deciding to buy - Event Date: 02 Apr 2016

A difficult decision because they are very similar. My guess is the Pod will be   better constructed, but I've not seen the Coachman. I have owned an RPOD and was very satisfied. The Clipper has a dry bath, but the Pod probably would seem roomier inside due to the slide. Don't let the solar plug be a deciding factor. It is simply a socket with a wire to the battery, nothing more.

We bought the 2015 176t and although we haven't taken it on the road yet, we are very happy with our decision.  It seems well-constructed and nicely laid out.  The kids like their bunk beds, but at 32" wide, I don't think they'd feel cramped even for a moderately-sized adult.  I'm also looking at solar, but think that if I buy something with different plugs it might be just as easy to clamp the cables directly to the battery to charge.  Currently, (pun intended) we are looking at the 100W Renogy panel on Amazon and will probably pick a decent solar charge controller and try to mount it in a weather-proof junction box somewhere near the battery.  I'm considering building a little adjustable stand to mount the panel on the ground when we set up camp.  The only issue I'm trying to figure out is where to store the panel when we are not using it - it's a little too wide to fit in the pass-through storage.  May need to build a storage case at the front or under the rpod.