advice on buying a popup? All kind of questions!

[Gillian]

I'm starting to think about buying a pop up (or whatever they're called now ) We are currently 2 adults and a 2 year old, hoping to be 2 adults and 2 kids eventually. I know a little about the trailers themselves, but nothing about the best way to research & buy.

I guess I am looking for any recommedations on
-brands to check out
-where to get good info
-new or used?
-where to buy? at a show? a local place?

We are in central NJ.

Anyone tow with a Honda Odyssey minivan? How about a chrylser minivan? We are also minvan shopping

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

 

[Grumpy92]

You might want to check out your local bookstore for Trailer Life magazine and similar magazines. We used them when we were reserching campers and found them very helpful. Do a lot of research beforehand and visit a few camping shows.

 

[Disney Campers]

if you plan to tow a trailer with the mini van i strongly recommend a rear wheel drive van such as the Chevy Astro or GMC Safari, if you think you may want a bigger trailer in the future you may want to skip the mini van alltogether and get a full size van. You may want to visit www.irv2.com

 

[AshlandDad]

We have a Coleman popup that we really like. Purchased it in 2000. We spent several days driving to different dealers to look at different campers, and the thing that stood out the most was that they are all basically junk. None of them are made of quality materials. Therefore, you must be very careful using them. Things break easily. Also, we found that the tires go bald fairly quickly. We have to change them about every 5000 miles. We recently had some repair work done which was supposed to prevent the tires from riding on their inside edges and wearing out quickly. We'll see if that works this summer!

We have a Ford Windstar minivan. It has pulled the camper from Wisconsin to the Black Hills (South Dakota), Banff National Park in Canada, and many places in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This summer it will be pulling to to Colorado. Have had no problems. Be sure to get a transmission cooler installed on whichever vehicle you choose.

Hope you enjoy whatever camper you choose.

 

[bobcat]

I am looking to buy a pop-up this year as well. I am tired of tent camping.

You need to check how much your minivan can tow, don't rely on what the dealer says. All of the great extras add weight and when you are packed and ready to hit the road that is even more weight. I think with minivans that is the biggest concern. I have a Shiloette so I have to keep this in mind while I am shopping.

The two brands that I have seen and heard the best things about are Starcraft (which I am looking at) and Coleman. Take a look at all the campers and you will see a HUGE difference in quality.

This site has a great message board and I have learned a lot here. http://www.popuptimes.com/

Happy Camping!

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

My wife and I tent camped a few times over a couple of years. She loved the idea of camping, but told me if I wanted her to go anymore that I had to get her "behind" off of the ground!

Thus the Camper decision. We have three kids and a dog that goes with us just about everywhere!

We looked for three years before buying a Coleman. We made our decision based on seeing the different brands at camper shows in Chicago and Madison every spring. I was down to Colemans, Jaycos, and Starcrafts. Colemans seemed to be the best made by far, but also the most expensive, so we had to make sure we were ready for the $$$. I also know a few people with Jaycos, and they like them very much.

We bought ours new, but I have many friends who bought theirs used. If I had to do it again I would have tried a used one first, and then traded up after I was sure I wanted to do this! Fortunately, it worked out fine for us.

We pull ours with a Winstar Minivan too. No problems, but it's right at the maximum tow capacity. Our van has 90,000 miles on it and is beginning to show wear from the towing.

Another thing was that I had never towed a single thing with my car ever. Boy was that a learning experience. I did some REALLY stupid things the first year! Now I am a pro, but it didn't come without any pain!

Once we were sure that we really wanted to do this, we bought a bunch of options that we find very very useful. Well worth the money.

Options that I would really recommend:

Air conditioning if you can afford it. (Really nice in the mid summer months!)
Running water.
A built in, 3-way fridge.
Awning.
Furnace.
Storage Trunk.

We have a slide out seating section too. It adds lots of extra room, however, makes the camper much heavier.

We are going to add a bicycle rack this year. Biking is very popular at the campgrounds.

We are now starting our fourth season with the pop-up. It was one of the best investments we ever made! We camp 5-6 weekends a summer and usually one long week. We have been to Ft. Wilderness twice also. Wisconsin has an amazing number of beautiful state parks, and we are trying to hit them all.

