Add'l Standard/Optional Items desired

Just saw our first Bighorns yesterday, too bad the dealer didn't have all the floorplans. Saw one which would do us and the sales brochure had another. Unfortunately the sales brochure isn't very complete regarding standard and optional features. Since we are about a yr. out from ordering some new 5W, might as well add to our wishlist here--hope this is an appropriate forum.

Saw a Titanium which had a 16 gal Atwood XT water heater and a barbeque quick connection as standard features which sounded very nice--be nice not to drag around our 4 gal propane tank. Would be OK if these were options on a Bighorn. An option they had which I would order is hydraulic disc brakes.

Hi mobilrvn,

I moved your thread to the Prospective Owners forum as it will likely get more attention here.

Your best bet for a general idea of what is standard and what is optional is the manufacturer's website at this link.

Running changes are made throughout a model year and the website is not always 100% accurate but they do a pretty good job. The biggest difference many users report is that a particular unit on a dealer lot does not match up with current offerings on the factory website. This is often times due to running changes but possible even more often due to how long a unit has been sitting on a dealer lot. Could even be a prior model year.

As for disc brakes, I can tell you that they are not presently an option with Heartland. Some users have added disc brakes after their purchase. Happyrover on this forum did this. I saw them being installed at a service center. Very nice.

A 16 gallon water heater - wow! That's big. If hot water is really needed in that sort of volume, while Heartland currently uses a 12 gallon unit on most unit and offers no other options that I am aware of, give consideration to a tankless unit. I have seen these installed on several coaches after the factory build but before retail deliver. This was done at a service center on non-Heartland units. At full retail, the cost is about $300 more than a 12 gallon DSI unit.

Of course, you are the best judge of your needs and when weighing the overall value equation, all options in, across all brands being considered, you'll arrive at the best choice for you.

In the meantime, enjoy this forum and continue to ask questions of the membership here.

Jim
Admin

With more research, discovered that it really isn't a 16 gal water heater, but one that produces the equivalent of 16 gals of hot water by mixing very, very hot water with cold water. Still a good idea if it works as advertised. What I had hope to see was a place where customers could have an input on what they would like to see or not see in their future rig either as standard or as options. Maybe there could be such a forum.

Think it would be useful. The mfgrs. aren't always aware or responsive to customers needs and desires. This might be a help. Know that a mfgr can't supply everthing a customer might want, but with the never ending increase in fuel costs, the mfgr which is responsive will be the one making the sale. Maybe Heartland should set up some type of consumer advisory council/committee--bet you could get volunteers at the rally.

Want to slip in another suggestion. Know that a few 5W mfgrs. are using residential refridgerators which are a bunch cheaper, bigger and in my experience better than RV refers. Our Dometic has failed us twice since we bought our 2004 5W. One year while traveling in Mexico, our refer in our old 5W died (another Dometic) and I replaced it with a household refer which was bigger and had auto-defrost. It worked great--used the genterator when boondocking. It would have been great with solar. For the same price of a RV refer, you can install a larger refer and a solar system to support it and other "stuff", too.

Mobilrvn, under the heading of "Bighorn" (as well as Landmark, etc) there is a topic named "Design-Ideas" where the factory does read about the consumer's ideas and take them into consideration.

Like you, we are looking for the "perfect" full-time unit. For us it seems the Landmark is as close as it comes. As soon as we can sell our current unit we will be placing an order with RVS for Less.

Good luck throughout your year of searching and researching.

Sheri