valhalla360 wrote:
If someone wants to buy a popup, they are certainly welcome to and there is nothing wrong with it.
From a marketing perspective, they seem to be squeezing themselves out of the market:
- Price: you can buy an equivalent hard side TT for the same or less.
- Tow Vehicle: By the time you get up into the bigger popups, the tow requirements aren't drastically different. The vast majority of popups I see are pulled by a 1/2ton PUs or midsize SUV's which would be fully capable of pulling a small TT.
- Like to live/eat/etc... outside: Nothing says you can't do that with a TT.
- Arrival on a rainy day: With a TT, you pull in, hook up power and wait inside doing whatever while you wait for the rain to stop vs an origami project in a downpour. Also no need on returning home to have to open it up to dry out the canvas that was put away wet.
My recollection is they used to be substantially cheaper than a small TT and were small and light, so even a small car could tow them (of course small cars weren't so small and could tow 2-3,000lbs). They fit a niche between tenting and TT's. That's not the case anymore.
X2
My 2 Pop Ups required a substantial tow vehicle, not these wimpy crossover cars that barely have enough payload, hitch rating, and rear gross axle weight rating to carry their passengers and associated gear.
Since the true truck based vehicles as the Pathfinder, Explorer, and other midsize SUVs have been replaced by weak unibody crossovers that offer no payload, hitch rating or RGAWR, you're forced into a fullsize 1/2 ton truck based vehicle.
Even the midsize trucks as Dakota, Ranger, Tacoma, Frontier, and Colorado, don't have the full size rear seats in their crew cabs to fit larger adults in decent comfort and they still are shy on Payload.
For the bigger Pop Ups, you'll need a 1/2 ton truck based tow vehicle regardless to stay within the ratings of the truck.
Storage and MPG are the only benefit, other than the style of camping if you prefer it. I feel the benefit of MPGs is easily gave up for the conveniences of a TT. I still enjoy tent camping and use 3 tents so if I want to sleep under a soft roof, I'll do so in the woods or on a river bank, where no trailer can go.
BTW, my point was how the makers have artificially inflated MSRP prices on Pop Ups to just a few years ago. My 2008 Jay Flight 19BH was $15K. It was roughly $2K less than my 26BH. So the 26Bh was roughly $17K in 2008. It was $20K in 2012. It's now $21K in 2015. It went up only $4K in 7 years. That Jayco Pop Up has gone up about $6K in only a few years. Around 2008 that Pop Up was about $10K and went up over $7K or a whopping 70% compared to the 26BH that went up only 24%.
No matter how much I like Pop Ups, I despise being taken or getting screwed on price. The way I see, Pop Ups right now are very very overpriced for the little you get and when comparing just a few years ago.
This had nothing to do with the pluses or minuses of Pop Ups. I do favor TTs over Pop Ups after owning 2 brand new campers of each though.
My campers:
Starcraft 2406 Pop Up,
Rockwood 2290 Pop Up,
Jayco Jay Flight 19BH,
Jayco Jay Flight 26BH
