Had our first outing with the new BC last weekend (in Middlebury no less...it's a family tradition to go to Shipshewana over Memorial Day).
Firstly, we just love it. There have been some small "warranty" issues but we fixed those for the most part - assume this is the case with any RV... We didn't find any major issues since we picked it up at the dealer other than that the screen door was missing the sliding plexiglass - called Heartland and they sent the part to us almost immediately.
Secondly, the following at times compares the 2014 BC to our 2010 BH – many/most of the features that we like in our new BC are also in the new BH’s. It is very apparent that Heartland “listens” to its owners – almost all areas of weakness in our 2010 BH have been improved.
Likes:
1. It's a beautiful thing - both in and out. We got quite a few compliments - one of our neighbors had a fully painted Redwood and came over and told us ours was beautiful (so was their's
).
2. Tried the dual AC now that we had 50 amps - worked great - really like being able to run bedroom AC and have it cool living area - much less noise.
3. Kitchen design is wonderful - great deal of counter space especially with the moveable island. We like the sink being at the wall rather than in the center of the RV. There are "many" drawers throughout the kitchen. Still haven't filled them all. Double door refrigerator is awesome. Microwave is nice and roomy. Convection worked very well.
4. 20 gal ph water heater worked great - we took back to back showers with no issue.
5. Speaking of showers - bath design is wonderful (keep using that word). Large shower plus linen closet are great pluses (and medicine chest is larger than we had in our 2010 BH). Toilet worked great. (We like the BH sink – we didn’t get the vessel sink.)
6. LED lighting is very plentiful and bright - really like the lighting design over the sofa which is copied in the bath over the medicine chest.
7. We were concerned about the awning being black but the consensus among family and neighbors is that it's a good choice as it won't show the dirt...
8. Rear sofa and side recliners made living area even more comfortable than our 2010 BH 3410RE – full entertainment center provides a great deal of storage and great viewing of the TV.
9. Really liked the fireplace - we were concerned it wouldn't be as nice as had been in our 2010 BH but it is actually better - has a timer and true thermostat (e.g., 70 degrees, etc.) and there is a remote.
10. Level ups worked very well. We had "some" scary moments using this live for the first time - we joined our programmer and mechanical thinking caps to figure it out – my (programmer) feedback: this really needs to be more user friendly/intuitive - using an up arrow with multiple functions is really not acceptable (pressed once = manual, and pressed twice = retract (including landing gears). Also, good that there is still a front switch for the landing gears.
11. Furnace ducting is much better designed than had been in our 2010 BH. BH’s heat was so great in the bedroom and bath that we had to close off the registers (with purchased closeable registers) and also stuff a towel in it (bedroom); whereas, the majority of heat in the BC comes to the living area.
12. Towed like a dream even with just a standard pin box; 2010 BH had a great deal of chucking even with the TrailAir TriGlide. We noted this improvement when we took it home “dry.” But it still towed well loaded down.
13. Extended pin box is very nice – can get around our short bed truck more easily when hooking up.
14. Much better tank level indicators.
15. Oven vent cover is beautiful and once we got it opened, we found it works very well!
16. Range has better controls – the Magic Chef in our 2010 BH only had variable control for the high powered burner – the Atwood has variable control for all 3 burners. We also like the stainless steel finish better than black.
17. Really like the VERSA table – had a good time trying out all the different ways to turn it. (This was one of the key reasons we went with a BC – wanted a full sized table.)
18. Mattress is MUCH better in the BC than had been provided in the 2010 BH.
Dislikes:
1. Beauflor is attractive (we have BH design) but too soft – slide leaves marks.
2. Difficult to reach oven vent cover.
3. Dealing with bathroom door is cumbersome – we installed a nickel magnetic door stopper to keep it open when not in use (from Amazon). Our 2010 BH gets a plus here because it had a pocket bathroom door – however, we understand the reasoning behind deleting this (space) and would rather have the space.
4. Sofa bed mattress is terrible – it really shouldn’t be called a mattress – doesn’t even lay flat when bed is opened. We are offsetting by placing the Flair air mattress (same as provided in the BH – dealer ordered it for us) over the standard mattress. BH’s sofa bed is miles ahead of the BC’s – much better mattress and system overall as well as it includes storage. Our order originally included the BH sofa bed but it was discovered later by engineering that it would not fit in the BC. (This was very close to a deal breaker – reason dealer provided the Flair air mattress.) We're looking into replacing the mattress but the sofa is so shallow we're concerned that replacements won't fit.
5. No underbed storage as the BC’s bedroom has a hydraulic (not electric) slide – we modified to include a large Sterilite bin from Target in the left side.
6. QC at Heartland and inspection at dealership could have been better - there were some minor issues that were very apparent once we got it home and inspected it even further. Examples include the screen door, crooked drawer in entertainment center, broken toilet (we caught this during our inspection the at dealer's and it was replaced; however, when we got home we found it leaked as the dealer did not put in a seal), living area TV mount was crooked top and bottom and front and back (we had dealer correct - but their fix didn't), awning loose in one corner, vent cover caulked in, front burner in range was loose (dealer fixed), main door was warped and wouldn't close correctly (this had been a problem with our 2010 BH so we knew how to fix), and there were screws protuding in the sewer storage area that had to be cut down.
