Suspicions confirmed: the Lance 650 is a hit

Whaz,
My bro has the same camper you have and Jeanie and I have many a time dined spaciously and played many games in its confines out in the boonies. The darn thing is PALATIAL! I can see, and have actual use knowledge and see why Lynn said no way to the minuscule confines of the L-650. Now that you are officially a Norseman, time will tell when the temps drop to -20F and the wind is blowing and you are waiting for a Chinook.
jefe

12v, The Liberty weighs wet at least 400 pounds more, with a lower ceiling height, and costs $2K more at the outset and uses a wooden frame, something I would like to get away from. Feature for feature, I hardly call that, blowing the doors off.
The Camplite 8.6 weighs in upwards of 2900 pounds, wet. I would be hard pressed to call it the prototype for the 1842 pound L-650 wetness.
No offence. I really have no dog in this fight, just comparing feature to feature and value to value with a bent to using it in the lightest version off road.
jefe

My wife took one look and said no way, absolutely no counter space. Our Outfitter has more storage! Practicality aside its a sweet looking unit.

Northstar Liberty blows the door off the 650.
Room for two LP tanks, Two Batteries, cassette toilet, refrig not in bed area.

The 650 looks like a copy of the camplite 6.8 which has been out for a few years

The L-650 is not for everyone. Yes, it is the lowest price camper in their lineup @ under $20K, but it looks like more than a few TC buyers have made it their choice. We all come from some form of bias, truck camper wise, and after 15 years with a camper of the same footprint and same wet weight as the L-650, Jeanie and I have learned to live with the floor space if not so much the amenities. With several major upgrades, our L-165-sxcabo still has a lot of maybe not so elegant travels left in it. And this is our focus: traveling; much over terrible roads and just layovering at some rather attractive rural or urban spot along the way. Actually, the L-650 in the article comes with a tape-on, non-paint job, which will eventually be attacked by slowly passing, tougher than your tape chaparral.
The L-650 comes stock with block foam insulated floor, walls, and ceiling; Euro style thermal windows; in essence a 3.5 season package, only lacking a basement and heated tanks, again in an attempt to save weight. The on demand water heater also saves weight and is much more efficient than heating a 3 gallon water tank each day. We've never run out of fuel with one sidesaddle propane tank. The comment about being taller is true, but in my experience, too wide is worse than too tall in the Western U.S., plus, as I have a big head, a little more headroom in the bedroom would be nice.

For me, too wide and too heavy are the critical issues. A big, heavy camper and truck do not fare well off pavement and tends to stress both itself and the truck in sinister ways. So, it's a balancing act. What can you live without to stay in one piece on roads like this;

If you leave the tie downs tight, you will pull your camper apart, poco a poco in axle twisting situations like the above. This is where is it good to loosen the rear tie downs to let either side of the camper lift off the truck bed keeping the TC frame straight.
Having a heavy camper exacerbates the twisting motion because it does not want to lift but rather conform to the twisting truck frame and bed. Not good. Having one or more slide outs further weakens the shear wall factor.
The L-650 has what looks like a substantial welded aluminum framing, a good upgrade. I have no business association with Lance, other than I own an 18 year old one, but after 15 years of use have come to learn what really matters to Jeanie and myself. What really matters was addressed in the 650.

Here's a clickable link Lance 650

tuna fisher wrote:
1 battery, 1 5gal propane tank, No problem for me I do 2-3 weeks with it at a time depending on temps. I have a 2K gen and back up lpg, what's the problem?

I think I was getting 40 days out of one 20lb propane cylinder running my refrigerator all the time on the Wolf Creek. but I found out the hard way when it switched over but did not turn the regulator warning red.

I wouldn't call a camper that's pushing 1700lbs DRY "lightweight" exactly... Especially when it exceeds the rated payload capacity of most every 15-series truck on the market, and even when it doesn't, doesn't leave you much wiggle room for anything else, let alone passengers.

Get the dry weight down to 1200lbs so I'm only exceeding my 1/2 ton truck's payload capacity by 500lbs when I'm loaded and ready to camp, instead of 1000lbs+. Then we'll talk.

1 battery, 1 5gal propane tank, No problem for me I do 2-3 weeks with it at a time depending on temps. I have a 2K gen and back up lpg, what's the problem?

Could be a future camper for myself for a few reasons.

As far as the battery life...the camper I have now only has one battery. Never had a problem because of it. I carry two Honda 2000s and I use them. I would think that most would spend as much time as they can outside the camper enjoying themselves. But I could see how battery power could easily get sucked dry. Although I'd have to test it myself. My camper is a 1994 model year and all the lights and everything like that are as inefficient as you can get, and I have to say, with a new, well maintained battery, I haven't had a problem.

The one propane tank I don't like. I'd have to have a spare nearby after about maybe three to five trips, waiting for the one to empty.

One important thing is that I love my 1997 dodge. And I hate duallys. The way they look, and the fact that it's a pain to use for everyday driving. Though I do drive my dually everyday currently, and into SF everyday for work. It's doable, but I'm hoping it's not the end all of trucks for me. If I ever bought new I'd want something that I would have no regrets buying and for me that wouldn't be a dually. That's where this camper comes into play. I would be able to haul it on my old dodge.

Everyone has their different needs. To be honest, I'm not so sure I'd want to go smaller than the camper I have. With the necessities that you need with two people and two dogs, storage tends to be at a huge premium. All reasons why I don't have a new 650 on order.

That hellwig build was really nice. Be really hard to believe that truck wasn't legally overloaded though.