Hello from the great Northwest. We are looking at buying our first TT and have narrowed it down to (2).
First, my tow vehicle is a '06 Ford F150 Supercrew cab 4x4 with the 5.4L engine. So I wanted to keep the trailer in the lightweight class, even though Ford talks about the 9-11,000 pound towing capacity. Uh-huh.
So we've found two lightweight TTs at a local Camping World dealership. One is a Jayco Feather Sport 218, which is the largest in that model line. Unloaded weight is 3490, with a dry hitch of 405, and GVWR of 4500. 24 month warranty.
The other is a Keystone made for Camping World, called the Freedom Lite 185QB. It has a dry weight of 4100, hitch of 325, and GVWR of 5925. 12 month warranty.
Either one would work, but the Freedom Lite model has a queen ben slide-out, that would give us more usable floor space and elbow room.
Has anyone had any experience with either, pros/cons with products from either company, or suggestions? Our trips would normally include the wife and son, and the dogs. Occasionally, we might have 1 or 2 other folks. I am more concerned with overall performance, reliability, structural stability, etc.
So any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again, and hello to all.
Decisions, decisions... if it were me and I was faced with that choice, I would flip a coin. And I would keep flipping it until it came up Jayco... then I would go w/ that.
We recently bought a Keystone 280BH in the same family as the 185QB that you're looking at. We love it! No regrets, the quality is great. I love that there are no options other than choice of interior color. Keystone picked the best options and made them standard features. The dry weight of the trailer is the real weight as it is delivered with all the standard features. The weight of our trailer is 4680, the weight was an issue with us too because we have a 99 Chevy Suburban 1500 that had a max tow caacity of 6500. The Suburban does great, although we haven't taken it up a grade yet. We mostly camp at the beach. We haven't had any problems other than the bathroom door is a little tight. We have 5 kids and two dogs and there's room for us all. When it came down to us making our final decision it was between a gently used Jayco and the Keystone. Like I said we've had no regrets in our choice. If you have any other questions about the Keystone let me now.
We love to get away in our new TT
2008 Keystone Passport 280BH
Campers include:
Dad
Mom
5 campers in training (ages 15, 12, 8, 5, 1)
1 Chihuahua
got2go wrote: Decisions, decisions... if it were me and I was faced with that choice, I would flip a coin. And I would keep flipping it until it came up Jayco... then I would go w/ that.
Ed
I agree.
Jayco has quite a following on these threads and when I was looking I though it was quite fanatical and refused to look at them as they seemed to be a group of crazy people
We went to an RV show and almost bought something else but couldn't meet on price and the salesman got really pushy - he pushed us right on over to another dealer not that far away and we walked into yet another brand. Being tired and everything looking the same we decided to visit the actual dealer lot the next day - and we did.
Walked into a Jayco. 30 minutes later we were the proud owners of it.
I should mention that we shopped and researched for well over a year and rented several times for several years before that so we knew what to look for. We found the Jayco to give you the most bang for your buck - with standards included in the price that were options on a lot of other TT's and with a build quality lacking in several other brands. And yes, even Jayco will build a lemon once in awhile. They ALL do - nothing is lemon free but overall, we found them to be one of the best.
Traveled extensively with it the first year of ownership and other than maintenance items it's never needed anything. It's a solid trailer, solid company with good customer service.
I would RUN from the Jayco. We bought a JayFeather due to supposed good reputation. Wow, did we have a BIG camping nightmare. Go with the Keystone!!!!!
Oh....you might also want to know that Jayco reps in IN are anything but pleasant to deal with. Our state atty. generals office solved the issue for us by putting pressure on Jayco ($$$ back for the piece of Jayco junk). And yes, this was a brand NEW JFeather we had purchased!
Once when the unit when back to Jayco factory for repair it was returned to us with a different shower curtain covered with black mold. And the water leaks were not stopped. Just one little example of Jayco customer service.
The more costly units may be OK but they put the JFeathers together like balsa wood toy airplanes.
'08 Toyota Tundra 5.7L with tow package/Prodigy
'09 Heartland North Trail 26RKS
2 campers + 1 spoiled golden retriever, Daisy
CW salesman told me that the Freedoms are made by Keystone, which is a pretty good manufacturing, for what that's worth. Of course, Jayco has been around for a long time too. I think either would probably fit your needs. Which one does your gut say? Good luck, and welcome to the forum!
Go to www.rvknowhow.com for the Kieva’s suggestions on how to select an RV. It just might be the difference in the rig that you choose. They also have an e-book, that can be downloaded immediately upon purchase, which might also help you decide.
Chuck Woodbury now has an ebook with tips on how to purchase an RV.
Dick_B
2003 SunnyBrook 27FKS
2003 3/4 T Chevrolet Suburban
Equal-i-zer Hitch
One wife, two bikes (both Electric Schwinn's with motor assist)
The Jayco Jayflight is one of the best "low price point" trailers on the market.. Lot's of bang for the buck..Excellent reputation, lots of happy owners.
The Jayfeather is ......... well I am not a fan of that line.
I would go with the Keystone.
Remember, this is just my opinion.. Your results may vary..
Thanks to all for the replies and input. I think we are going to go with the Keystone. I was a bit apprehensive at first about whether or not my truck would be okay with towing it. But others I have talked to, the general consensus is if I keep whatever I am towing under 6000lbs, I shouldn't have any probs with the F150. And from the info on those two trailers, either would be under that weight. I will be adding an equalizer/weight distibution hitch to it, too, so sway should be to a minimum, and greater peace of mind.
The Jayco JayFeather has been an excellent rig for us. We put over 5,000 miles (all over western U.S.) on ours the first year and it handled everything we threw at it.
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