Theresa
Firstly, we just love it. There have been some small "warranty" issues but we fixed those for the most part - assume this is the case with any RV... We didn't find any major issues since we picked it up at the dealer other than that the screen door was missing the sliding plexiglass - called Heartland and they sent the part to us almost immediately.
Secondly, the following at times compares the 2014 BC to our 2010 BH – many/most of the features that we like in our new BC are also in the new BH’s. It is very apparent that Heartland “listens” to its owners – almost all areas of weakness in our 2010 BH have been improved.
Likes:
1. It's a beautiful thing - both in and out. We got quite a few compliments - one of our neighbors had a fully painted Redwood and came over and told us ours was beautiful (so was their's
).2. Tried the dual AC now that we had 50 amps - worked great - really like being able to run bedroom AC and have it cool living area - much less noise.
3. Kitchen design is wonderful - great deal of counter space especially with the moveable island. We like the sink being at the wall rather than in the center of the RV. There are "many" drawers throughout the kitchen. Still haven't filled them all. Double door refrigerator is awesome. Microwave is nice and roomy. Convection worked very well.
4. 20 gal ph water heater worked great - we took back to back showers with no issue.
5. Speaking of showers - bath design is wonderful (keep using that word). Large shower plus linen closet are great pluses (and medicine chest is larger than we had in our 2010 BH). Toilet worked great. (We like the BH sink – we didn’t get the vessel sink.)
6. LED lighting is very plentiful and bright - really like the lighting design over the sofa which is copied in the bath over the medicine chest.
7. We were concerned about the awning being black but the consensus among family and neighbors is that it's a good choice as it won't show the dirt...
8. Rear sofa and side recliners made living area even more comfortable than our 2010 BH 3410RE – full entertainment center provides a great deal of storage and great viewing of the TV.
9. Really liked the fireplace - we were concerned it wouldn't be as nice as had been in our 2010 BH but it is actually better - has a timer and true thermostat (e.g., 70 degrees, etc.) and there is a remote.
10. Level ups worked very well. We had "some" scary moments using this live for the first time - we joined our programmer and mechanical thinking caps to figure it out – my (programmer) feedback: this really needs to be more user friendly/intuitive - using an up arrow with multiple functions is really not acceptable (pressed once = manual, and pressed twice = retract (including landing gears). Also, good that there is still a front switch for the landing gears.
11. Furnace ducting is much better designed than had been in our 2010 BH. BH’s heat was so great in the bedroom and bath that we had to close off the registers (with purchased closeable registers) and also stuff a towel in it (bedroom); whereas, the majority of heat in the BC comes to the living area.
12. Towed like a dream even with just a standard pin box; 2010 BH had a great deal of chucking even with the TrailAir TriGlide. We noted this improvement when we took it home “dry.” But it still towed well loaded down.
13. Extended pin box is very nice – can get around our short bed truck more easily when hooking up.
14. Much better tank level indicators.
15. Oven vent cover is beautiful and once we got it opened, we found it works very well!
16. Range has better controls – the Magic Chef in our 2010 BH only had variable control for the high powered burner – the Atwood has variable control for all 3 burners. We also like the stainless steel finish better than black.
17. Really like the VERSA table – had a good time trying out all the different ways to turn it. (This was one of the key reasons we went with a BC – wanted a full sized table.)
18. Mattress is MUCH better in the BC than had been provided in the 2010 BH.
Dislikes:
1. Beauflor is attractive (we have BH design) but too soft – slide leaves marks.
2. Difficult to reach oven vent cover.
3. Dealing with bathroom door is cumbersome – we installed a nickel magnetic door stopper to keep it open when not in use (from Amazon). Our 2010 BH gets a plus here because it had a pocket bathroom door – however, we understand the reasoning behind deleting this (space) and would rather have the space.
4. Sofa bed mattress is terrible
– it really shouldn’t be called a mattress – doesn’t even lay flat when bed is opened. We are offsetting by placing the Flair air mattress (same as provided in the BH – dealer ordered it for us) over the standard mattress. BH’s sofa bed is miles ahead of the BC’s – much better mattress and system overall as well as it includes storage. Our order originally included the BH sofa bed but it was discovered later by engineering that it would not fit in the BC. (This was very close to a deal breaker – reason dealer provided the Flair air mattress.) We're looking into replacing the mattress but the sofa is so shallow we're concerned that replacements won't fit.5. No underbed storage as the BC’s bedroom has a hydraulic (not electric) slide – we modified to include a large Sterilite bin from Target in the left side.
6. QC at Heartland and inspection at dealership could have been better - there were some minor issues that were very apparent once we got it home and inspected it even further. Examples include the screen door, crooked drawer in entertainment center, broken toilet (we caught this during our inspection the at dealer's and it was replaced; however, when we got home we found it leaked as the dealer did not put in a seal), living area TV mount was crooked top and bottom and front and back (we had dealer correct - but their fix didn't
), awning loose in one corner, vent cover caulked in, front burner in range was loose (dealer fixed), main door was warped and wouldn't close correctly (this had been a problem with our 2010 BH so we knew how to fix), and there were screws protuding in the sewer storage area that had to be cut down. Theresa
