Millennials and RVs

Baloney article such as this paragraph...”"People nowadays want all the comforts of home," said Jim Humble, president of Colorado-based Cousins RV dealership. "All your campgrounds have Wi-Fi now, but if you're far away from the front, you want that signal booster."

It’s rarely signal strength. It’s bandwidth that’s so limited WiFi becomes unusable.

Despite having modern amenities such as USB, etc., an RV will continue to be an RV, meaning even brand new ones will require continuous and frequent maintenance. The question is, will the new generation be prepared to do various and frequent mechanical and electrical repairs on their RV? Most of us older folks who have been doing this for many years just naturally and automatically fix things that go wrong as a matter of course. We change the blown fuse, tighten the bolt, etc. and then move on to the next destination. Kids nowadays want to sit in front of a monitor, or hold their Iphone up next to their eyes and block out any sense of reality around them. Even the fundamental goal of RVing goes against their grain by "getting away from it all". If we are aware of the world around us, we will realize that many things we grew up with have changed and/or are gone completely. It is entirely possible the RV industry will gradually shrink and may even die off. The world is changing folks. Depending on your point of view, this is good or bad.

Ah, yes, another opportunity for the elders to demonstrate what an attractive and welcoming community the RV experience is.

NOT.

No wonder this forum is dying off.

Younger campers are mostly doing the same things I did at their age, sleeping in tents or in the back of my pickup. Expensive RV's don't make sense for most working people.

Plenty of campers out there; look at how hard it is to book sites! It seems that the RV industry will continue to fluctuate, just as it always has. The industry constantly tries to pull in more folks with new amenities; they always have. I want George Jetsons's push button instant camper!:)

larry cad wrote:
Kids nowadays want to sit in front of a monitor, or hold their Iphone up next to their eyes and block out any sense of reality around them.

I asked my 13 YO grandson if he wanted to see the Grand Canyon and other sites in the western USA. He said why? I can go on Google Earth and it's just like being there....
I took him anyway and he loved it.

I don't agree with the premise of the article at all. Modern features like USB ports and WiFi boosters?? 30 years ago they were putting modern features like microwaves and TV jacks in campers to cater to baby-boomers. I'm not sure how keeping up with modern technologies automatically equates to an RV industry trying to appeal to a new breed of camper. It's just changing times.

But quite the contrary to the spirit of the article and some of the comments on here, I find that many folks in their 20's and 30's (so called millienials) are quite a bit more adventurous and outgoing than their older counterparts. They're buying pop-ups and small campers with fewer amenities while the older generation is buying 40' fifth wheels with 4 slides and all the comforts of home. We see younger folks getting out and exploring, hiking, and pitching tents in remote wildernesses while the older generation spends most of their time sitting in their luxury camper watching TV. Can't tell you how many "older" people I've come across in campgrounds that spend all day sitting in their rig.

Anytime topics like this come up, some of the more experienced RV'ers act like they're macho and seek the wild outdoors camping way away from civilization while chopping all their firewood by hand and doing all their cooking with cast iron pots hung over a fire...but the vast majority are actually pulling up in expensive rigs, trying to find 50A sites and griping because they can't find a good signal with their satellite.

Old people watch their entertainment on a TV and youngins watch it on a tablet or phone? What's the difference??

We didn't go to the Denver RV show this year, but if you do get a chance it is a lot of fun. I have seen a lot of those small campers up in the mountains they do have some cool features. I believe the young people still enjoy camping, its just finding the time to do it.

I agree with WTP-GC .Well said

WTP-GC wrote:
while the older generation is buying 40' fifth wheels with 4 slides and all the comforts of home.

While at the same time calling millennials "soft"

LOL

Economic conditions for those millennials is different today than when we were their age. It took some us boomers until we were in our 40's and 50's to achieve some sort of financial prosperity to afford the luxury of an RV, a nice RV. We raised families and paid for college and weddings. Millennials have delayed marriage and families for their careers. I see many 30 somethings at campgrounds today with little ones that have some very nice rigs, some have pop ups yes but that is the rarity IMO.