Small RV Model Comparisons – We Know Our Next RV!

Hey everyone, it’s, James and Stephanie, and welcome to no seeing country. If you see us going like this now, you know: okay, okay, so you want to know about our RV search. Well, we have good news, big news.

We are excited we actually have determined what our next RV is going to be yes and we’re going to get to that, but first just a quick recap. We started this whole process by listing out in our first video all the features that we wanted, that we wanted in our next rv and then the second video we kind of nerded out, and we put them all.

It was totally fine. It was not nerdy at all, but we got them in order by means of a paired comparison tool, so we have 28-ish features in order that we’re looking for in our RV yeah. Now this step, which is kind of what everyone wanted to leap to, was to take that and use that to find a short list of rv models to compare right.

So before we get to the RV we chose, we want to first go over with you. The models that we were looking at and talk a little bit about them: okay, okay, so first you all got to hear how James compared each of the models that we looked at, because if you thought our last video was nerdy, get get a load of the System, okay, tell them about yourself.

She’s, been giving me flex hilarious. She’s, been giving me flag for this okay, so you know how we had a list of things in order. Well, it seemed like there should be some points that i could assign to each item, and so then you can kind of actually literally score.

The RVs right that makes sense. You’ve got a list in order. You know what’s more, so i started assigning points to the various criteria on our list and I started at the bottom and so like the very last thing, which was no pre-installed wi-fi ranger connectivity.

I gave that five points. The next feature up the list: 360 siphon vents. I gave that 10 points and then the next one 15 points and so on upped the list until I got all the way up to you know four season capability, which was worth 100 points, 100 points.

Now: okay, okay, so if you watched our last video, you know that, after the eighth item on the list, i kind of felt that was like our must have features line and we shouldn’t. Even look at anything that didn’t have all those eight right James had drawn a line.

He wanted must-haves to be everything above the line of those eight things and i drew a line and i only had three. She only had three on mine, which was the length and the width and the bike storage right, but so to try to take that into account.

What i did is once i got up to 100 points. I totaled all that up and it came to like 1050 points or something like that, and then i thought all right well. It should be possible to win if you had all those, but not one of the items above it.

So then, everything above the eighth item, which was no puzzle bed. That item got a thousand points so that it was almost worth as much as everything below it on the list because it’s kind of a must-have feature right, and so then, since they’re ranked the next one.

Above that separate wardrobes, i gave that 2 000 points and then the next one above that separate area, is for sleep and work. 3. 000. Cat storage. 4. 4000. Ducted ac 5000 points. So you all remember that there was a a game, a game show on tv.

I think it was called whose line is it anyway, where it was all made up coins it’s all made up and the points don’t matter that’s kind of like this system. It’s. All kind of made up it doesn’t matter yep.

So, but then we got to the top three items on the list, which were ones that we both agreed were, must have items out the the length and the width and the bikes. The bike storage inside and so at that point i totaled up everything on the list below that and so dedicated indoor bike storage to make sure it beat everything below had 15 000 points, um not too wide.

What got 16 000 points and under 24 feet? Long got 17 000 points. Okay, so i had my points and so it’s, pretty easy to go through and look at the models and see how many points they get but to make sure I wasn’t doing anything crazy because i wouldn’t want to do anything I wouldn’t want to do anything crazy.

I kind of ran the list with like a hypothetical toy hauler and I didn’t. You know a fifth wheel, kind of toy hauler thing and i didn’t pick anyone in particular, but I kind of know you know what’s. Interesting ran the list.

Well, I imagined a conversation with a toy hauler sales and I’m. Like does this? Have a tv? Okay, it ‘ S got three of them. It’s, got one of the bedroom, the 76 inches one in the galley. It’s, 44 inches and the 24 inch one up in the cockpit that’s optional, so points for having three tvs.

No, it lost points because we wanted it to have no tvs, oh and and so on and so on, and i know they’re wide, and so it lost the points for being wide, and i know you know they don’t. Generally come with lithium batteries, and so i scored all that up for the hypothetical toy hauler, okay and it got 30 520 points, which sounds pretty good until you realize that the total available points are somewhere over 64 000 points.

Ah, 64. 000 point question so that it kind of got an f, because that’s like what 50 percent kind of yeah a toy hauler gets an f um. So then, i ran the list with lance okay, as a test coach and lance darnier ticks every box on the list, except for a couple, important ones like dedicated indoor bike, storage and the key word.

There is dedicated yeah, we can store bikes inside lands, but then we can’t do anything else. With that space i can’t get to my underpants. You all know that i’m gonna hear about this forever. The underpants, i think i’m gonna hear about the underpants problem forever.

She’s, the one that approves most of the comments anybody watch south park. You remember the underpants into the underpants gnomes that’s. Why? He calls him underpants that’s, where he got that anyway, and it doesn’t and lance doesn’t have ducted ac, and you know there’s.

A couple of doesn’t have dual pane windows and he he still has some pictures of wood all right and with all that 43 855 points, which is better than a toy hauler, which got like 30 000. right. So it’s.

