Heartland rigs

We have had a Heartland Landmark since June '11 and love it. Our unit is the Rushmore floorplan which has worked out perfectly for our needs. We have no plans to trade it in for another rig, but if we did it would be another Heartland fiver.

MPI_Mallard wrote:

kakampers wrote:
Why is it when anyone asks about Heartland products, everyone who NEVER owned one tells them to look elsewhere...usually their brand. Guess us Heartland owners, who really know what they are like, should start putting our 2 cents in on CC, Redwood, etc. threads...geez!! Give it a break!!

By all means have at it!! If you had a friend or neighbour who got royally screwed by any of the other manufacturers speak out! The reason I bought my Cedar Creek was because of the good counsel and advise I got from this forum! No I've never owned a hartland product but I've seen and been in a lot of them and even came close to pulling the pin on one of those front livingroom montanas when they first came out but the quality and fit n' finish wasn't there. My response to the op was of two separate owners I know and their bad experiences that they had with their bighorns, in the end they (the manufacturers) aren't giving these rigs away and after-the-sale support by them is very important as I personally have come to learn.

I would have liked to a fly on the wall of the visits and repair of you neighbors units. Particularly the problems and presentation to dealer and factory.
I have recently bought a Big Country and although we have had little time for using it due to the weather, most everything sans a few minor glitches have worked fine. Great insulation too by the way.
My parents have a 2012 Sundance and even after being out of warranty for a month or two when we noticed some delimitation and pictures sent they wanted it back at the factory for repairs this winter. Just called on the second of January and all is done. Looked over some minor stuff that was also out of warranty and repaired. Instead of repairing the slide skin that was damaged, they resided the ENTIRE TRAILER! Caulked and sealed the entire trailer. Repaired a fresh water line that wouldn't allow filling of the fresh water tank.
Remember, this isn't a high dollar rig and we aren't winey people. In no way were my parents looking for this much extra effort but Heartland is putting it forth all out of the warranty period.
No threats for lawyering up or suing. No elevated tempers. No asking for more than just have a look and see what should be done. Was mentioned several times that if fees were incurred then let us know and a decision will be made. No fees were brought up and none will be associated with repairs. Awesome!
This is no special story, I have heard similar cases from others too. Glad I stopped at a Heartland rally before I bought mine and asked questions. That sealed the deal.
Good luck.

I would look at Heartland. I may own a DRV Suite, but they are not bullet proof. No RV is trouble free. If that was the case, then who ever produced them should call the company Trouble Free RV's. You have to look at all the different types on the market. If you like the Heartland, then look it over and do your own quality check. You will not know if a RV is going to have any issues until you actually use it. They all have bugs... One thing you need to do is find a repair facility that knows how to troubleshoot and make long term repairs. Not all dealers have good maintenance folks. I do not even take mine to a dealer. I found a RV repair shop in Virginia that does quality work in a shorter time frame. Good luck.

Both Redwood and Heartland are owned by Thor so there service and warranty will be very similar.

Heartland has a 2+5 warranty on the Landmark and the Redwood 1+5. Both Crossroads and now Redwood have dropped the 2 year warranty back to 1 year. That should tell you something.

While I am not an owner quite yet (ETA- March 2014) I hope hearing from a person who has just ordered a 2014 Landmark Savannah after looking at many different brands will be valuable to the OP.

After looking at Redwood's, Lifestyle's, Excel's, DRV Tradition, DRV Mobile Suites, Landmark's and Trilogy products.

And after reading all those manufacturer owner forums, viewing all those brands some more than once, we settled on the Landmark for the following reasons.

In no particular order floorplan, interior decor, owner satisfaction, factory support, actual fit and finish quality, features and options, value for MSRP all entered into our decision.

Money no object I would have a New Horizon but money is an object of limited resources.

