Greetings from Hailey, neighbor.  Jeff here.  Just left you a voice mail.  We just confirmed everyone's suspicion on this forum...everyone in Idaho must know each other.    

All I can say is come this spring, drive around the valley and start counting how many pods you see.  Once you keep an eye out for pods, they start popping out of the woodwork.  I remember driving home from work one night and spotting one across the field over in lower Northridge.  I drove over and I found four within 3 blocks.  We got our 179 after a friend had one and I got B to take a look at it.  We have been super pleased with our and have not had any major problems.  Have we tweaked a few things to fit our needs, yes.  Do I wish they had and used a darn shop-vac at the factory, yes.  But given the opportunity to clean up a little sawdust or reapply some caulk that I felt was poorly executed vs. shelling out and additional $10M+, I'm happy to do it.  

I know our valley is heavy with Sprinters, Sportmobiles, and VW's.  I just had friends get rid of their Sprinter full conversion and move over to a R POD.  They didn't like that when they were camped out somewhere, when they wanted to go anywhere, they had to "pack-up" since their transportation was also their shelter.  It's nice to unhook the pod and head out to adventure and know your camp spot will still be when you return.  As far as all the weekend warriors who battle up to Redfish for the week with there huge trailers, the can have it.  We like be able to head out on our own and stretch our legs.  We've taken the pod up over Trail Creek with no problem.  Granted, it's a slight pucker.  

You and Barb come by and I'll give you the grand tour of our 179.  We're headed out for spring break to Sedona next week, but she's all dialed and ready to go.  I'll fill you in on my thoughts were to buy.  

Talk soon.

Jeff

I am so grateful for all of you who took the time to address my concerns.

I am feeling much more positive again after hearing the practicalities and realities of a small travel trailer.

Being handy and a woodworker for most of my life I am sure I can sort out any cosmetic issues and lack of proper fastening, and making things fit better. Thanks again, and I will report back when I pull the trigger! Cheers

 

Not to hijack, but I strongly agree, signatures enable us to get a quick 'feel' for the person on the forum. This 'p.c.ness' is what is also killing many forms of humor. 

Furpod, Keep the signature and bash on.

We have a 2017 179HR and are quite satisfied with it.  I think this is because we purchased it from an excellent dealer.  We have bought other Forest River products from other dealers and have discovered that all dealers are not the same.  You might want to see if your  dealer will/can give you names of previous buyers for you to contact.

As far as the noise for the heater and A/C, please keep in mind that the Pod is a small enclosed space.  The Dometic A/C unit is very loud. We have a 34 foot TT with Dometic A/Cs and they are loud also.  I was at a rally in Texas where one of the questions to a FR representative was what to do about the noise from the A/C.  These owners had big Class A's and big 5th wheels.  

The only solution I have found is to camp when you don't need the A/C and use the Fantastic fan.  We typically use the heater only in the mornings (if then) and it isn't as loud.

Someone on this forum said you could multiply the number of "complainers" by ten to get the number of satisfied owners.  I don't know that this is true but it is good to remember that any forum is what statisticians call a biased sample.  These are mostly people looking for solutions.

Hello All

I am making the transition from a Westy to a travel trailer. I have always liked the look and mystique around the Rpod, and now I want to purchase.

I have narrowed it down to a 2018 180 or 190 Hood River edition.

When searching reviews, I was very disheartened to read some very negative ones on late models.

Needless to say this burst my bubble, and having a hard time believing it.

It was mostly about poor craftsmanship, silicone and calk everywhere, heater and AC loud to the point of almost unusable, refer beeping and not working.

Most of all they said no support from the dealers and Forest River.

I am still very interested in the rpod and jumped in this forum to get some reviews from real owners.

Any comments, experiences with late models would be very helpful.

Thanks ahead for any who take the time to answer.

Jerome in Idaho