Any Regrets

[gardan69]

Any regrets from Cyclone owners ?
I am on my 4th camper in 4 years, 3 good ones, 1 bad one. Just want to get a quality product on the next go round. I've done a lot of research and have decided on the Cyclone, but with every forum you have people having some issues. Just wondering what your thoughts are. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.

 

[crazybanshee]

We love ours. The floor plan suits our needs and we had very few problems. This is our forth trailer and they all have had issues.
Doug

 

[htneighbors]

I LOVE MY CYCLONE! More and more every day!

 

[Loco]

We love our rig also. It took me many hours of upgrades to get it to my level of construction I am happy with. But that was my choice on most of it. We did have some troubles with it when it was new. But over all it is one **** of a rig.No way we would get another rig now. Our cyclone is better than any manufactures toyhauler out there as far as layouts. But QC needs a lot of help. They look really good on the outside and in but behind the walls of some of them will scare you to death. But all manufactures are like this. Cyclones are are one nice rig. With some loving care from the owner.They can be made into the very best!

 

[Jett]

Based on my experience, I'd say Cyclone design and construction quality is better than most, but still has room for improvement. However (again -- based on my experience) Heartland is much better about standing behind their product than most RV manufacturers. I had some really bad experiences when I first bought my 3210, but they all centered around my dealer (who has now gone out of business). When I finally took control of the situation and contacted Heartland myself, they authorized me to take it to a RV repair facility of my choice and they did everything possible to make me a happy customer (camper). The service manager at the repair facility (not a Heartland dealer) even said the folks are Heartland had been great to work with.

I really like the layout of my 3210, so I don't intend to trade for a very long time, but if I do, I'll definitely lean toward a Heartland product again.

Jett

 

[tbsimmons]

The wife and I have a 09 3912, got it in March.
Do we like the rig, yes LOVE IT.
Have we had problems, yes. More so than the 06 Thor Jazz we traded for it.
Most I would put on the dealer. But some of the finishing off on our trailer is less than what was on the Jazz that was half the price. That is a factory problem.
Like mentioned, behind the walls, don't look unless you want to spend some time cleaning some wires up. I still need to do mine when it gets out of the shop again.
But overall I don't think that you will find a better Toy Hauler, unless you design one yourself.

 

[fmurray3]

We have owned our Cyclone 3210 for over a year and have had a few minor problems which were easly fixed. I also like the floor layout. The only two things I may change with conversions is taking the TV from over the door and mounting it in the entertainment cabinet and adding an extension to the garage ramp which would allow easier entrance and exit for my Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic. When we were shopping for a toyhauler the Heartland Cyclones we looked at seemed to be better built than other toyhaulers, and the heartland owners group forum offered existing owner information that aided in our decision making.

 

[KHinson]

We bought our 2007 Cyclone 3795 in Jun 2006. It is our second RV. Our first was 28' ALJO. In 8 yrs of towing it around America where the Air Force sent us, we only had one minor problem with the furnace. And it served as our temporary home on many an assignment. After reading this owners forum, I believe I was very lucky with that RV. We have had significant problems with our Cyclone which I attribute to lack of Quality Control at the manufacturer. Our dealer has repaired most of the problems over the last 2 years, except for a recurring fiberglass cracking problem. Heartland has stood behind their product and paid for all the repairs, but I am certainly not happy with the initial lack of quality control. Others on this forum say Heartland is better than other manufacturers. My experience is limited as you can tell. Even though Heartland has offered to repair my RV if I bring it to them, the 2500 mile round trip at today's diesel prices makes that a non-solution for me, especially since the cracks in the fiberglass were supposed to be permanently fixed before I picked up the RV. I shouldn't have been so naive and have certainly learned from my experience. The folks at Heartland have been responsive and I believe they care about their customers. But if I knew then what I know now, I would not have bought the Cyclone. I have read a lot of posts since joining this forum last week. Most folks say they can put up with the issues because Heartland is not as bad as other manufacturers and redo the work themselves. And if I had bought the RV used, I might agree with them. But a new RV, of this expense, should not have these types of recurring problems. I know you are an experienced RV owner, as you are on your 4th RV, but I would respectfully suggest you carefully consider all the posts members have posted in your decision calculus. If I lived near the manufacturer and could easily travel to get the repairs done, I would probably feel differently. Regardless, best of luck with your decision.

Keith

 

[Jett]

Rick,

If you decide to move your TV to the entertainment center, please post some photos and instructions. I've been kicking around the idea of moving mine, but havent' had the nerve to tackle it yet.

Jett

 

[gcheimis]

I started with a Tahoe TT, then a Jayco 5'ver and now the 4012.

The Tahoe was cheap to buy and never had a single issue. After getting it the family became hooked on Rv'ing but with 6 of us we needed more room. After 1 year we traded in the Tahoe and got 100% of what we paid for it towards the Jayco Talon.