My one other piece of advice is that everyone that I know has a really really really messed up first trip with their camper. We all share our horror stories. The second trip is always much better! One couple that I know bought a new camper and then gave up after one disasterious trip! You gotta stick with it!

Good luck!

 

[StampMom]

I want to second the suggestion to check out the popup times site, and specifically the message boards, at http://www.popuptimes.com/forum. The people on the boards are amazingly helpful, and you will be able to get lots of information and opinions to help you make your decision about what camper to buy AND then helpful info for after you have the camper, too! (Thanks to the PUT boards, we had an AMAZINGLY successful maiden voyage in our new pop-up -- and we literally went straight from the dealer to the campground!)

Good luck!

 

[North7]

I can only relate our experience, but as others have mentioned above, we looked at many varieties of pop-ups. I was shocked at the difference in quality between the different manufactures. It was very easy to see the differences in quality and craftmanship. Once we looked at the Colemans, it was what we compared all the others too. It's true the Colemans are more expensive, but I honestly believe this is one of those cases where you get what you pay for. We ended up buying a 2001 Coleman Bayside. Prior to that, we had a Starcraft popup that we had bought used, and I was very happy with that one also. We would have looked at Starcraft's again, but we didn't have a dealer anywhere near us.

I would second (or third ) the recommendation to look at the pop up times forum. I just wish I had found that before we purchased ours. It certainly would have helped narrow our options. From what I have been able to gather over the last couple of years, it seems Coleman, Starcraft, and to a bit lesser extent, Jayco, seem to be head and shoulders above the rest as far as quality go. From there, floor plans seem to be another important factor when considering a purchase.

My recommendation would be to look at this as a long term investment. Saving a thousand dollars on a popup of inferior quality may seem like a deal now, but it probably won't five years down the road. I would stick with one of the "big 3" and really look closely at what they have to offer and what one best fits in your budget. I've purchased enough items to know that you can't go wrong buying quality items.

Good luck with your purchase and your popup will bring you more fun than you can imagine (especially in Fort Wilderness )

Jeff

 

[disneyorbust]

We went to the RV show in January. I think a lot of the shows are probably ending since the season is about to begin. There were all the makes and models there so we could compare. We ended up buying a Jayco (we just went to look!) . You can definately negotiate with the price. We were all set to buy from one dealer and happened to pass another who quoted us $1,000.00 less than the first. They pretty much keep their value too. I have a Caravan which is ok, but I am looking into getting a transmission cooler. I'm picking mine up in about 3 weeks and can't wait. Another plug for PUT! Just watched our Pop Up 101 video last night for the 3rd time!

 

[HuckFinn]

One piece of advice--get one with air conditioning. We bought a very nice Palomino new in 1985, and I did not get air because I thought it was too expensive. It ended up really limiting how we used it. A pop-up gets about as hot inside as a car in the sun, and regardless of how you plan to use the camper, there will be times and places where the air is an absolute necessity, especially in Florida.

 

[erddig]

As a camper in upstate NY, I wouldn't recommend an air conditioner but I would recomend a heater . We can get some pretty chilly weather up here even in July and August. We own a coleman, bought it used and love it. It's a 12' and have pulled it with a Ford Explorer (needed to get a specail hitch- anti sway) but recently upgraded to a Suburban. We will be towing to FW for the first time with the Suburban (last year with explorer) in April. It came with an Add-a-room, which doubles the size of the camper, we do all the cooking in that room and hang out time during yukky weather. The front storange trunk is also a great feature, hubby's tools, chairs, toys, outdoor rug, campfire junk and anything I deam too dirty to go in the camper does in there. As the person who does most of the gathering and packing for camping, purchasing a pop-up has made getting ready to go camping a two hour job, clothes, food, kids were off.

Pam

 

[Gillian]

Thanks for all of the helpful advice! I just got back from the world & can't wait to go back in september. It probably won't be with a popup this time, but maybe the trip after, unless we buy into the disney vacation club...

