Forum Discussion

d1h's avatar
d1h
Nomad III
Jul 29, 2022

Coleman

Are Coleman travel trailers well built and free of major problems? I was wondering about the COLEMAN LANTERN 264RL. I am interested in a rear living setup with reclining chairs etc.
  • Coleman has leased their name to all sorts of things. Suggest you find out who actually built the camper.
  • Coleman Travel trailers are made by Dutchmen, a Thor owned brand. They're basically an Aspen Trail with different decals. They do not have a great reputation for quality.
  • I have a 2019 17RD Lantern, it has to have been the worst build week of the whole year. PDI said everything was ok. I took their word for it (Lazy Acres Trailer Sales) and unfortunately during the pandemic they did not do a walk through. I've had trailers before so I know beyond the basics. Couldn't take it back, "Covid" ruled that out. I wouldn't touch another Coleman trailer if you bought it for me, it would take too much time to fix their lousy workmanship. Unfortunately people keep buying their junk. Even speaking with their main office THOR more or less just shooed me away. Screw them and all the garbage they build.
  • Coleman at one time was a great company. Focused on outdoor stuff. At one time it was part of sunbeam run by "Chainsaw Al Dunlop" which drove sunbeam into bankruptcy, along with a huge amount of cost cutting etc. on the various sunbeam brands. It's now part of the remnants of the past as part of Newell brands (rubber maid etc.) and AFAIK they sell some of the old coleman stuff and license the brand to others, e.g. trailers and Coleman AC units for trailers that are made by Johnson cotrols but just license the coleman name
  • As far as build quality, only a few are seen as good. Airstream and some west coast brands Arctic fox, Lance, Outdoors RV seem to get good ratings and owner reviews, but finding them on the East coast is difficult, and when you do, they are expensive.
    While warranties are also poorly handled by many manufacturers, they do give a little hint to build. Most only offer a one year warranty, and those same ones tend to have the lowest quality control, some offer 2 to 3 years, and seem to be better supported.
    Look toward Grand Design, Jayco, Winnebago, KZ and a few others for the longer warranties and then look to online user groups to see how they handle support.
    Some companies actually vary their warranty from line to line so pay attention to that as well. If they shorten the warranty on some model lines, they likely shortened some other things too.
    Happy hunting