What Travel Traler to buy?

It all starts with how much cargo capacity your TV has.

Subtract the weight family and gear and you know the tongue weight you can haul.

That is just a start to tell you the TT size to start with.

Meaningless discussion and meaningless suggestions and opinions UNTIL the tow vehicle is known...

prichardson wrote:
The biggest factor is which floor plan and amenities work best for you.

Disagree. The MOST important factor in selecting any trailer was summarized perfectly by mbopp ...

"I'm always leery of people saying "I can tow XXXXX# and want a bunkhouse." The more important number is payload. Family and gear add up fast."

Sure, the OP seems to believe he has plenty of truck ... but so have many others before him. :R Any trailer with a GVWR of 9000 lbs is getting pretty big, certainly requires something more than a 1/2 ton ... we don't know what the OP has because he hasn't mentioned it but regardless whether you can safely tow it is the MOST important factor. Hopefully the OP has already figured this out. ;)

There is no perfect RV. Buy used so you can change your mind without losing so much money. Nine thousand pounds is a lot to haul around. Consider going lighter and smaller.

The biggest factor is which floor plan and amenities work best for you. Spend a little time in each play camping. Being new to RVing you may even want to think about buying used; as ideas as to what is important will probably change after you use it for a while. Just about anything you buy may have a few issues that need to be addressed.

I'm always leery of people saying "I can tow XXXXX# and want a bunkhouse." The more important number is payload. Family and gear add up fast.

We had a North Trail and currently have a Grand Design. I didn't like the wide track axles on the NT, too much tire side scuffing on tight turns. Had NO major issues with it and had an exemplary dealer to back it up. But it wasn't as nicely finished as the current GD and we love GD's floor plan.
But the GD has had (and still has) a few problems. Total of 33 days in the shop and it's still not fixed. The problems aren't that major, I lay the blame squarely on the dealer and their service dept. I'd still buy another GD, but not from that dealer.