DiskDoctr wrote:
People often buy what they prefer and have a reason for that preference. There is great benefit in pointing out those reason, which others may concur or disagree.
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Have you found any of the discussion helpful?
absolutely! This is a spirited discussion and I am learning a lot in the process. I love the outdoors and have enjoyed hiking in our state parks over the past 10 years now. And while I really like the idea of camping, I was never exposed to it as a child, and the one time we rented a pop up camper (a couple of years ago) for a week long trip, wife, younger son and myself enjoyed a lot. My teenage daughter, not so much :). I have been dreaming since of buying one so we can do this more often, and got the truck late last month as step one towards that dream.
I am a DIY kind of a guy, IT by profession but I do my own oil changes, changed the brake pads on my subaru the one time I had to, swapped out the front bumper on my honda odyssey for a new one off of ebay when it got ugly, repaired my microwave (replaced a defective magnetron and HV diode) on my own - all by watching youtube videos, google research and good old elbow grease :). while doing all this, i have come to realise that simplicity of design is a beautiful thing...it is hard to achieve, but once done, it makes the life of the user immensely easy, and is very enabling for the DIY'er in me.
Reading all the replies has been educational - facts and opinions, both. And I truly appreciate the time everyone has taken to educate a newbie like me. Given what I mention above, I know I want to be able to take on most repairs on my own and feel like I can do it. And just purely from that perspective, I am tilting towards the simplicity of no slide as my first toe dipping experience. Some on the forum have mentioned the time they spend in the camper and hence it being worth having that extra space, but in my case, the best I can hope for over the next few years is 1/2/3 days trips about 6 to 8 times a year to state parks in the 200 mile radius, and maybe one week long trip over the summer. Hence, I am not too concerned about that lack of space (as long as I can get the wife to agree :)). Once I hit retirement, and am more on the road, then yes, absolutely. And by then, we would have more experience under my belt.
But hey, this is not done yet...going over this weekend to look at the camper with slide - the one I mentioned in the original post...once we do that, we should be able to do a real one on one compare, and go from there.
Keep it coming plz!
