What's the biggest reasons you bought your pop up

[Craigtheretired]

Lots of reasons but the main one might be we wanted to see the country after retirement and doing the motel/restaurant scene got too expensive.  We can travel for 1/4 the cost of motels and go to many more places that have no motels.  The Pup with it's 9 foot picture window and 360 degree views were the clinchers for me, the furnace, hot water, A/C, push button potty were the clinchers for my DW.  In our second year of Puping I would now say the great people we have met on our travels.

[bud121156]

I wanted a 12 ft box , DW wanted a shower/ potty,  and we had to be comfortable towing with a small SUV Ford Escape.....  the 2100 lb Westlake was  our  choice.

[Hackker]

Before we had kids, the wife and myself would usually tent camp a few times a year.  Did it a few times when we had our daughter and attempted it once when our son was 1.  I think he cried almost the entire weekend and I swore that camping was over for a long time.  Worst trip ever.  

Then the following spring, I ran into my cousin who was selling his old popup so I figured what the heck and we checked it out.  It was 20 years old and extremely basic and while it was a step up from tenting, it wasn't a huge step up.  So we checked out a few newer popups and I was pretty turned off how poor shape they were.

Then for the heck of it, we looked at a new '07 Niagara and fell in love with it.  Had everything we could ever want, it fit in the garage, and my Frontier could tow it with ease.  Perfect!

[Hackker]

Why?  I guess the best reason is I enjoyed it so much growing up and I wanted to offer that to my children.

Thats a huge reason for us too.  Both the wife and myself come from families that camped growing up and I can't count how many good memories I have of camping.  My kids get as excited to go camping as they do going to Disney.  

[wavery]

We bought our PU because we live in an apt building and need to be able to park the trailer in our parking space.

It's really cool because once we get inside the (6'2") garage door, we have 8' clearance inside the garage so we can actually pop-up inside the garage to load, clean etc.

We recently purchased a Trailmanor and I was concerned that we may not be able to open it up but it actually opens all the way with no problem.

The real bonus is that now, we can stop at a view point and open the trailer for lunch and put it back down and keep going. We couldn't do that with our traditional PU. It literally only takes 2 minutes to open and 2 minutes to close. I've opened and closed it about 5 times now. It gets easier each time.

So far.....we love our Trailmanor :sombraro:

[WolfPack]

I remeber the frist pop up camper was 74 starcraft that my dad bought new campe in it  about for times when he retire from the navy he sold it made my mom mad. i did tent campe for a lng time then i got married bought a slid in camper for my truck for 100.00 the wife had our frist child sold it we back to tent camping after my D from wife. bought a pop up camper me and the kids have been camping ever since i am now on my thrid pop up camper a 2005 coachmen cipper and yes the kids live with me. :U

[daldricht]

We bought a used Coleman Niagara - but it was meticulously maintained - was only 13-months old - and you would have sworn it was brand new.

What I want to warn others of though is what can happen when you are looking for the perfect popup in various classified locations.

I found a website that advertised various RV's and popup's. I am guessing the advertising/classified publication was legit - but the person that had posted the popup was not! The only reason I was cautious was the language/verbage to describe the popup and how to purchase the popup.

Supposedly the popup was not used, older couple bought it and one of them became disabled so was sacrificing the sale. We are talking a 2002 Coleman Niagara, which retailed for $12,500 new and they were selling this for $4,300. A big flag went up because of the new popup plus the cost.

We actually got to discussing the payment process - this was being done with the website/classified pages owner - but then I got enough info from the real owner, did some internet research, located an actual phone number, called the guy and this is the story we got!

I said we would be willing to drive to New York (near Lake Erie) to see and pay for the camper. I was told that it had been moved into a storage facility because someone said they wanted it but did not follow through on the actual payment process. I was told they had a third-party trucking firm that could bring the popup to us by forwarding the money to the trucking firm. If we approved of the popup, the trucking company would forward the money to the owner, less his hauling fee of $55 - a real bargain . . . right? Well, the man then said he was going to the UK for three weeks business - this is supposedly an American - but being in travel for the past 15 years - there is not an American on earth that refers to Great Britain as the United Kingdom - neither do the Brits. It is Middle Eastern populations that use the term. So I point blank asked, the guy hung up and I reported this entire incident to the classified website - and they imediately removed the seller from their website. We did call the UK phone number (which can be forwarded from any place to any other place) saying they had 24/7 service - but no one answered the phones. We found out from a local police department in England that the address we had was in an industrial section of London, but nothing was in the building??? We also found another address for the exact same ad - selling this same popup - but had a west coast contact number.

Unless you can physically see the popup or RV and you can see the Vehicle ID Numbers on the unit, be very cautious. This scam was almost GOOD - it was just the lingo used by a Middle Easterner that tiped me off as to the possible scam of getting my money.

