Dallas RV Show - Results

Today is Saturday, Sept 15. We attended the Dallas RV Show. There are about 10 dealerships that show up for this show. There is a variety of weekend units and upper Motor Homes and rigs in between. It's no where near anything like the Hershey, PA show. It's a small blend of the market.

So for those that like to go see the latest, this is a pretty good place to go (usually). for this show, we found only (1) DRV Mobile Suites, (1) Redwood 3901, (2) Leheigh Beacons, (2) Big Horns of interest. Not a lot to choose from in this price point this time. If this was the only choice we had, it would have been a Leheigh Beacon for sure. They are manufactured by Tiffen. We've been watching them grow up over the last 3 years and they have just about surpassed Redwood in almost all ways (in our opinion). It's amazing how far they have come and it will be really interesting to see what else they come up with.

For Redwood (at this show), they seem to be going backwards. We've almost put them just a slight notch above Cardinal. Sad...

While at this show, we ran into one of the Redwood Reps we've known for some time. I let him know about all of the problems we've had in the past. His interest was in more about what Redwood is coming up with for 2019 that supposedly alleviates all of those past concerns. He was not interested in what we've had to do to fix our current rig. In fact, he stated that we just needed to buy a new rig. WHY? If I can't trust that you did it right the first time, why would we allow a second time? He said that the 2010 thru 2014 were more or less "experimental" models. Glad to know I'm just an expensive test subject. When we told him about the a couple of issues, he asked if we contacted the service desk. We emailed and received about 1 response out of 3 or 4 inquires. He said we just should have called instead. OK...But them what track record would I have? Would the results have yielded anything different? I did call on one occasion about the roof issue. That phone call lasted about 3 minutes. The problem was not a Redwood problem. Sorry...No luck there either. For now, we'll stay with what we have. We've had to put too much into this one to make it roadworthy. But when the time is right, we'll definitely watch the competition.

I wished that more Mobile Suites or other Beacon models had been there. And I certainly wish some other rep besides Explore USA carried all three brands. It's like Thor buying up almost ever RV Manufacturer out there, they seem to have a monopoly in this DFW area for retail outlets.

Anyway, back to the show....There were certainly a lot of nice Motor Homes there. For weekend units, what is it that so many see in the Air Streams? Everything in it is aluminum. It's like living in a beer can with seats. Everyone has there opinion. I would just like to figure out what they see. Maybe we are missing something.

Have any of you been to an RV show lately? Have you seen things you like or have been disappointed in seeing?

Go the DRV or Thor forums & read the issues with them, not much different from your RW. I would caution you though, don't respond to their post if you don't own one!!!
Correction, its "Vanleigh" Rv Beacon 5th wheels, which if I remember correctly from the article a few years ago it's a combination of the Tiffen boys names.

"While at this show, we ran into one of the Redwood Reps we've known for some time. I let him know about all of the problems we've had in the past. His interest was in more about what Redwood is coming up with for 2019 that supposedly alleviates all of those past concerns. He was not interested in what we've had to do to fix our current rig. In fact, he stated that we just needed to buy a new rig. WHY? If I can't trust that you did it right the first time, why would we allow a second time? He said that the 2010 thru 2014 were more or less "experimental" models."

I would have been glad to talk to the Redwood rep about their quality control on their trailers. Maybe I should have said lack of quality control. I have a 2019 year trailer. I have not been impressed with their quality. Redwood is no different then the rest of the rv manufactures. I can not believe how much saw dust I found in the trailer. Here is an example of want I am talking about. I pulled down one of the vent covers from the ceiling and it rain saw dust. It does not seem like the factory knows what a sweeper is. One more example of poor quality control. In the kitchen area I was checking things out. I was opening all the drawers and found out that the factory thinks just because you put a drawer front in place means you have a finished drawer there. I open the drawer and found no drawer box attached to the drawer front and the drawer slides were also missing parts. I have more I could tell this rep but enough of my rant.

Thank you for listening,
Al