I'm thinking about getting a pop up camper trailer as I've finally hit an age where I no longer want to sleep in a tent. I know the specific brands that interest me and do intend to buy a used one of these brands, so I had my Mazda Tribute set up for towing. I already had the hitch, so just needed the wiring and an electric brake controller. With the car ready to go, I decided to see how my dog and I did in a camper before I actually made the buy. I found a place in Denver that rents pop up campers and used one as our lodging for a three day Homes For Our Troops Build Brigade. The one I rented was a Viking 1906.
My dog adjusted after the first night. It got down to 27 degrees at night, but the furnace made it comfortable in the camper. Having a stove for cooking was nice. The beds were far better than sleeping in a tent! I was at a campground with an electric hook up, so I could use lights at night as I sat at the table and read or watched DVDs on my netbook. The overall experience convinced me to get a camper trailer.
But, set up and take down took me at least an hour and involved more getting to my knees and back up than I like as I get older. I doubt I could get the set up or take down time much under an hour with experience and practice and I know that kneeling and standing are not going to get easier as I add more years.
But I know from testing them at the dealer that the two brands that interest me are easy to set up and take down in way under 5 minutes and involve no kneeling.
I'm really glad that I was able to rent a camper before buying and learned a lot with that rental. I strongly encourage you to find a rental place near you before you commit. If you can't do that, at least test your ability to set up and take down the brands that interest you at a dealer before you commit to buy.
And please don't take this as any kind of negative review on Viking 1906 campers. They have a good reputation and the one I rented, while an older unit, had some really nice features that I liked. It might have been the perfect camper for me in terms of value when I was younger. I enjoyed living in it, but the set up and take down don't work for me at this age.
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