Motorhome magazine covers RIVA show

[wincrasher]

Couple of tidbits that stuck out to me in the March issue of Motorhome magazine.

First, the Adventurous CS XL with E-trek package is $180k! Wow!


Second, the Coachman Orion 24RB (technically a C, I know) looks to be a direct copy of the Dynamax REV. I know there are alot of similar layout out there, but this just looks like a direct rip-off, which is not really so common.

[markopolo]

Good eye to spot the sameness. Coachmen and Dynamax are divisions of Forest River, Inc. http://www.forestriverinc.com/recreatio ... icles.html

Re: watts used to describe battery capacity - Wikipedia sums it up in Confusion of watts, watt-hours and watts per hour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt#Confu ... s_per_hour

The terms power and energy are frequently confused.

It's exciting to see another company offering lithium batteries in a production unit. The price is high but it usually is for the latest and greatest stuff. This technology should trickle down to lower priced units soon enough

[wincrasher]

I think the add-on price for this package borders on gouging. I doubt they'll sell many at those prices. Seems like it works against your business interests long term - you'd want to get more units on the road. With component prices continually falling, and even cheaper buying in bulk and not buying pre-packaged batteries, it is surprising.

If they were re-couping extensive R&D costs, that would be one thing. But they basically prototype new features by putting them in vans they sell. You pay to beta test for them! So it's a head scratcher really.

If someone had the inside track on Roadtrek and could elaborate on the testing or test rigs that have been built, that would be interesting. I really wonder how much durability testing has really gone on other than putting X number of units in customers hands to test.

[gerrym51]

watts lets you talk in bigger numbers and still be honest


i just built the most expensive CS possible on roadteks site- 162,000.

lithium batteries are not an option yet

[wincrasher]

Originally Posted by gerrym51

watts lets you talk in bigger numbers and still be honest


i just built the most expensive CS possible on roadteks site- 162,000.

lithium batteries are not an option yet

So what do you get with the E-Trek package then, AGM's?

[gerrym51]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

So what do you get with the E-Trek package then, AGM's?

e-trek package-8 batteries-solar panels-5000 watt inverter-engine generator

[mlts22]

I just don't like the marketing hype. If I can get two alternators in a Transit, coupled with the Magnum Energy hybrid inverter, this is basically an "engine generator", RT style, except without the hype or super secret parts needed.

[Davydd]

The article was talking about the Wendland/Campskunk experimental models. I can now tell you two things about them. They are way over specified in their power systems and I suspect they have a lot to learn yet. Also, you can officially stop talking about Advanced RV as being over priced if they think their vans are $180,000 from what I saw of the Wendland van write ups.

[wincrasher]

Originally Posted by Davydd

The article was talking about the Wendland/Campskunk experimental models. I can now tell you two things about them. They are way over specified in their power systems and I suspect they have a lot to learn yet. Also, you can officially stop talking about Advanced RV as being over priced if they think their vans are $180,000 from what I saw of the Wendland van write ups.

In fairness to Roadtrek, the transaction price will be 15% less depending on your dealer - so around $153k. Still alot for what it is.

I'd agree the electircal is over specified, but as we've discussed ad nauseum, it's to accommodate this stupid idea of running the air conditioning on batteries. If you don't want to do that, you are really going crazy with the batteries and solar.

Besides the electical system, I'm very curious about this undermount AC system. Don't really understand why it's such a big secret, unless there are issues.

[Davydd]

Knock off the 15% it is still no comparison to ARV in what you get. I was aware of that.