Quality of Lance Trailers?

I looked at the Lance trailers while at the rv show in Tampa recently. I was quite impressed with both the layout and quality of the units. If I was in the market for a new trailer, I would take another look.

Our 6 cyl 2006 4 Runner with factory tow package is rated at 5000 lbs. Our Lance 1685 is pushing the limits at 3600 dry weight, we figure about 5000 loaded.

Here's a post I wrote about the pros and cons after 10,000 miles: Towing a Travel Trailer with a 6 Cylinder Toyota 4 Runner

Ideal? No. Safe? We haven't had trouble. We know conventional travel wisdom says not a good idea. But my husband said I could have a travel trailer, but not a new truck, so I had to find a trailer our 4 Runner could tow. One of these days we'll get a new truck and it'll have more margin for error in tow capacity.

TrailerTraveler1 wrote:
We LOVE our Lance 1685 travel trailer.



In a nutshell, storage, tank capacity, quality, floorplan & we tow it with our 4 Runner to list a few....

What is the tow rating on the 4 Runner? We are considering a 1575 or 1685. I am finding out Jeep Grand Cherokees can haul substantially more than my Nissan Frontier Crew Cab :-/. my TV comes in at 6100# and 610 Max Tongue so in a perfect condition I could approach the MAX if I am not careful with how much **** we haul.

We LOVE our Lance 1685 travel trailer.

Keep in mind, that any travel trailer when being subjected to an ongoing 6.0 mag earthquake, over miles and miles of roads will have some "shake, rattle & roll"; however, in over 10,000 miles, our Lance 1685 is still wonderful.

For the Top 10 Reasons We Love Our Lance 1685, click this link for my blogpost.

In a nutshell, storage, tank capacity, quality, floorplan & we tow it with our 4 Runner to list a few....

We seriously considered a Lance Trailer, but ended up purchasing a Cougar trailer instead. I'm impressed with the Lance fit and finish, but found a few items to be "deal breakers"
1. Small shower with a curtain rather than a shower door. 2. Flat roof 3. Raised floor for the dinette slide-out. 4. Minimal storage in the galley.

Every brand has it's features, benefits, and shortcomings, so shop carefully.

Googling Lance RV reviews does not give me the warm and fuzzies about Lance trailers.

I am hard pressed to find similar hateful reviews for another manufacturer.
I love the idea of a lightweight 1685 but fearful of the "quality".

I looked at them. They make great truck campers, but the floor joists seemed to flex under my weight, and I only weigh about 210. Two side by side 2285's felt this way. Also, Non ducted AC. Other than this, they seemed pretty solid and the floorplan was ideal. We bought a lightly used Nomad 2020B instead.

xteacher wrote:

bighonkinf350 wrote:
Wife and I were looking at the Lance 1995 too,until she discovered we had more storage in the kitchen (cabinets,drawers,pantry in our 2000 Lance 1030 truck camper we just sold after 11 1/2 yrs,than what's in the Lance 1995 TT. The slide out dinet in the model 1995 is awesome but the shower is no larger that what was in the camper. That along with the cost has us looking elsewhere. Lance quality is hard to beat though.

The shower size in the 1995 was a drawback for me, too; it was very small. The 1575 and the 1985 have better showers. The 1575 however, has very little storage.

Same here. We were torn between the 1995 and the 1985. Loved the full shower of the 1985, but hated that you gave up the tall closet, wardrobe and drawers in the process. Didn't like the placement of the TV in the 1985. When we tried to convince ourselves that we could live with the lost storage in the kitchen area, the weight numbers played an important part in our decision making. Almost 200 pounds at the tongue. It doesn't matter who you are, 200 pounds at the tongue is a difference of 2000 pounds of trailer weight for the tow vehicle. We were trying to keep our tongue weight as low as possible giving us plenty of options as to how much weight we could pile on the trailer and truck. We spent 7 months trying to decide which one we wanted and ended up with the 1995. We've been really happy with it.

Which ever model others choose for their own reasons, they are sure to be happy with what they get.

bighonkinf350 wrote:
Wife and I were looking at the Lance 1995 too,until she discovered we had more storage in the kitchen (cabinets,drawers,pantry in our 2000 Lance 1030 truck camper we just sold after 11 1/2 yrs,than what's in the Lance 1995 TT. The slide out dinet in the model 1995 is awesome but the shower is no larger that what was in the camper. That along with the cost has us looking elsewhere. Lance quality is hard to beat though.

The shower size in the 1995 was a drawback for me, too; it was very small. The 1575 and the 1985 have better showers. The 1575 however, has very little storage.

marc515 wrote:
Friend of ours is looking to buy a new Lance 1985 or 1995.

The quality looks fairly good, but I'm reaching out to you guys for some input.

Any and all comments are welcome

Thank you

M

We absolutely love our Lance. It was always about $10k more from comparable others, but the build always seemed to be of much more quality. Not only that, but the weight numbers were so much lighter from the equivalent other. After watching how these are built, I was convinced. The clearance isn't so low that it can't go where my RAM 1500 goes. Been off roading on several occasions in the both the Gila and Lincoln national forests.

I do have one complaint, and that is no protection on that beautiful front picture window. Currently waiting on a replacement for the front pane of that window. Around Christmas had either a stray rock or someone with a bb or pellet gun shatter it. Inside pane is fine. I'll be fabricating some type of cover to put over that. Previous models' windows were horizontal and included a cover. 2015 models changed to a vertical type window, with no covering..

Customer service is also a pleasure to deal with. Every time I have a question I shoot off an email to some contacts customer service sent me to folks in the building department, and they are always happy to share their experiences and offer their advice for whatever mod I happen to be working on. Including sending me their own private schematics they use in the factory.