It’s kind of fallen in line with what we expect, and so with that i thought my scores were valid way more than your scores, which don’t exist. Well, yeah. My scores are based on feel, which is it’s, a good way to do it too? How does it feel? Does it have what you need for comfort? Okay, so with that in mind, we decided to start scoring models and we started off with some of the class cs.

Oh you were there. We started off with some of the class c’s that you guys have suggested yep. So we took five. We took five models and let’s. Look at the two classes: first, okay, so the first one is probably the one that was suggested.

The most, i think the leisure travel vans wonder, rear twin bed yeah and we do. We, like leisure travel, vans secret hint for everybody out there. We actually only review rvs that we like so and we’ve reviewed that one.

We love that that gear garage in the back is huge and awesome right, but it is not under 24 feet long. It’s 24 feet. What is it nine inches? I think yeah, and that was like our number. One criteria was length.

We wanted length under 24, so it’s already, not meeting that and then width. We wanted not too wide and it didn’t meet that either it’s like over seven and a half feet wide or it’s like almost eight feet, wide right, almost eight so but it does have the indoor Bike, storage and then you know, but just by not being short enough and and narrow enough it lost.

What is it 33 000 points it can’t do better than an f. So in the end – and you know you can you can see – i ‘ Ll push put the score sheet online, so you can you get in the bugs too. You got one right there, oh um, so so you can see all these scores that we gave, but the leisure travel vans got 25 530 points, ah yeah, so that’s, that’s lower than the toy hauler and it’s lower than lance so so far we’re still in the right RV with lance okay.

Next one we looked at the coachman crosstrek yes now this is another one that a lot of you suggested, but again it’s. It’s over 20 feet and i struggle over 24 feet long yeah, but just barely it’s like 24 feet, one inch, but what’s? The point in having a line? If you don’t enforce the line, so the coachman lost points again, just like the wonder, did because of length and width.

Those were our top two criteria, so i lost points for that. But there were a couple other interesting things on the coachman. So when we reviewed the coachman and i’ve, i’ve, actually confirmed this with coachman, but when we reviewed the coachman crosstrek it had ducted air.

It no longer does so it’s a lot. It lost the points for that one um, you can get the coachman on the all-wheel drive transit chassis – oh that’s nice, so it got points for being all-wheel drive, um and the other thing it got points for was a lithium battery system, and I should probably explain what i mean by lithium battery system, because they have lithium batteries as an option on the leisure, but that’s kind of just like drop in lithium batteries to replace the agm batteries.

What i mean by a lithium battery system is it’s, got a large capacity lithium battery and then a high-powered alternator to charge it, and you know a large inverter so that you can run everything in your coach from it.

Okay and the crosstrek has those for the new year. The other thing it had was a set. It did not have a seven pin, wiring harness believe it or not. They put a tiny, tiny little trailer hitch on that crosstalk.

I don’t really care about it. I know you don’t care at all, but i’m sure. How many points does towing give something uh the seven wiring harness we got. 35 points see you’re coming on board, you’re gonna you’re gonna be liking the points later.

Okay, so then the next one we reviewed – and so we’re to start with with the winnebago products. Now, oh, okay, the next three are going to be vans right we looked at and you know we. We really do love winnebago and we’re partial to winnebago, so we’re, hoping when a winnebago product would win.

But you know it’s, not a deal breaker. If something else beats winnebago yeah brand wasn’t one of our criteria and we do a lot of brand ambassador things for winnebago. We love them um, but yeah it’s yeah.

We also love trek bikes and she just bought a giant yeah go figure, so we will go outside our brand loyalty when it needs. Although i am having trouble with that giant bike, so maybe there’s, a lesson to be ready.

Maybe there’s, a lesson to be learned from going outside the brand you love, but anyway, okay, so let’s. Look at those! So the first uh, the first van model we’re, going to look at – is the solus 59 p x.

Yes, that’s, the one that got us started on this whole shopping mission in the first place, because we love that band. It did and, as you might imagine being a van, it is under 24 feet long. It is not too wide.

How wide is it? I know we took notes on that. Oh gosh, let me look at that. Not too wide it’s on the ipad and it has oh and it has dedicated indoor bike storage so and in the solo 59px that bike storage is across the back yeah and it’s very convenient bike, storage too.

But it does not have ducted ac, which was in my mustang. Well, what van does none of them really? Unless you really want to take away from the head room, there’s, not room right up there to put ducts so no ducted, ac and uh.

I didn’t, really consider that it had separate wardrobes. Oh, there were cabinets yeah, the two cabinets up above, but one of them was really narrow and if you were going on a long trip in the solace that wouldn’t work for a lot, a lot of clothes.

So you’d. Have to work something else out for separate clothing storage, but it did have cat space. It did have space for Mel’s litter box, and it did tons of space underneath the bed and it did have the bike storage and then a lot of the other features it didn’t have except it didn’T have a tv that was one of our criteria, no tv which got it 60 points, ah yeah.

What about no awning? That should get it some points. Oh well. People have suggested this. We have not considered awnings at any point this far in our deliberations, although in retrospect i probably should have because awnings yes, we do not like awnings.