We had the Talon for almost 3 years and had a total of two issues. The fuel tank was higher than the fuel filler. Unfortunately this violates the laws of plumbing so it was always painful to fill the tanks. It had dual tanks and the front was not as bad as the back. They played with venting but any plumber will tell you "hot on the left, cold on the right and S##t runs downhill. So does fuel. The second issue involved the mixing of stainless and non-stainless hardware with the result that the top rail fell off. Jayco and the dealer pointed at each other for several months. Each said the other was the problem, the result being I lived with half full fuel tanks and no top railing. We went to a show and saw the 4012. Sold the Jayco one week later on E-bay and got back 80% of original cost.

When we got the 4012 the layout was everything we thought it was going to be. A little over a year later we still love the layout. The garage does double duty as garage on the way and the girls room when we get where we are going. The loft and fold-out belong to the boys and my wife and I have our sleep number bed up front! Everbody has there own personal space. What more can you ask for! It also has a great entertainment system and the seperate inside an outside radios again give everybody their own space. A bathroom you can change in is invaluable with 2 teenage girls in the cargo.

Now the bad side. Lot's of little things. Fit and finish is not near the quality of the Jayco and really not as good as the Tahoe either. Sawdust everywhere, pieces of plywood, plastic, wires etc., behind every bulkhead and under everything. Off-center holes and screws that missed the plywood, etc. I used to build boats as my summer job in college so I can fix all this with a little sweat equity. The landing gear have never worked correctly with the electric motor but I have really built up my biceps with the hand crank! Considering how much I paid for this, the number of little issues has always bothered me.

My advice is:

1) if you really find an interior like the 4012 that no one else has,

2) you like to tinker with the little things and have some tools and mechanical ability or 3) you live close to the dealer and don't mind taking it in to fix the little things, a Cyclone is a great choice.

As to Heartland, if you call them and get a hold of someone they will find a dealer to work with you, no questions asked. Jayco on the other hand, with the issue of the non-filling tanks basically said too bad it's the dealers problem and the dealer decided to stop servicing Jayco's rather than deal with it. Heartland helped me find a new dealer when I moved cross country. No way Jayco or Tahoe would have gotten that involved.

Bottom line.... I still love it. The problems just give something to gripe about around the camp fire!

 

[gardan69]

Thanks for the info, we are currently in litigation with Fleetwood. My camper has spent 4 months out of 12 months in the shop. Still have items that are not fixed, so it has been frustrating to say the least. We should have an answer/offer from them in a couple of weeks.

 

[Luckyhat12]

I don't like the way I was treated when I bought mine and I can't tell if it was a dealer thing or if it was a manufacturer thing. I picked mine up, had it a week while the dealer was closed and it spent the next 5 weeks in the shop again and I had it another week and had to take it back to the dealer again for more repairs. I had water in my floor on multiple occasions that caused water damage to the cabinets that still hasn't been repaired but it is on the list. Turned out to be a faulty gasket at the hot water heater. I had problems with water under the furnace and a lot of trim falling off. I also had problems with my tanks because the factory cut the aluminum holes out to run the plumbing and threw them back in the tanks. My valves wouldn't shut off because some tech broke stupid.

I am on my second shower faucet because the first one leaked and when they took the shower out to replace it they put a screw through the seal at the glass causing it to leak during each shower. that caused more water damage to my entertainment center cabinet before we could figure out what that was. no telling what happened to the sub floor at that point.

I like the floor plan. I do not like that I ordered an 08 model and expected certain things of the 08 model and then when it shows up there are things missing that I was lead to believe would be there. Once again, a dealer issue more than the manufacturer but I was still mislead. I was expecting a TV over the door. The TV was rigidly mounted to the wall and I ended up having to spend another $100+ to buy a mount so that I could see my TV from the couch without black spots at the top and it having funky angles.

I was expecting another head unit in the basement to control the outside speakers. That wasn't there and now we have this dumb dual zone unit from Jensen.

I was expecting my rear storage slides not to fall out but when you put anything in them mine dropped out the bottom. My dealer had to rivet aluminum shims to the sides to keep them from dropping out the bottom. I was expecting the trailer doors to be lubricated and wondered why it was so hard to raise and lower the back door. I put grease in it and it was amazing at how easy it became.

There are a bunch of little things that really make you mad. I was expecting there to be some support in the drains for the sinks instead of them going from the sink to the turn down for the back tank before it had any support. My sink drain fell off and I was running sink water all in the floor before I knew it. I had to clean up water that day too.

I was expecting better insulation in the floor storage area. I still have a cold bed when the temp drops below 50 degrees because they must have forgotten some insulation somewhere or they have it too tight against the carpet and it can't get any air circulation under there.

I am another one of those that it costs me much less to just fix it myself than it is to take it in. Lowes is across the parkway from my campground and the dealer is 46.2 miles away one way per the tell tell google map. That means that is 10 gallons of diesel by the time I tow it there and back not counting the trip back to wherever I can stay becasue I am full timing at the moment.

The slide out awnings suck and every time they tighten it up it just sags back down again. I have told them there is something causing the spring to slip more than once but they still won't replace the thing. Guess it is going to have to have a catastrophic failure to get the mechanism replaced.

I honestly bought this camper to keep for many, many years but I don't see it lasting that long.

It is just frustrating to spend this much money and order something to your specs and not feel like you got what you paid for. I am sure there are more things that I forgot but those are some of the stingers.