How would you rate Palomino Brand truck campers

Why don't you come east and visit the factory in Colon, Michigan which is just north of the Indiana Toll Road at the Middlebury exit. I bought mine from Outpost RV in Middlebury but picked it up at the factory in Colon. Nice folks (both places).

My second TC, first one was a Lance. I've had zero issues with the Palomino. Had it 3 years now.

I do like having the factory close by (60 miles from me) and I like the fact that if you do need something, you can buy it factory direct. They even take plastic.

SidecarFlip wrote:
Why don't you come east and visit the factory in Colon, Michigan which is just north of the Indiana Toll Road at the Middlebury exit. I bought mine from Outpost RV in Middlebury but picked it up at the factory in Colon. Nice folks (both places).

My second TC, first one was a Lance. I've had zero issues with the Palomino. Had it 3 years now.

I do like having the factory close by (60 miles from me) and I like the fact that if you do need something, you can buy it factory direct. They even take plastic.

I might add, we have friends with one as well. They live in Maine and last year they took theirs from Maine to Alaska and stayed in Alaska 3 months with it. They had no issues either.

The early ones had build quality issues but ever since Forest River bought them out, quality of build and innovative features has become their hallmark along with a very competitive price.

My wife and I are happy with ours and we expect it to last many years with proper upkeep.

Truck campers seem to have fallen out of favor here too, most of the rv's I see are fifth wheels and rental class C's. Palomino is owned by Forest River who have a good reputation.

Had a used 8801. I liked how it was constructed because it was very light and easy to repair (I bought it with problems and re-built it).

The truck didn't know it was back there.

We had an '03 model built prior to Forest River and I found Quality wise(at least on our unit), they were as good as any other although may not have the luxuries some have. The issues we had were caused by poor maintenance.

FYI, they aren't 4 season campers but ours did a far job at keeping us warm and cool.

I would still have it but the wife fell in love with the space a basement and slide out adds. It did double the weight but she's happy.

One thing I like about mine. With the Lance, I always knew it was back there. With the Palomino it's like nothing is back there....

SidecarFlip wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Why don't you come east and visit the factory in Colon, Michigan which is just north of the Indiana Toll Road at the Middlebury exit. I bought mine from Outpost RV in Middlebury but picked it up at the factory in Colon. Nice folks (both places).

My second TC, first one was a Lance. I've had zero issues with the Palomino. Had it 3 years now.

I do like having the factory close by (60 miles from me) and I like the fact that if you do need something, you can buy it factory direct. They even take plastic.

I might add, we have friends with one as well. They live in Maine and last year they took theirs from Maine to Alaska and stayed in Alaska 3 months with it. They had no issues either.

The early ones had build quality issues but ever since Forest River bought them out, quality of build and innovative features has become their hallmark along with a very competitive price.

My wife and I are happy with ours and we expect it to last many years with proper upkeep.

Sidecarflip's post is all true as we are honored to be called, his friends.

Our Palomino 2602 had a sink discoloration issue, slide alignment problem, and an awning frame arm broke completely off. The sink issue was within one year of purchase, but the slide problem and the awning frame arm break was after the warranty was over.

The slide had to be removed and involved two men two days labor to repair and shim to realign the slide. The hole in the side wall had been cut off square which caused the slide to bind on the tracks when moving. Three of the four tracks needed replacement.

The awning had to be removed and the arms were replaced. The awning was reinstalled with labor from three men. Upon the first retraction of the extended awning with the new arms, one arm broke and jumped upward tearing a hole three feet square in the extended awning. That awning was removed by two men and a new awning was ordered from the factory. Six months later, after the winter was over and the camper camp out of storage, the new awning was installed by the labors of three men.

I had nightmares of the slide repair and the two awning repairs costing me thousands of dollars for I was past the end of the warranty period when both repairs were completed. To my pleasant surprise, my dealer Harvey RVs, located just past 6 miles falls in Bangor, Maine, completed all repairs under the Palomino factory warranty. My out of pocket expense was fuel to get the camper to the dealer.

After experiencing the effort to fix my problems with this camper, I cannot say enough GOOD about my dealer and about Palomino. They all went above and beyond to help me with what could have been very expensive issues.

