thoughts on these 3 or 4 brands??

[gillman]

We really like the Open Range Light (318rls model), Forest River Rockwood Signature Ultra Lite (ws8289 model) and CrossRoads Cruiser (CF31RL) (possibly the primetime Crusader) fifth wheels. Anyone owned these (or maybe a friend of your's?) that can provide input on them ? Quality?? Issues?? Longevity???

Obviously any of these are major purchases and no one wants to make a mistake. On looks, of course they all look good when they are new.

Houston RV show is this coming week and I hope all of these will be there so we can look them over very closely.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

[topjimmy]

We have 2 friends with Grand Designs 5th's Solitudes the big brother to the Reflection and I can tell you first hand they are nice 5th's pretty inside and out

[B_Sjulestad]

Congratulations, that rig is featured in the last TL magazine and looks like a real nice unit.

[Gsport]

Gillman, congratulations and welcome to the Grand Design family. I bought my solitude at last years Portland RV show. They do make a quality RV. Don't forget to check out the Grand Design Owners Forum. A lot of good people over there. In fact Bill is active over there..

[Paul_Clancy]

OP great choice! We bought the 2014 crusader 295rst touring and are extremely happy with it and the company. If we hadnt found our crusader we would have bought the reflection for sure.

[topjimmy]

Self leveling rare for a 5th???? Not anymore ,My 2012 Montana 5th came with lipert 6 point auto leveling from the factory, If ANY mfg does not offer it as a option or just come with it standard they are behind the times ,IMO it is one of the coolest things they have added to 5th's AWESOME!

[pauljgrenier]

We've got an Open Range, Mesa Ridge 345, and love it. Please check it out. One of the biggest selling points on this modle was that it is self leveling, rare on a 5W.
Let me know
Paul

[gillman]

Quartermoon... I have no doubt you will have great luck with the Open Range. I was disappointed they didn't have one at the RV Show but I know they can't bring every model. Terry Vaughn is a very good dealership as well so I know you will have good luck with their service. Maybe we will see you around camping sometime! I will keep my eye out for a new Open Range 318!

[Quartermoon]

Congratulations! We also were at the Houston RV show yesterday (too bad I didn't see this thread earlier), and are now the owners of the Open Range Light 318RLS. We saw it at the boat show last month and fell in love. They didn't have it at the RV show but we knew it was the one.

[gillman]

Well, We spent 11 hours at the Houston RV show yesterday and now we are the proud new owners of a Reflection 303RLS! I had never heard of this brand until a few of you (Bird Chaser and 2hams) suggested it on this post. So Thank you both as well as the others who provided input on the other brands! We spent hours going between the Reflection, Cruiser, and Open Range as well as many others checking their fit/quality along with what we had in our mind for our needs / wants.

We actually dealt with one of the 3 owners of Grand Design (Bill) and his company rep (Matt) for way over an hour before we talked to the actual sales staff. They were both very knowledgeable, helpful and extremely nice. How often do you get to deal with a RV manufacturer owner? Never in my limited experience...

Thanks again! We won't have it for several more weeks but of course we are excited!

[gillman]

Thank you all for the information. We are headed to the Houston RV show tomorrow (600 units in one location - granted I am not interested a large number of them). Should be a long day... time for tennis shoes and NOT boots...) 🙂

If anyone else has thoughts, I would welcome it as well.

[nghelwer]

We were looking at the 2014 Rockwood 8289.
When our dealership got in a unit we found out that Rockwood had changed the floor plan from their brochure and had eliminated the pantry/closet which greatly reduced storage, so we decided not to purchase because of the change.

Like someone said earlier, go to the various mfgr forums and see what others are saying.

Good luck, I'm sure whatever unit you decide on will be great.

[tnclays]

We are going into our 5th year with our Rockwood 8281 Signature Ultralite. We have had only one problem-and--main slide motor went out this past summer. Other than that, trouble-free. We've taken several long trips with no problems; most of our trips our local weekends. We have 3 kids and a dog and our unit has held up well. Before the fiver, we had a Rockwood Roo hybrid for 4 years with no problems. So our Rockwood experience is overwhelmingly good. But you may hear contrary experiences from others---pretty much true for the mainstream brands.

[Aridon]

We don't own an Open Range but we've been inside them and they are all over our resort here in SE FL.

Seem like petty good units for the money. Most of the people here are very happy with them. They have some really good floor plans as well.

[2hams]

We also looked for nearly a year and decided on the Reflection.

Check out the owners forums for each of the units.