Former Pop up owners

[james kent]

Originally Posted by Cyndi B.

No one has mentioned the cable breaking or coming off the pulleys.

Yup! That happened while we had loaned it to wifes sister and Bro-in-law. When they returned all they said was, " There's something not quite right".

[WtMtJim]

Over the years we've had three different sizes of tent trailers. They were fine when we were younger, had kids, (there IS more open space in a TT), had less money, had smaller tow vehicles and more robust bladders (it's a fact folks!), the tent trailers were OK. The Casita, however, is weather tight, warmer, more secure against animals (both four legged and two legged), doesent involve all the set up as described already, has holding tanks and marine toilet, has a nicer fridge, and I feel a little more comfortable leaving the locked Casita in camp while we sight-see, and you can stop by the side of the road and use the "WC". I will say that in over 40 years of RVing, we had and used tent trailers longer than any other rig which included stick-built trailers and motorhomes as well. I think we finally got it right with the Casita, however. Most everything involves compromises and trade-offs. You just have to decide which features are MORE important for your current age, pocketbook, and other considerations. At our point in life and the style of traveling we do now, and having had both tent trailers and now the Casita, we are VERY happy with the Casita. And I will agree with most of the others that, compared to a tent trailer, a small FG trailer is less maintenance, less work, more convenient, faster and easier set-up & take down and the comment about being more convenient when you are moving down the road every day so you don't even have to unhitch, let alone set up, is spot on. Good point. When we were younger and had the kids and only got a two or three week vacation we tended to go to the lake in the forest, set up and stay in one place so we could fish, hike, boat, etc. Now, with just the two of us we move around a lot to see the country, events, sights, etc. The FG trailer is much better for that style of travel.

[Kurt G]

Both options definitely have their ups and downs. We had two popups before getting out scamp.

The popups do give you more room inside and usually larger beds to sleep on, it was nice to have a fill dinette and still have to accessible beds without having to convert the dinette over to a bed to sleep on. In the same weight and overall towing length I could sleep 6 adults comfortably in my pup. Im tall, and my head touches the top of my scamp, not so in the pup. When collapsed they are short, no problem fitting them into a garage. I got better mileage towing my pup of the same weight than I do the scamp due to the height difference when in town and therefor wind resistance.

Fiberglass trailers are easy, no setup, popping up required, we do a lot of day trips so this is a major bonus. No canvas means no leaks, it also means that when it gets windy, your nice and sheltered. They are far less maintenance, every time I got home with the pup from the beach I would have to open it up and dry it out before storage or the canvas would mold. The structure of most pup's is wood sheeted with fiberglass or metal, if you get a leak and the wood starts to rot your in trouble. As mentioned above, cables, they can snap, come off the pully's and are a pain to adjust.... nothing like that to worry about on the pups. Last but not least parts.... tracking down original parts was a bear on my 1978 pup, but I can just call scamp and have a new replacement part in a week

[Julie T.]

This summer our family has camped in our Coleman tents with air mattresses, our Coleman pop up with a King bed and our Scamp 13 with a tiny bed. I like them all for different reasons and they each have their negatives! I get the worst sleep in the Scamp but I love the convenience of the Scamp the most! It's my go to choice for a quick get away. As the others have shared, each has their benefits, convenience, size, storage, how long in each campsite, etc. You have to look at how you are going to use it and think about where you are going to go, how long do you plan to stay, what is the weather going to be like, etc.

Good luck with your choice!

[Gina D.]

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of this..

There is a Pop Up across from my campsite about 1/4 mile away that I can very clearly see from my "View" window. Its been out here since I got here 2 weeks ago.

We had 40+ mile an hour gusts out here in the desert south of Quartzsite last nite. When I got up this a.m., I was starring at the TOP of the thing. It got blown over.

Very odd, as there are folks out here in cabin tents, dome tents, makeshift Tarp tents.. and lots of folks in RVs that use tents as outside storage. Plenty of screen houses are up, but staked and guy lined down. No damage to any of them.

I have been afraid to put up my screen house because of the spontaneous wind here. (We did lose an awning or two last nite tho)

[nick c]

Close the door, blessed quiet. no longer catch up on the gossip two sites over.

[theresa p]

over the years, we have "experienced" 3 different tent trailers (pop ups). as so many others have said, they are roomy and i surely liked being up off of the ground. ours were all older models and whenever we set up, i had to have a repair kit handy, for the inevitable rips or tears or broken zippers. what a huge pain. and both dennis and i loathed all the pulling and cranking and yanking and then...there was that danged door! what a curse that thing was!!
once the boys were no longer interested in going camping with us, we knew it was our opportunity to invest in a trailer that afforded us the comforts we craved---simplicity of set-up & side-of-the-road access. we found it in our trillium outback.
our needs changed over the years, so did our disposable income. we plain and simple camped in tents and older tent trailers when the boys were little because it was what we could afford.
lots and lots of people have similar histories.

but getting our trailer was one of the best purchases we have ever made.

[RSchleder]

We had a Jayco pop-up when we camped every weekend and a month in the summer when the 4 kids were in grade/mid school. We've had motor-homes since 1993 ( 3 to be exact) since we spend all winter down South now that we're retired. In 2007, we decided we wanted to start camping again in the National parks and smaller campgrounds during the summer. It didn't take long to decide a Scamp was exactly what we wanted/needed so we ordered one and have been very happy with it ever since. We never even considered another pop-up, as the Scamp is perfect for the two of us!

[Borden]

Had a tent trailer in the past yes when fully setup it was bigger than our 17’ boler. I could not move it around the yard any easier than our current 17' boler. In the rain now we will just run in and wait to level later. Best of all I now have a bathroom and soon a working shower. My wife said no more tents! When the bed is a couch and table is up we have more floor space now. Did I mention that the 10’ Colman pop-up weight was 3500 lbs. and the boler is 2500 lbs. stock;
P.S. Our current car could not pull the Colman. Only draw back is the air being pushed at speed, requiring a tans cooler and maybe some reduced mileage.

[Radar1]

Originally Posted by Borden

Had a tent trailer in the past yes when fully setup it was bigger than our 17’ boler. I could not move it around the yard any easier than our current 17' boler. In the rain now we will just run in and wait to level later. Best of all I now have a bathroom and soon a working shower. My wife said no more tents! When the bed is a couch and table is up we have more floor space now. Did I mention that the 10’ Colman pop-up weight was 3500 lbs. and the boler is 2500 lbs. stock;
P.S. Our current car could not pull the Colman. Only draw back is the air being pushed at speed, requiring a tans cooler and maybe some reduced mileage.

Guess it depends on the model. The 10 ft box Coleman I had weighed just 1250 lbs and was easier to pull than my 2450 lb 16' Scamp. I like both, but the Scamp fits my travel profile much better now.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by John Haggerty

Guess it depends on the model. The 10 ft box Coleman I had weighed just 1250 lbs and was easier to pull than my 2450 lb 16' Scamp. I like both, but the Scamp fits my travel profile much better now.

I know that my Starcraft was much heavier than my Scamp. It pulled pretty well behind my 72 horsepower diesel Benz, though. I wouldn't try to pull it with my Scion... It was well over the 2,000 pound hitch rating.

I think the smallest current Coleman has a dry weight of 1,645 pounds. A few options and some cargo would easily put it over a ton.