Apologize if this has already been covered. Did a bit of a search and could not find it.
We are trying to decide between the Voltage and the Cyclone 3800. We though we had made up our minds on the Voltage but saw a Cyclone yesterday and we really liked it.
Am curious those who own either did you look at both and what made you go the direction you did. Also which has the better reputation for quality and customer service?
Also what are you towing with and how is the ride. We have a 2012 F350 crew cab 4x4, is that enough truck?
I don't have the 3800, but the 3950 Cyclone. We looked a lot them before deciding on the Cyclone. We chose it because it had the floorplan we liked best (bath and a half, full sized fridge in the garage, etc.). We also liked the dealer. Later turned out that we just liked the Salesman and the dealer is just OK.
Have owned it for over 2 years now, it's been a great rig. A few teething pains which Heartland stood behind with minimal prodding. If I had it to do all over again, I'd probably get a Jayco, but it's nothing I lose sleep over. Pick the one you like, and buy it from the dealer who's Service Manager you like. The Sales team quickly loses interest in you after the fact.
Most all the rigs today are so similar that it doesn't matter which one you choose. (more depends on what kind of a day the crew was having when they built it ;-) )
2013 Sierra Denali 3500 Duramax\Dually
2011 Cyclone 3950 HD
2009 Harley Davidson Ultra Classic
2011 Can-Am Spyder RT-S Limited (DW's)
Usually a keg of beer....
We have a 2011 Cyclone 3812, which evolved into the 3800. Voltage was very new about 16 months ago & we never looked at them. Last summer we went through one and seriously thought about dealing. The appearance and many details are awesome. After a really close look and a lot of research we decided to stay with what we have. You will get a lot of opinions on this; here's mine:
-Both companies (Dutchman & Heartland) are now owned by Thor. Heartland was very recently acquired by them. Both have a good reputation of working to correct issues found during the warranty period. Dealers seem to be the weak link in both cases.
-Cyclone has hydraulic front legs which are very quick and a nice plus. (Both are available with automatic leveling which negates this plus for Cyclone).
-Voltage uses Schwintek electric slides. There have been a lot of early problems keeping these working. Apparently the construction & set-up details are critical. Hopefully they have been improved, but this was a really big concern for us. The Cyclone has been totally reliable in this area.
-Voltage couch is notoriously uncomfortable. We sat in a new one and realized we would have to budget for a different couch or recliners. Several owners have made this change.
-Have heard a couple of complaints about the Voltage mattress, likely personal preference. We figured we would upgrade our Cyclone mattress but it's the best one we've owned in 44 years & several houses.
-Both units are very heavy. Tires are a weak link on both as provided. Seriously plan a tire upgrade if you are going to go any distance.
You should plan to do lots of reading. I recommend going to the Heartland Owners' Club site as well as rv.net. I read a comparison over there that listed some construction details that favored Cyclone. You'll also read many tales of woe from early Voltage owners, but I don't think it's a slam-dunk decision to get a Cyclone at all. The Voltage is simply beautiful inside and they appear to be working very hard on resolving issues and improving quality. The little things we like or dis-like about our present unit are common to most trailers in this class. For me, if there has been a definitive improvement in getting the Voltage slides reliable then it would be down to the best deal. I would get the auto leveling and plan on installing a couple of recliners and prepare to enjoy a gorgeous coach. If not, the Cyclone has been great for us. We've pulled over 17,000 miles and it's as comfortable as your favorite blue jeans.
We didn't look at the Cyclone last year when we bought our Voltage. We had been looking for some time and had narrowed our purchase down to the Fusion or Voltage. We got a great price on the Voltage and decided to go in that direction. Our 3905 has never been back to the dealer for any repair work. I have had slide issues but mostly related to not being level when moving them in or out. I've also had smaller issues such as a kinked vacuum hose, kinked water hose, bolt missing on the Happy-Jack Bed, but overall zero problems.
Yes, we did ditch our couch and mattress. The couch was unexpected, but we are thrilled to have the Lazy Boy Leather sofa/recliners in place. The bed was planned as we moved the Sleep Number in soon as we got the RV home.
Having had two other RV's (Weekend Warrior, Gear Box ) prior to this one, I would say that I'm very pleased with most of the quality issues, towing etc. of this rig.
As far as your truck goes, I think you will find that it will handle the job great. Can't speak to towing the Cyclone, but the Voltage tows exceptionally well. I'm pulling mine with a Ford F-350 DRW and most of the time I have to remind myself it's back there.
The bathroom in the Voltage was probably the single biggest thing we saw in the Voltage's favor...that and we we got the epic package model with all the bells for only a couple grand more than the dealership down the road wanted for the big Cyclone without the auto level, air ride hitch, keyless entry, etc. We just think we got more bang for our buck with the Voltage.
The warranty just expired this week on our Cyclone. Thank goodness we bought an extended warranty.
Of the three campers we've owned in our lifetime, our Cyclone has by far been the most expensive and least dependable. Heartland support has been terrible but our dealer has been great.
We will NOT be buying another Heartland product next time around.
After looking at toyhaulers for over 2 years, we choose the Cyclone 3800 over all others primarily because of its open floor plan. We ordered it from the factory with some minor tweaks e.g. replace theater seating with a couch in the street side slide, standard door vs, sliding glass door going into the garage, table and chairs vs booth. We have made some modifications to the interior. Added a cabinet over the main bath toilet, installed a pantry over the factory ladder to the loft and constucted a new wooden vallance and "Flat Runged" ladder, installed an upper cabinet between the 1/2 bath door on glass door in the garage. On a scale of 1-10 I give the Cyclone a 7.5 for overall quality. Heartland has stood behind the product and getting warranty items repaired was not too painful. Most of the work was accomplished by a repair facility in our home town as the dealership was 350 miles away (long story) Our biggest unresolved issue is the lack of heat getting to the garage and the factory has NOT been helpful at all on this issue. I really like the hydrolic landing gear and slides. Almost too fast at times. Our TV is a 2011 F-450 6.7 Diesel CC/DRW/4X4 with 4:30 gears in the rear end. Your F-350 should pull the 18K 3800 with no problem assuming you have the 6'7L Diesel engine. I have pulled our TH with a friends 2005 F-350 with 6.0
Diesel and I am glad to have the bigger motor.
We looked at both the Cyclone and the Voltage. We ultimately decided on the Voltage 3795 with the Epic Package. The Epic Package gave the unit a fireplace and the rear party deck...which really adds some nice "glam" to it. We had some initial problems with the unit, but both the dealer (Camping World) and the manufacturer (Dutchmen) were a pleasure to work with and resolved each and every issue. We upgraded from a KZ Inferno and LOVE the new interior. We tow with a 2011 GMC 3500 Crew Cab DRW...trailer tows like a charm!
Offline
