New Poster - New Tower - Pre TT buyer

Before looking into a pop up tent trailer check where you will be camping. Some of the National Parks with bears do not allow tents or soft sided campers in certain areas. They have areas you can camp but make sure you can get a site in one of those areas.

I agree with Burbman, except for this line: "...You get more room for the money...". Have you looked at the price of pop-ups, lately? :h

The vehicle you are attempting to tow with does not allow for much of a trailer. You may be better off towing a 6x8 utility trailer loaded with a huge tent and camping gear. If you insist on a trailer, then a very light weight, small (probably no bigger than an 8' box) pop-up would be your best bet. After you up-grade that receiver....manufactures put those receivers on there to haul bicycles and not much more.

The R-Pod has electric brakes, they are an option on the Scamp models. I wouldn't tow anything without brakes on it, the laws in many (not all) states requires brakes on anything over 1000 lbs.

That said, you will need to upgrade that 1-1/4" receiver on the Equinox to a 2" receiver and also have trailer wiring and a brake controller installed. If you look at the tow ratings in your owners manual, there is likely a restriction on "frontal area" of the trailer. The reason for this is that high profile trailers like RVs create a LOT of wind resistance which adds more drag to the tow vehicle (TV) than the actual weight of the travel trailer (TT).

Also remember that you will pack a few hundred pounds of stuff in the trailer, so the real weights for the R-Pod are closer to 2500 and about 2000 for the Scamp. Also pay attention to the cargo capacity of the Equinox, look at the yellow sticker on the driver's door jamb. The 250 lbs or so of hitch weight on the R-Pod will be part of the cargo that the Equinox will carry.

I would say that would be likely be OK with the R-Pod IF you don't load a bunch of stuff in the back of the Equinox also. BUT, that's about as big of a TT I would tow with that vehicle. The Scamp would be a better match weightwise, but having looked at both of the links you provided, I get what you mean about the R-Pod being a LOT nicer.

Have you looked at pop-up trailers? You get more room for the money and because they are low-profile when packed up they are a LOT easier to tow than a hard-sided trailer. Our first trailer was a pop-up when we had our 97 4Runner with the V6 in it...we didn't go with a full sized TT until the lease was up and we got our Expedition.

Smart move renting first...maybe you rent the R-Pod for a weekend and take it someplace closeby, then you can see how the Equinox tows it before you commit to a road trip. If it turns out to be too much trailer for the vehicle, at least you won't have gone too far with it.

NO, they both weigh well over 1,000 lbs. so need brakes. find a light one that does have brakes
bumpy