Open Range Quality

[Dog_Folks]

Like may people preparing to purchase an RV, we would certainly like to avoid the poorly built, low quality models.

We are aware that every brand/model has an occasional "lemon." We hope to avoid those by an extensive pre-purchase inspection.

We a looking for comments to try and judge the overall quality of Open Range.

Are there any Open Range brand owners here and how do you like them?

Thanks in advance

[camperforlife]

rwess wrote:
I have a 20011 Open Range Journeyer. For the 1st 2 years it spent more time at the dealer than out. Thank goodness for the 2 year warranty. Even had to replace the 2 heat pump air conditioners right before the warranty ran out. They wanted to replace with regular air conditioners, I said that I paid for heat pumps and I wanted new heat pumps, (love the heat pumps saves a lot of propane).
I really like my trailer. Would I buy another Open Range? no
Hopefully their quality will improve since Jayco went in as an equity partner. We will help you out now, but it is going to cost you a lot in the long run.

Don't hold your breath waiting on Jayco to raise quality. I had a Starcraft that was wholly owned by Jayco & it was a nightmare. It went back to the factory twice for major repairs.

[jimw606]

Pennman: There is a recall on certain door locks. Wiseco, I think.

[jneubig]

We have had our '12 OR Roamer 303BHS TT since May of 2012. We purchased it new. It has had issues with delamination on the main slide walls, both front and later the rear. It was due to improper molding being used and lack of sealing on the bottom edge allowing water to wick up. Both were replaced under warranty with no problem. The moldings on later models is different from ours , so it appears my issue was not isolated, but the manufacturer has made the needed improvements. We also had an issue with the front cap. The first time I waxed it around three weeks after purchase, I found a screw protruding. It appeared when the forward upper cabinets were installed, a screw was set too far and popped out of the skin. This was repaired by our dealer, but apparently has already allowed moisture to get in as it delaminated several months later about 12-14 inches below. The factory immediately stepped up and replaced the entire front wall under warranty with the work being done at the dealer. Other than these issues and a couple minor ones like a leaky water fill and propane hose (all of which were taken care of immediately), nothing else has been an issue. After my experiences with both my dealer and the OR factory directly, I would not hesitate to buy another OR. There is a lot to be said for great customer service.

[Steve__Judy]

Major Dad wrote:
We recently bought a 2014 OR Roamer 288FLR in August, and just completed our fourth trip last week. It has been a huge jump in quality from our 2008 Rockwood. The only warranty issue besides a loose screw has been a recall on the slide switches; they seem to work fine but will be replaced. Also, some design genius decided that those stupid swoosh decals should go across windows, but that will be easy enough to peel off in hot weather. The beefed up insulation has worked well in hot weather (100+) and cold weather (25 last Monday). It is heavier and 4.5 feet longer, but seems to track and maneuver better than our 29' Rockwood. We did a lot of research before buying this one. Aside from some of the common issues involved in almost all RVs (Hisense? TV, Jensen stereo, off-brand tires, sporadic delamination reports that happen with any RV except aluminum skinned units), we happily settled on the Roamer with the floorplan we love.

That's our experience so far. In five years or so, I'll have a better feel for the Roamer's durability.

We just bought a 2015 OR 288flr Thursday and really enjoyed reading about your experience with your 288flr. We love the floor plan and hope to travel with it soon.

[rwess]

I have a 20011 Open Range Journeyer. For the 1st 2 years it spent more time at the dealer than out. Thank goodness for the 2 year warranty. Even had to replace the 2 heat pump air conditioners right before the warranty ran out. They wanted to replace with regular air conditioners, I said that I paid for heat pumps and I wanted new heat pumps, (love the heat pumps saves a lot of propane).
I really like my trailer. Would I buy another Open Range? no
Hopefully their quality will improve since Jayco went in as an equity partner. We will help you out now, but it is going to cost you a lot in the long run.

[Lantley]

The tank sensors are really worthless. I never even look at them. An experience RV'er comes to understand you really don't need them.
I can look into the toilet and see the level if I become concerned. Ther shower will begin to back up if the grey tank is full.
I've come to believe the tank sensors are their to give novice Rv'ers some peace of mind. The sensors allow newbies to feel secure and know their tanks are not going to overflow and cause their RV to explode....LOL

[Drew_K]

fatboy66 wrote:

Drew_K wrote:
...and the black tank level sensor no longer works (pretty common failure for ALL RV's unfortunately)...

Not mine.

What I meant was that failure of the black tank sensors is a common failure on all brands of RV's, not just Open Ranges. So I don't hold that 'failure' against Open Range because it's such a common issue no matter the brand or type of RV.

[fatboy66]

Drew_K wrote:
...and the black tank level sensor no longer works (pretty common failure for ALL RV's unfortunately)...

Not mine.

[Dog_Folks]

OP here. What can I say but thank you.

In one day I have had 11 well thought out responses from owners.

I may occasionally complain about this forum, but the members here are the best!!!! :):C :B

Thanks again, keep the reports coming.

[PenMan]

We have the OR bumper pull in our signature. We are just about out of the 2 year warranty period and have only had two problems (neither caused by OR). The propane regulator would not switch between tanks, even manually, and was promptly replaced. We had a problem with the door lock on our last trip across country but have not had it fixed yet. We have been very happy with our trailer and my family has had many different RV's from Winnebago Class A to truck campers and we like the OR the best so far.

[Lantley]

I have a 2012 unit purchased new. No problems to speak of thus far. OR seems to do a decent job of standing behind there product.

[PamfromVA]

Ours is 4-1/2 years old. We have been cross county twice, down to Florida once and all over the state of Virginia too many times to count. All our issues stem from other items installed onboard - this is the second time we have replaced the heat pump. I would buy an OR again BUT please keep a close eye on the new CC of the TT's. Ours was close to 3K but most of them now are around 1.5K. If that is not an issue for you then no problem. I pack for two people and three dogs for three week trips. I would not buy any travel trailer or fifth wheel that had that small of a CC unless I only planned on using it weekends and maybe one week a year for vacation. Just my two cents...

[Drew_K]

We bought the Open Range travel trailer in my signature brand new early in 2014. So far we've used it for 60+ nights spanning around 10K towing miles. We've been really happy with it, and OR does provide a lot of nice features that weren't included in other TT's we were considering.

One plus for OR is the two year warranty and I do hear that OR is pretty good about actually standing behind the warranty.

The only issues we've had are that a few of the wood trim pieces came loose, so I glued them back on, and the black tank level sensor no longer works (pretty common failure for ALL RV's unfortunately). Pretty minor stuff.

Check out the OR owners forum and you'll get better information.

[campincandice]

We have the TT in my signature. We LOVE it - far superior to most of the others we saw when we were looking. Only problem we've had is our power jack, which isn't OR.

You asked about a forum for OR owners - openrangeowners.com. I highly suggest you ask other owners - we found they were most helpful when we did our research!

Good luck!