Some will say the Mobile Suites is a step up from all the other brands listed and while I agree it is a step up in price point and is much more customizable than any other brand we looked at I was disillusioned with some customer service and support aspects along with ongoing quality issues that they were slow to address from an engineering perspective which ultimately swayed me away from them.

While I preferred many design aspects of the Mobile Suite product my DW never really like their interior decor and with the aforementioned negatives along with the extra cost I was not prepared to holdout against my DW.

You know the story happy wife, happy life.:B

I am anxiously and excitedly waiting for delivery in late Feb or early Mar.
Check back with me 12 month's from now and I hope to be able to report that I am a very satisfied Heartland owner.

Seeing and being in something is a lot different than owning and using a product...BTW, what does almost buying a Montana have to do with Heartland??

The fact is the OP wanted info from actual owners...they did not ask about what happened to friends, neighbors, etc....what do they call that in court...oh yeah..."hear say"...

Two full years full time in our Big Horn. We toured four different factories before buying and did so based on build quality. This is a great unit and made the right choice.

kakampers wrote:
Why is it when anyone asks about Heartland products, everyone who NEVER owned one tells them to look elsewhere...usually their brand. Guess us Heartland owners, who really know what they are like, should start putting our 2 cents in on CC, Redwood, etc. threads...geez!! Give it a break!!

By all means have at it!! If you had a friend or neighbour who got royally screwed by any of the other manufacturers speak out! The reason I bought my Cedar Creek was because of the good counsel and advise I got from this forum! No I've never owned a hartland product but I've seen and been in a lot of them and even came close to pulling the pin on one of those front livingroom montanas when they first came out but the quality and fit n' finish wasn't there. My response to the op was of two separate owners I know and their bad experiences that they had with their bighorns, in the end they (the manufacturers) aren't giving these rigs away and after-the-sale support by them is very important as I personally have come to learn.

B.O. Plenty wrote:

justme wrote:
Heartland builds entry to mid level trailers. The difference between a Big Horn and Landmark is the Landmark is a loaded up Big Horn. In other words more standard options. That is what I found when I was looking. I bought a Redwood which is a notch above the Landmark. The Redwood construction is more solid because it used marine grade plywood rather than particle board and has 16 inch centers on the rafters rather than 24 inches and 3/8 ply on the roof rather than 1/8 lauan. The Redwood suspension is more robust than the Lippert. The Redwood costs slightly more than the Landmark, but the small price difference is worth it.
The Heartland forum is nice and the owners are nice, but the same can be said for all of the other owner groups. After all they all want to support their purchase decision and do everything they can to keep the resale price.

Both Redwood and Heartland are owned by Thor so there service and warranty will be very similar.

Be sure to get all your facts right...Heartland uses 3/8" plywood on the roof not 1/8" The Redwood suspension is Lippert but with a fancy name to make it sound better. Heartland quit using Lippert junk for their suspension a couple years ago and now use Dexter components. Nearly every component on the Redwood trailer is made by Lippert. The Redwood line is sold and built by the Crossroads brand...Take a look @ what's been going on lately with Crossroads and their dissatisfied owners group. Heartland has the best Factory Customer Service of any brand..Heartland offers a factory warranty that will cover it for full-time use. I've been to the factory, seen them built and have been a satisfied Heartland owner for 4 years. Heartland builds the Landmark, Big Horn and Big Country on the same assembly line using similar construction methods and components. All of them are rated for and warrantied for full-time use. Any one of them would be a great choice!

B.O.

X 2 ...Thanks, Don, for saving me a bunch of typing...I use my 2009 Big Horn as a traveling work platform. Just recently returned from 5 consecutive months working around DC. After 4 complete seasons and 30,000 miles, no major difficulties or breakdowns...I will be heading to Iowa in March for a 10 month deployment. I look forward to hitting the road again in my very comfortable Big Horn...

REgards

I have owned a Bighorn for a year and a half and have had no problems after 2 extended trips from Dallas to Colorado.