Like sidecarflip stated, we did travel to Alaska for the summer and explored many states across these great United States of America without issues from our Palomino truck camper.

Our experience has been positive and we fully enjoy our camper. I might add, we downsized from a 39' fifth wheel Bighorn which we towed across America two times. The fifth wheel was RVing and the truck camper is camping. A different way of life and one we much prefer over the RVing lifestyle of being cramped in between angry neighbors with uncontrolled barking dogs whose owners are so scared of the dark that they leave enough lights on to block out the view of the stars at night.

Go truck camping and thank you Palomino. A great product from a company who stands behind what they build.

Lakeside

I cannot speak for the newest ones.
The older HECO lift system, and many new still use, works great until it doesnt. Very hard to repair, and impossible to in some cases.
I hated my camper due to the HECO. Take great care of the camper and eventually HECO will let you down.
If you dont plan to own it long then it should not be an issue.

You probably already know the downside and upside to pop-ups. You live in a tent.
Pop-ups are better the more miles you drive, or if you plan some off-road experiences. Less valuable if just driving short distances where the fuel savings is not that big of a number.

The Reico-Titan lift system is flawless and quick. Something that all pop up camper builder should look hard at. I see Rex Willet at Northstar is now using it on their pop up TC's.

Not really sleeping in a tent. In a tent you are on the ground, have no appliances and no hard roof overhead. You get the condensation in a tent and if it rains you get to sleep in a wet sleeping bag. Only difference I can see between my old lance and my Palomino is it's lighter and easier to deal with height wise when negotiating stuff like a forest canopy or a low bridge.

My pop up has everything my Lance had, wet bath, roof air, stove, hot and cold running water, furnace and fridge. What it son't have is the weight or the height issue.

Why I sold the Lance in the first place. We 99% boondock off road and out northern Michigan property is in a forest setting only access is via seasonal road. No way could I ever even think of taking the Lance in there, I'd rip everything off the roof and probably the upper third of the camper too. With the pop up down, I don't have to worry about height at all.

Our friends in Maine (also commented here) have a hardside Palomino. You can read their experience's in this thread too.

Hardside don't work for us. Been there, did that and sold it.

Finally and important at least for us is storage. I keep my pop up in the garage when not using it so no worry about weathering, no space rental, just goes in the garage like a car when not in use.

I see so many RV sitting outside in all kinds of weather without even a cover on them. They are all getting old (and possibly leaking because most owners never keep up on seal maintenance) and it amazes me. Big bucks for an RV and then let it sit outside.

Not an issue for us, it goes in the garage when not being used. Don't think most RV's can do that unless the 'garage' is specifically built to house it.

Joe417 wrote:
Had a used 8801. I liked how it was constructed because it was very light and easy to repair (I bought it with problems and re-built it).

The truck didn't know it was back there.

We had an '03 model built prior to Forest River and I found Quality wise(at least on our unit), they were as good as any other although may not have the luxuries some have. The issues we had were caused by poor maintenance.

FYI, they aren't 4 season campers but ours did a far job at keeping us warm and cool.FYI, they aren't 4 season campers but ours did a far job at keeping us warm and cool.

I would still have it but the wife fell in love with the space a basement and slide out adds. It did double the weight but she's happy.

Debateable but then we don't go 'camping' in the winter. We are 3 season campers, however, having said that, many people do use their pop ups in the winter, we just don't.

My wife don't give a hoot about a slide out or a basement. She wants a comfortable place to sleep, off the ground (we tent camped for many years when younger) and a place to prepare meals and wash the dishes and a place to keep food from going bad. When we are using ours, we spend the bulk of our time outside anyway. I roll out the awning, set up the chairs and we stay outside. The camper is about meals and sleeping and that is about it. We even cook outside on a hardwood fire. I sure prefer a wood fired steak for dinner over a pre-prepared meal cooked in a propane oven or on a propane cooktop.

We have fall camped when it's cool (cold) at night. Our unit has a propane furnace and it has no issue roasting us out anytime.

I guess it all depends on your perceived level of convenience. If I want convenience, I can stay home. It's supposed to be 'camping' not 'glamping' in reality.

Romore : Forest River has a good reputation ?