Could anyone who has owned one of these tell me how well they stay warm in the wintertime.

A speck better than a tent...you are off the ground and have some heat.

depends on your idea of well.better than a tent yes,but you'll burn through a heck of a lot of propane and battery running the heater.and the condensation will be considerable,but it's totally doable.we camp in the early spring as soon as the lakes ice off and well into late fall.

It can be done. I camped in winter conditions during hunting season first with a NorthStar T-800 then a NorthStar TS-1000. The smaller on with less space was easier to keep warm whereas the 1000 took more time to heat up. Essentially, the furnace was a tool to "take the chill out." When inside, I was usually wearing a sweatshirt over flannel and had good arctic sleeping bags. Mornings would involve running the furnace a bit longer before hopping out of the sack. A big downside of the pop-ups in winter was that there was more condensation due to the less insulation- any nice days involved airing it out as much as possible and on the days when breaking camp, I would run the fan to air it out while packing away outside chairs, stoves, etc.A pop-up can provide for winter camping, but it is not the best in my opinion if you plan on doing it often.

I had a Hallmark Milner for several years and their softwall is much better insulated than my buddy's Northstar. Outfitter also has a nicely insulated softwall. The furnace kept up even below 0F but condensation can be an issue when it's below freezing.I currently have a Northstar hard side- warmer, quieter, more room...

Seconding outfitter/hallmark being next level insulation. Zero degrees and windy and we were able to keep it 67 inside the camper. When we put up reflectix the walls feel warmer than our old eagle cap, although the furnace does cycle slightly more often. We had no condensation issues with 2 huge dogs and 3 people in the camper but we're also in CO where it's awful dry. We'd keep it closed up all night the pop the vent in the late morning once it starts to warm up a bit outside.

Pop Up Soft Side Campers in the Winter | Good Sam Community

whazoo
Explorer
Oct 24, 2017
Kayteg1 wrote:
In my years of RV I heard about too many deadly accidents with non-RV rated heaters or cheap generators putting exhaust into RV.
When you read Wave heater description - you will find "For use in vented areas only"
I mean do you run your Fantastic Fan all the time when you use the heater, or do you just play Russian Roulette.?
I know they have safety sensor, but do you really hang your life on single sensor that you can't test for reliability?

What a dopey reply. I've used a wave three for ten years or so now and never once ran my fantastic fan. No roulette to play, we're both still alive and well. I open a vent like it says, "vented"' not "fanned." And yes it heats the air just fine as well as anything close to it.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2017
I may check one out this winter. The added space is always welcome on a TC.
jaycocreek
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2017
No one answered my question about the Wave heater. Does it warm objects like most of that style heaters do, or warm the air like a furnace does.

I have used all three Wave heaters and both the Big Buddy and Little Buddy in different RV's..I currently have a Wave 8 and both of the buddy heaters..In answer to your question,they heat the air just like a furnace does..depending on which you have,you can feel the warm air the length of the kitchen/front room in a 30 ft trailer with a Wave 8.

I just used the little buddy in my 9.6 Lance with it sitting right below the step to the bunk and felt the radiant type heat at the door.I personally have never heard of anyone dying using a catalytic heater used correctly or incorrectly..They need a window cracked, which is never a problem because of the radiant heat..Thousands of RVer's use catalytic heaters in there RV because of not needing electricity and the constant output of radiant type heat.
csh_2088
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2017
Dvoigt17 wrote:

The top photo makes me really want to buy a truck camper. A gorgeous photo!

Could you tell me what is in the second photo? It looks like insulation but I am not sure where in the camper it comes from.
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2017
Just another reason I'm not at all interesting in going to Alaska (except maybe on a cruise ship).
Dave_Pete
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2017
-33 degree monster
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2017
At least out deer blinds have 'flo-thru ventilation. Why you need a heater in the winter even in hunting clothes. Gets pretty cold in there....

No one answered my question about the Wave heater. Does it warm objects like most of that style heaters do, or warm the air like a furnace does.

In a camper, I'd think you'd want the air warmed, not objects. Only object across from the Wave heater is your dinette.... at least in my unit that is all there is....
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Oct 23, 2017
In my years of RV I heard about too many deadly accidents with non-RV rated heaters or cheap generators putting exhaust into RV.
When you read Wave heater description - you will find "For use in vented areas only"
I mean do you run your Fantastic Fan all the time when you use the heater, or do you just play Russian Roulette.?
I know they have safety sensor, but do you really hang your life on single sensor that you can't test for reliability?
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Oct 23, 2017
I actually have 2 Big Buddy's one in each deer blind up north on out property and they do use a lot of cannisters.
Dvoigt17
Explorer
Oct 22, 2017
We had a buddy heater as our backup heat last ski season. We ended up using it a couple time because of low batteries. It worked great! We used it on the stove top, but went through propane bottles fast, even on the low setting. We got a great deal on a wave 3 and wave 6 heater because of RV place closing. Wave 6 is a little to big for our truck camper, but will use it in our 5th wheel. So that is why we switched to the Wave 3 over our buddy heater. I have it set up so that we can remove the wave 3 easy and put on the standard cabinet door.