What a difference 6" makes...

[chris-MGRV]

Hi, my name is Chris. I am an RV Junkie. I shop needlessly and compare other trailers to my own. I am taking the first step in admitting that I have a problem.

Today I went to a competitive dealer who sold Heartland RV's, and I looked again at the Landmark Luxury RVs. There are a few features that we really liked in the Landmark that caused me to go take a second look. What I found was really surprising to me.
1. 6" makes a lot of difference. When you walk into the Solitude, it feels big. When you walk into the Landmark, it's markedly different. The ceiling is lower, and that extra 5.5" (6") of clearance is very noticeable.
2. The ducted A/C on the Landmark is cool.
3. The Goodyear tires on the Landmark are very nice.
4. The remote for the Landmark's leveling and slides...pretty cool.
5. The coiling power cord on the Landmark is a nice touch.
6. Full body paint rocks.
7. There is a real difference between the models. The Solitude has the pantry, a great desk, amazing counter space.
8. The bathroom is bigger.
9. The bedroom in the Solitude is HUGE in comparison, and the closet space is infinitely more usable than the Landmark, and it felt like the ceiling height was better.
10. The basement in the Solitude is larger and easier to use than the Landmark.
11. The Solitude feels more sturdy than the Landmark.
12. The furniture in the Solitude is much better than the Landmark in my opinion. The recliners are almost as nice in the Landmark, but there is a clear edge on the sofa to the Solitude.
13. The core components are the same. Lippert, lippert, lippert. The Landmark uses a Dometic awning vs a Carefree. Both are nice.
14. The Landmark has an option for a residential refrigerator. That has to be run on an inverter when you're dry camping. No thanks.
15. There are design elements I like in the interior of both trailers, but the Solitude has a more "Homey" feeling when you're in it.

While I was there, I also satisfied my Motorhome urges. I'm glad I have my rig. LOL. I looked at other Heartland 5th wheels as well as Winnebago and Montana 5th wheels. I may bitch about overall quality, but our rigs are still leaps and bounds ahead of many of these.

Thanks
Ct..

 

[Gsport]

Chris, is your Solitude an early or late model??

 

[Steve and Cill]

Chris, you didn't mention the "Salad Bowl" in the bathroom (that's what our salesman called it)

 

[ACDW-Ottawa]

My wife thinks we should either get brown toothpaste or stop brushing our teeth so it doesn't mark up the salad bowl

Seriously though, my wife hated it at first (I'm indifferent) but now she has gotten used to it and likes it except that its harder to keep clean. The salad bowl does provide a lot of counter space and more space in the vanity. so we gain more room there.

I agree with Chris about the 6". I too find the 6" width makes a difference plus the bedroom slide and living room slide are much deeper and taller than others. These all provide much more room than my old trailer. And its definitely more homey than the others. We too shopped many models and agree with Chris. The only thing we really gave up was the rear picture window.

 

[Renee]

Chris, what about price comparison?

 

[Steve and Cill]

My wife thinks we should either get brown toothpaste or stop brushing our teeth so it doesn't mark up the salad bowl

Aaron, that is so funny, I was telling Priscilla this morning that the grandkids were going to have to brush their teeth outside because they make a mess in the salad bowl

Steve

 

[chris-MGRV]

593 I believe.
Ct..

Chris, is your Solitude an early or late model??

 

[2hams]

Chris -- too funny and too true! I am hopelessly an engineer, building spreadsheets for comparisons, like the one I use for campgrounds. I searched for a new rig for nearly a year (that was a huge spreadsheet). We wanted to stay within weight limits to keep our Chevy 2500, absolutely had to be able to access the fridge with the slides in, but wanted to stay 35' or less but larger than our 30' unit. We were very happy with the dealer we had bought our Laredo from, so I tried very hard to find a Laredo, Heartland or Open Range from him that fit our criteria. We also looked at Forest River products.

It came down to the Reflection and the Montana High Country. Prices were comparable. The Montana has 16" wheels but we were leery of the cable slides, it didn't have any night stands, you had to either move heavy recliners every time you put the slides in or crane your neck to see TV from the recliners, there was a 6' header in the walk through bathroom (and my husband is 6'4" tall), there was very little space between the bed slide and the closets, and it had that stupid salad bowl sink.

We love our Reflection. I continue my engineering by counting the campers (by category) that we see on the road while we are towing. We have yet to see another Grand Design towing. Based on the camping expenses spreadsheet we have been about 4800 miles and spent 70 nights in it.

Kay

 

[chris-MGRV]

I think once you negotiate hard with the Landmark folks, it's pretty close. When we first looked at them - before seeing GD, they were in the 65K range. The list high, and sell medium if you know what I mean.
Ct..

Chris, what about price comparison?

 

[mandolin57]

My wife thinks we should either get brown toothpaste or stop brushing our teeth so it doesn't mark up the salad bowl

That's hysterical!!!

 

[chris-MGRV]

Being Italian, I agree...either sketti bowl or salad bowl! I do think it's classy. It's not too hard to keep clean now that we have it figured out. The last person to brush their teeth (me) wipes it clean with his hands. That seems to work well. At least it doesn't have the "Falling Water" faucet. You all know that I'm hard on the overall quality of the industry, but it's easier to see how much better our rigs are when you compare them side by side.
Ct..

 

[LanikaiGirl]

We keep a container of glass wipes in the medicine cabinet. Last person wipes it out. Lol

 

[Ditkitty]

We rinse it, then dry it with one of those super-absorbent "shammy"s. That gets hung with the towels.