In fact, you haven’t. Seen James’s. Awning video you’ve got to go, find it it’s. Ridiculous and hilarious. I’ll. Try to put a link at the end of the at the end of the thing for you, but the soulless comes without an awning and we love that yeah.

So we should get points for that. I think we should give it 500 points for five points. For no awning do any of the other ones you went. I thought you were going by feel and now you’re, given the points well, if we’re going by your system, it deserves points points for no 500 points.

So what was the final score? Final score for the for the 59 px was 56 000 and 85 points and compared to lance. Our current glance is 43 855 points. Okay, so, with the addition of 500 points, then the solus 59px would be 56 585 points.

Looking good for the solas all right next was the winnebago rebel yeah. Now you’ve all seen the rebel, and you know it’s. Pretty short, it’s under 24 feet yeah. It is not too wide, although, surprisingly, it is over seven feet wide, because those bumps oh yeah, that’s, a big difference, the sleeping bump out yeah it’s.

Seven foot one inch wide; okay! Well, that’s official from the winnebago website, that’s surprising for a van but seven feet. I think that’s. Seven feet is doable, so we’re good with seven feet for the record um.

So you gave it points for that not too wide not too wide and dedicated indoor bike storage because it’s got storage, galore um, but i struggled with what to do with that big space under the back because you could use it for bikes.

You could use it for cat stuff or you could use it for wardrobes. I could build some sort of furniture or closet kind of thing, but you can ‘ T. Do all can’t. Do all those probably get all of that in that little space exactly so, something has to be sacrificed, so what i did for that is, i gave it credit for the top two items: the cat storage space and the bike storage space.

The important thing i did not give it credit for the separate wardrobes okay, so who’s? That and then what else do we have um no puzzle bed because it’s? I mean there are sections to the bed, but for the most part you can just keep it made up that’s.

What we don’t like about puzzle beds, is the having to make them up on all the bedding every night. So no that’s, not a puzzle, piece yep, and so you know a couple of things: it’s got a lithium system.

Now, for 2021, there’s, lithium on the uh on the on the rebel that’s exciting and let’s, see uh. After all that we have fifty six thousand five hundred and ninety five wait a minute. Okay, so did we just say round points better? Oh wow, the solas and the revel they’re, only 10 points off with the awning modifier that you just made up on the fly.

Yes, yes, does have an awning. Yes, yes, and it’s, not an option to remove it. Correct, okay rebel, so revel, didn’t get the extra 500 so wow they’re, pretty much tied. Except now. I’m gonna go by feel, and i just feel like.

The rebel is a bit too small for what i don’t too small. I don’t, get to have feelings; no, no! You need to you need to put that on the point system, then, if it feels too small, you think two, it’s too small.

It feels a little it just. You know because we go off for trips of six weeks, sometimes yeah and – and i have to do that – i know they do, but i’m, not they. I’m. I’m. I’m. I am a unique individual. Well, i really love a lot of things about the rebel and i’m.

I’m impressed that it’s totally tied with the solus that does not make choosing between the two for us. For our features and easy, but there’s, one more class b, okay, we’re, going to take a look at, and that is the safari condo xl flex.

Now this one we have reviewed before we had to go all the way to Canada to do it um, but we have reviewed it and they do build that same floor plan on an all-wheel drive sprinter yeah. So it gets points for that.

So that’s, what i kind of concluded it again being a van got points for you know um, not too long, not too wide. Okay and then you know they do that big tray underneath the bed that can roll out so again, like the revel, i called that bike storage and cat storage, but then there are a lot because it’s a longer van.

There are a lot more cabinets in the safari condo, so it got space for separate. It got points for separate wardrobes as well, and no lithium system right, uh, no, no lithium, okay, no lithium, but it did not have ducted ac.

That was, one of them was pretty high up on my list. Yes, but it just didn’t, but again it’s, a man and you’re, just not going to get that in a van right. Are you no? I didn’t, so it didn’t get points for lithium.

It didn’t, get points for uh, you know all season, although I’m sure people take them out, but in my opinion there would still be work that i needed to do to make it an all-season ring. So i didn’t give the points for that: okay and that’s fair.

In the end, the safari condo xl flex on the all-wheel drive sprinter got 58 400 points. Is that the most points of all of the vans and that’s? The most points of everything and a note: awning is optional on the safari condo, oh, so then we got to give it another 500 points.

58. 900 points for the safari condo xl flex, so that’s as far as we got and then and then everything just sort of turned upside down, because we learned that something new is coming, that’s right it’s.

No secret that we have friends in the industry and we just got a sneak peek at a new RV that’s, going to be released and it is going to rock your world. I used my score sheet on it and it got almost 60 000 points really well.

I used my field score system on it and it got 50 billion points. You just made that up. We both can make up numbers. You see how that works anyway, we can’t tell you any more about it or where it’s coming from or who’s making or anything like that, but we can tell you it is going to be awesome And you’ll, be getting information on it very soon, so stay tuned for that, and, as always, I’ll, attach the uh, the spreadsheets, the score sheets, etc from this video in the article on the fit RV that goes with this Video, you’ll, find the link in the description below so that’s.

Gonna do it for now, but you guys we are so excited about this, see you later bye.