RV Show- Hershey PA Sept 10-14 2008
- Thread starter sasha_j
- Start date
Part 1 of ??
OK, here is my attempt at a report. This will be the first of several posts.
Keep in mind that we are looking for something very specific, i.e., a toy hauler perfect for a full time couple hauling 2 quads and a street bike and who like to boondock in remote areas for extended periods. We don't need sleeping for an army and want to keep the length down as much as possible to help in getting into typically tight, primitive, BLM, NPS and state park sites
This is in no way an attempt to review the show as a whole. We only looked at toy haulers and ignored all 5th wheels, Class A's, B's, C's, Popups and Truck Campers.
Now that I say that, I wish I did look inside Bighorn 5'ers just to see if Heartland puts an oventop with a spark igniter, which, incredibly, they don't with Cyclones or Razors. Every other TH at the show has this basic feature and for that matter, so do the cheapest of entry level popups. (Any owners of Heartland fivers chime in here - Does your rig have an oventop with a spark igniter?)
Anyway, we met with 3 Heartland reps and had some insightful conversations.
Coley Brady, Product Manger for Landmark, Bighorn and Big Country, gave us insight on why Service Manuals are not made available to end users, or even, apparently, to dealers. Coley tells us that the main concern would be a competitor availing themselves to what Heartland considers proprietary information. In theory, I can accept that, but in practice, from what I see, all TH manufacturers seem to use the same basic Lippert chassis components and other common parts suppliers, so I really don’t see what the big deal is. I somehow doubt Keystone would want to steal the AV systems schematic for instance…
Mike Aplin, Regional Sales Manager for Cyclone and Razor, spent a good deal of time with us and offered many insights to the products and the way the higher end models with 3 slides differ from those with 2 slides. Mike does not seem to be a big fan of special requests from customers though. He gave us a lot of insight to warranty procedures as we might experience as full timers, which gave us a pretty good comfort level.
The best conversation we had was with Greg Dischler, Product Manager for Cyclone and Razor. We easily spent a couple of hours with him and are appreciative of his time. We had a list of prepared questions and he patiently answered each and every one. He also personally led us on a tour of each Cyclone and Razor on the show floor. Laura kept better notes on this and I’ll have her chime in as well.
Greg was more positive regarding the possibility of special requests and we might take him up on that in the future should we ultimately go with a Cyclone. Basically, our dilemma is that some of the best goodies are reserved for the 3 slide models and we want to limit ourselves to a 3210 or a 3795, while still getting the high end dinette cushions and one piece shower. In any event, our time with Greg was the highlight of the show and we greatly appreciate his product knowledge and enthusiasm.
The lineup at the show had only 4 TH’s and unfortunately for us, the 2 models we did want to see (The 3210 and 3795) weren’t there. We have to assume there is more demand for the larger models.
Present:
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Razor 3612TS, a model new to us
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3850
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3914
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3950
We toured all 4 of course, with Greg leading the way. These are the pics from the Razor. Nice TH, but is not quite what we are looking for. Here are the pics, click on the thumbnails for big pics:
OK, here is my attempt at a report. This will be the first of several posts.
Keep in mind that we are looking for something very specific, i.e., a toy hauler perfect for a full time couple hauling 2 quads and a street bike and who like to boondock in remote areas for extended periods. We don't need sleeping for an army and want to keep the length down as much as possible to help in getting into typically tight, primitive, BLM, NPS and state park sites
This is in no way an attempt to review the show as a whole. We only looked at toy haulers and ignored all 5th wheels, Class A's, B's, C's, Popups and Truck Campers.
Now that I say that, I wish I did look inside Bighorn 5'ers just to see if Heartland puts an oventop with a spark igniter, which, incredibly, they don't with Cyclones or Razors. Every other TH at the show has this basic feature and for that matter, so do the cheapest of entry level popups. (Any owners of Heartland fivers chime in here - Does your rig have an oventop with a spark igniter?)
Anyway, we met with 3 Heartland reps and had some insightful conversations.
Coley Brady, Product Manger for Landmark, Bighorn and Big Country, gave us insight on why Service Manuals are not made available to end users, or even, apparently, to dealers. Coley tells us that the main concern would be a competitor availing themselves to what Heartland considers proprietary information. In theory, I can accept that, but in practice, from what I see, all TH manufacturers seem to use the same basic Lippert chassis components and other common parts suppliers, so I really don’t see what the big deal is. I somehow doubt Keystone would want to steal the AV systems schematic for instance…
Mike Aplin, Regional Sales Manager for Cyclone and Razor, spent a good deal of time with us and offered many insights to the products and the way the higher end models with 3 slides differ from those with 2 slides. Mike does not seem to be a big fan of special requests from customers though. He gave us a lot of insight to warranty procedures as we might experience as full timers, which gave us a pretty good comfort level.
The best conversation we had was with Greg Dischler, Product Manager for Cyclone and Razor. We easily spent a couple of hours with him and are appreciative of his time. We had a list of prepared questions and he patiently answered each and every one. He also personally led us on a tour of each Cyclone and Razor on the show floor. Laura kept better notes on this and I’ll have her chime in as well.
Greg was more positive regarding the possibility of special requests and we might take him up on that in the future should we ultimately go with a Cyclone. Basically, our dilemma is that some of the best goodies are reserved for the 3 slide models and we want to limit ourselves to a 3210 or a 3795, while still getting the high end dinette cushions and one piece shower. In any event, our time with Greg was the highlight of the show and we greatly appreciate his product knowledge and enthusiasm.
The lineup at the show had only 4 TH’s and unfortunately for us, the 2 models we did want to see (The 3210 and 3795) weren’t there. We have to assume there is more demand for the larger models.
Present:
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Razor 3612TS, a model new to us
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3850
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3914
-[FONT="] [/FONT]Cyclone 3950
We toured all 4 of course, with Greg leading the way. These are the pics from the Razor. Nice TH, but is not quite what we are looking for. Here are the pics, click on the thumbnails for big pics:
bigredtruck
Well-known member
Our Cyclone 3210 does not have the ignitor. Until the last month, I didn't think the one in our old FW worked, so it's not that inconvenient for me except when all 4 lighters disappear from the drawer. The oven is hard to light though and is very small. But when I think about it, I don't use it that much. There are other posts about the lack of the lighter and the difficulty in lighting the oven.
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