Question to Class B manufacturers
I am a satisfied owner of a 2006 Roadtrek 210 V on a Chevy chassis. A very fine piece of equipment that has performed well on my many trips. The quality of craftmanship and design tells me that the manufacturer looked into many features that make RV living a pleasurable experience. As my vehicle is reaching 10 years of service, I am starting to look at the current versions of class B, and have been a bit disappointed at the lack of "updates" made.This is what I mean:
Throughout the years, I have enjoyed "personalizing" my RT with modifications that best suited my traveling style. I like to work on my rig ! There is a huge amount of info on this and other forums on how to improve your rig with aftermarket products. My disappointment is that the manufacturers seem oblivious to the improved devices in the market and rely on the same old supplies. For example
- Tank level sensors that measure from the outside have been there for a while, and are reliable. Why they keep installing the worthless ones in the new rigs.
- Battery meters that measure battery consumption and calculate remaining capacity rather accurately (e.g. Trimetric, Xantrex) should be standard. Why use the dumb voltage meter with color lights?
- Silent water pumps with variable speed and accumulators should be standard by now, not an after market improvement
- Voltage and polarity monitors when hooking up to shore power at campgrounds are recommended. Why not incorporate them into the control panel ?
Those are just a few things. I am sure people can come up with more stuff like that. My peeve is that the improvements are largely made in appearance and color design, but very little thought seems to be put into updated proven technologies developed by after market suppliers. These are rather expensive rigs, and should have state of the art infrastructure in them
Throughout the years, I have enjoyed "personalizing" my RT with modifications that best suited my traveling style. I like to work on my rig ! There is a huge amount of info on this and other forums on how to improve your rig with aftermarket products. My disappointment is that the manufacturers seem oblivious to the improved devices in the market and rely on the same old supplies. For example
- Tank level sensors that measure from the outside have been there for a while, and are reliable. Why they keep installing the worthless ones in the new rigs.
- Battery meters that measure battery consumption and calculate remaining capacity rather accurately (e.g. Trimetric, Xantrex) should be standard. Why use the dumb voltage meter with color lights?
- Silent water pumps with variable speed and accumulators should be standard by now, not an after market improvement
- Voltage and polarity monitors when hooking up to shore power at campgrounds are recommended. Why not incorporate them into the control panel ?
Those are just a few things. I am sure people can come up with more stuff like that. My peeve is that the improvements are largely made in appearance and color design, but very little thought seems to be put into updated proven technologies developed by after market suppliers. These are rather expensive rigs, and should have state of the art infrastructure in them
