full timer rigs?

Acei wrote:
I've been looking at a full-timing unit for a while as well. In my case, I've only looked into DRV, Excel, Lifestyle and New Horizon mainly because of the advises I received from the forums like this one. Virtually no one argues against them except for the price. One of the most important reason for considering these (despite higher asking price) is because we are expected to move frequently - typical stay will be 2-4 weeks at a time. This will put a lot of stress on the trailer. If we were expected to do 3-6 months stay at a time, these might not be needed. These four units are really built strong with decent frames.

Having said that, I looked at the Landmark on their website. On paper, the spec looks good. The insulation looks pretty good too - even the side walls are R-11 which is better than typical average value of R-7. But I couldn't find any info on their site on how they are built. What kind of frames are they using? Are these guys equivalent (or close to) the 4 I mentioned above?

If you are on a budget, something like Arctic Fox might work out quite well too - they also build their own frames (not as strong, at least in theory compare to the above 4 but still better than most Lippert frames used by almost everyone) and they are 4-season friendly (although I don't get their claims - their insulation is R-7 everywhere!)

The Landmark is built on a 12" I beam frame built by Lippert, BUT it is designed by Heartland engineers and built to THEIR specifications...I would say they are as close to the four you mentioned without being custom builds...plus, fully decked out, they are about $30K less than everything you list except, of course, the fully custom New Horizon...there you are talking closer to $100K less.

I consider Landmark to be in the upper range of what others call mid-level...they provide an excellent option for those of us who are not willing to pay more than necessary for a well equipped, full time rated unit. After very close inspection and research, we just could not find $30K worth of difference to make us choose one of the high-end rated units. Remember, DRV uses a Lippert built frame also which is built to their specs. Although it is a boxed frame instead of I Beam, we put over 80K miles (we moved VERY frequently) on a Heartland designed I beam Lippert frame without any issues...choices are a wonderful thing!