Our next camper is going to be a new Fleetwood Highlander (if and when the new owners start to advertise?) - the idea of filling an RV gas tank is not my idea of starting a pleasant weekend. It is bad enough when I have to fill my truck gas tank for Monday back-to-work.

[Clarabelle]

We're planning on traveling when we retire in a couple of years.  We wanted something more comfortable on long trips than a tent, but not something so big and heavy we couldn't afford to drive it.  Our PUP has turned out to be a great compromise.  Very roomy for two, easy to pull, and gets 19 to 20 mpg on the road.

[fallsrider]

For us, it was about better comfort and getting off the ground, while still maintaining a reasonable camping budget. We found out DW was pregnant with our 2nd child, so we didn't want to tent camp anymore. Also, here in the south, it is just too hot to enjoy summer camping without a/c, unless you get up high in the mountains.

So we now can camp 12 months out of the year if we choose to, including those hot summer months! We still head to the mountains during those hot months, though. We love cool evenings around a fire. 60 to 70 degrees is perfect.

[daldricht]

For us, it was about better comfort and getting off the ground, while still maintaining a reasonable camping budget. We found out DW was pregnant with our 2nd child, so we didn't want to tent camp anymore. Also, here in the south, it is just too hot to enjoy summer camping without a/c, unless you get up high in the mountains.

So we now can camp 12 months out of the year if we choose to, including those hot summer months! We still head to the mountains during those hot months, though. We love cool evenings around a fire. 60 to 70 degrees is perfect.

Hey Fallsrider - know exactly what you mean about being comfortable - especially from the high heat and humidity. Because of our age more than anything else we bought a used (13-months old) popup. We are on our 4th summer season of camping with our 2002 Coleman Niagara and HAVE NEVER HAD ALL WINDOWS unzipped - simply because of the high humidity in the Virginia area. We just returned from a long weekend in Allentown PA and the humidity was almost non-existant and for the first time managed to open all canvas and vinyle windows and had total fresh air. The first Coleman popup I owned was when we lived in FL and DID NOT have A/C at that time and being bagged in canvas when the humidity runs at 90 to 95 percent every day but in December, we used the popup very little. Now we have one or two 4-day weekends per month - as long as we can find WiFi campgrounds - thus allowing us to telecommunicate on Friday and Monday - and literaly my clients have no idea where I am - but we are connected!

[kjrjr]

AC Definitely. Like you I live in the deep south. In fact judging by your user name, I think I live in the same state you do. A couple of years ago we tent camped in Chicot state park, when it wasn't raining, it was blisteringly hot. The first night I got heat stroke setting up camp. Being off the gorund and cool began to sound really good.

BTW Cajun Camper, I also am a cajun camper.

[HappyFLCampers]

Our biggest reason was to extend the camping season (A/C)!

[daldricht]

Our biggest reason was to extend the camping season (A/C)!

The first Coleman Popup Camper we owned was in Florida - but without canned air on the roof. Was told by the camper repair place that the roof support would not hold the A/C unit. The amount of silver duct tape that the previous owners put on the screen units made it so we looked like the tenament of the campground - but it did keep the bugs out!

We no longer live in Sarasota (used to live off Cattleman Road - where are you located?) but in VA about 30-miles from DC and the A/C and the ceramic heater make it so we can use the Coleman Niagara Popup (a new one) into November. In December we usually drive the popup to the popup maintenance guys and have them "winterize" the thing, bring it home and cover it until the middle of March? and then flush the antifreeze and by the end of March or first of April we are looking for a waterfront site and very few people to crowd up against us.

One of the other good reason's to have a popup (up off the ground) in Florida is to avoid the possible slithering of other critters (I am not a snake lover). The metal box that frames you is one more deterant to things that crawl.

We are looking to upgrade to the Highlander Avalon popup just for comfort of having a comfortable couch in one end, plus inside switch to turn on the water heater. Laying down in wet dirt and trying to light an outside pilot light at 10pm in the dark is no fun! We are moving to PA so the weather will shorten our camping season (maybe?) but we are finding several places that are open 12-months of the season - so there is hope.

Having more and more campgrounds show up with WiFi is also making it so my "mobile office" is doing more 4-day weekends than clients are aware of. What a great way to "work"!!!

[zapata7]

We bought our pop-up after years of sleeping on the ground in the Rocky Mountain. ( aptly named) and then we moved to the northwest and needed something more water resitant for our family. Love our pop-up and recently upgraded from a 86 coleman to a 2004 coleman. No more wet and bumpy nights for us.

Mario and Janelle :-()

[lucyinthesky111l]

We bought our pop-up because we love camping and have taken our 6 kids camping as long as we have been together.  Well, time has gone by and the 6 kids have grown up, now we have alot less help setting things up.  This was the perfect alternative.  We just bought our pu in May of this year and are going on yet another camping trip next weekend.  I sooo can't wait!