 

[Ajax]

I'd buy a Coleman. We shopped for two years before buying a Santa Fe in '99. You'll like the large sink, thick mattresses, pull down galley, one piece door, large front step, one piece top, and a dozen other little things that the company has incorporated into their product.
We've put in over 20,000 miles on camping trips with it since then, and the only problem was a leak in the water heater and a reluctant ratchet on the lift mechanism, both of which were covered by the warranty.

Most of our trips are into Northern Michigan or the Northern Rockies, so AC is not an issue!

We pull it with a 2001 extended cab Chevy Silverado PU, with a 325 ci engine with the trailer towing package. No problems, even though many of our trips require negotiating 9 to 10 thousand foot high passes in the Rockies.

 

[april riddle]

Hello - I have scanned some of the replys to your question and I also wondered about a pop up I wanted one for years and my husband was reluctant. I found pop-up times and any questions you may have had they will answer them. I am now a proud owner of a Coleman Utah and we love camping. We are planning to bring the pop up to Disney in November and can't wait to go. If you live in the south or plan to camp in the south especially Florida, I would highly recommend getting the A/C. We camped in Myrtle Beach last August and the A/C was great! The best part of having the camper is that everything is packed all the time so if you want to go just for an overnight it isn't a pain in the neck getting everything ready. I highly recommend it!

 

[westjones]

I have a Coleman pop-up too. I love it! We pull it with our Montana Mini Van, and my husband is concerned about pulling it in areas with lots of mountains/hills. So we haven't left Indiana yet. BUT we are going to go to Ohio and Michigan this year. When we camp in Disney in a couple weeks, we are back in our tent.

We don't have air conditioning (sometimes I wish we did, but it hasn't been that bad, BUT we have always been able to camp under trees that protect us from the sun).

We have a portable heater in the camper and that is a MUST for cold nights. The other thing we got (and this suggestions came from Pop-Up Times) is those 'clip fans'. Those little round mini-fans that have large clamps on them. We clip them on the bar that goes over the bunks and each end has it's own 'ceiling fan'. Without the air conditioner, these fans have come in very handy and we use them a lot. During the day, I turn them to blow into the cabin part (if we are in the camper), at night I turn them in towards the bunks.

So if you don't get air-conditioning, those clip-fans are wonderful!

Also, I found a little dorm room microwave that we take with us. We also have a small TV/VCR, a toaster oven, and radio. That is about it for our electronics (which is a lot more than we could have in the tent). Oh yeah! We bought a Fridge that can run on car battery or outlets. The Fridge in the pop-up was never enough room for us, so we bought one from Walmart. It has been great. I take it on trips and we carry food in it for our travels (it can lay like an ice cooler or you have it stand upright). In the camper we put the fridge in front of our sitting area and use it was a 'table'. It is crowded, but we manage. The Fridge is coming to Disney with us, event if it has to stay in the van.

It is going to be hard going back to the tent after having the pop-up for 2 years. But we will be in the parks most of the time anyway so we won't be spending too much time at the campsite.

OH! Another neat thing we got was a 'instant up' screen house from Target to put up over the picnic table. That is going with us to Disney too!

Debra

 

[austinsmommy]

Hello- I am austinsmommy's dh, we own an rv sales in Ohio, and I thought that maybe I could be of some help. Depending on your price range you might want to consider an expandable. An expandable is a combination between a pop-up and a travel trailer. They give you more freedom then a pop up, because you can use them while you travel without having to set them up, and also you can sleep in them even if the beds are not out. They also hold their resale value better. Expandables can also be pulled with the Honda Odyssey minivan, we just sold one to a odyssey owner last week. IF you are afraid that you cannot afford an expandable then their are definitely some brands of pop ups you should stay away from. I am not sure I am allowed to say on here, but if you email us I will tell you. Get ahold of us if you have any other questions, and good luck.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

Are you talking about units like the Hi-Lo's? Those are amazing. We are talking about upgrading. The dealer who sold us the coleman also sells those and we often stop by. Not a ton more money either, and I really like the models with the "tip outs". We are eyeing one that has pullout bunks in the ends like the coleman, which gives you more floor space. I bet we end up with one in about two years.