AF 990 feedback requested

[DaveInVA]

I am looking at the 990 and would appreciate knowing any issues you have had with yours or any particular features you really like?

I understand from reviews and the forums that they are well insulated. If your a winter camper, how much propane are you using on average and does the furnace run that often to hold a reasonable temperature?

Have you had any issues with the fridge being in the slide?

Are you satisfied with the slide mechanism?

Appreciate your time.

[Bedlam]

My Arctic Fox was the end of 2012 model year run, so I'm sure reliability varies with how long a particular design has been in production. My unit changed in how the basement was built from previous years and I hoped getting a later model that year would address anything caught early on. 2005 or 2006 was the switch over to aluminum framing, so I'm not sure how much of the design was just swapped over from the wooden frames of past and how much was changed along with the frames. I try to avoid the first year run of a new product or redesign knowing there will be problems that slip by testing, but sometimes the timing of my purchase and design changes conflict. I try to apply this to vehicles as well as RV's and let someone else working out the teething pains of a new born product since this is not brand specific.

[work2much]

We must have just got a lemon. The slide on our 2006 1150 was a constant problem. The camper was poorly sealed on the roof from the factory and the company no longer works directly with the consumer on issues like broken slides. On our last trip with the AF the slide broke again, Northwoods couldn't be bothered to help me by shipping another motor to us in Alaska. I understand manufacturers wanting customers to deal directly with dealers but there weren't any near us and given that broken slide motors had plagued us since the unit was new I think the Northwoods could have been a little more accommodating. IMO since Ron Nash has been out of the picture at Northwoods the company isn't as customer satisfaction driven as when we purchased the camper. Take my experience with a grain of salt. Every manufacturer has disgruntled customers...

[Bedlam]

I had the shorter 811 with the same layout and no problems with the camper.

[GeoBoy]

We have a 2016 AF 990 and the slide mounted fridge needs to be run on a higher setting to keep things frozen. We added an ARPRV system with a fridge controller and 2 fans and it now keeps everything at the proper temp with a lower number setting.
The slide mechanism is the old reliable Power Gear slide and works well. We chose the 990 because you can get into the camper with the slide closed and when the slide is open the camper feels spacious.

[bjohns]

Also, never had any issue with the slides. We were not shopping for a camper with a slide when we bought our first AF990, but now that we've had it, would never be without it and have had no problems whatsoever with it. On the AF990 you can get into the camper with the slide closed if you're not too stout.

[bjohns]

We are on our third AF990 (2008, 2012, 2018). They are very well insulated. We've stayed in it in very cold weather in CO, but were usually plugged in to electricity. So we could run the furnace as much as we wanted. It seems a tank of propane lasted more than a week, but we often augmented the furnace with a small ceramic space heater. The fridge and furnace are very efficient and insulation is good, so having two good sized propane tanks, we never ran out of propane before leaving a camping spot. Camping in the cold without hookups you naturally will run low on battery before running out of propane, but even that takes awhile. Never had any issues with the fridge in the slide. The AF990 layout has been around longer than any other RV, so it is tried and true. It suits us well. That said, I'm sure any modern, well-insulated camper with two propane tanks and two batteries will give you similar results.