall.
 
So our objective is just to 'look around'.

It sounds like you have your planning on track.  Congratulations on the pending birth of child number one.  Have fun at the RV Show.  I prefer not having a salesman bother me when looking, so I tell them I am not buying.

[shellcjt]

Hi,
I agree about the color schemes - I really don't like the black, gray, yellows of the new little fleetwoods - yuk!  I liked the "Field & Stream' scheme back in 2000 & 2001 of the starcraft pop-up's.
Shelly
 :morning: