AT Horizon or Chaser

[LngDstncVygr]

Think also about the weights of the trailers. Your JK is not exactly the most over-powered vehicle on the road! A Chaser will knock my JK down a gear in the mountains (from 4 to 3 of 6!). At least consider what another 400-500 lbs of Horizon will do to you . . . .

Richard LeNoir

 

[Scott Brady]

I have a Chaser and love it. IMHO, the decision can easily be made by the size of the top vehicle. The Chaser's big advantage is storage capacity. If you have a SWB Jeep or need to take a whole gaggle of kids, then the Chaser is a better option. With a bigger truck, like the Unlimited, the Horizon makes more sense to me. Smaller storage, but more integrated systems. The Horizon is also a bit heavier, better for a bigger truck.

 

[Martyn]

The Horizon can hold an 1800 RTT (King size bed 73" wide) with no modifications. The Globetrotter (Queen size bed 63" wide. mounted long ways) and the Family tent (86" wide) need a sub-frame to support the extra length.

Although the Chaser is longer than the Horizon capacity wise it's smaller (Chaser 46 cubic feet, Horizon 54 cubic feet).

Towing a trailer is going to slow you down, you just can't pull that much gear and not have some effect on the tow vehicle (unless you have a full sized diesel and then it makes no difference). It's part of the trade offs between going Minimal and Glamping.

Going over mountain passes at 45 mph rather than 55 is just par for the course. Doesn't bother me in the slightest, leave yourself enough time to get to where you want to go, enjoy the journey rather than just enjoying where you want to end up. As my wife says slow down and smell the roses.

 

[Hilldweller]

Towing a trailer is going to slow you down, you just can't pull that much gear and not have some effect on the tow vehicle (unless you have a full sized diesel and then it makes no difference). It's part of the trade offs between going Minimal and Glamping.

He ain't kiddin'.... :smiley_drive:

I have a 2-door, my trailer tips the scale at about 2000 pounds fully loaded, on 33's with 4.56 and auto-trans.
The joys of a comfortable basecamp exceed the former haste quotient. I camp alot with Unimoggers and enjoy sightseeing.

 

[wagner_joe]

What did you upgrade from? Martyn recommended the 1800 but I was thinking either the 2200 or the globe Trotter but to be honest I don't know much about the tents yet.

We upgraded from the Autohome Overland tent that we purchased with the trailer. It's similar in size to the 1800 I believe. It worked well for us. But as we age, and our son got taller we personally found out we liked having room to standup and get dressed and the globetrotter allowed us to do that. If you're planning on moving daily I'd recommend the 1800 or 2200. As the sidewalls with the globetrotter and the extra awning etc, take a little more time to pack. We're down to about 45 mins now for complete camp. But I also pinched the sidewall mounts onto the upper portion so they now fold up without removal. I just have a particular folding pattern so not to scratch the window or damage the material.

The globetrotter is a two adult sleeping platform, where as the Autohome allowed us to all be up high. But with his age and size increasing we factored in the cot for now. I'm hoping to upgrade the Tacoma by years end with a flip-pac for my son and dog (and my days for solo trips..)

The globetrotter on the horizon required a taller mounting rack (from 4" to 6" I believe and the sub-frame addition Martyn mentioned) Mostly due to the size of the tent having clearance to open the top lid.

Hope that helps.

 

[jdholder]

If you choose a Chaser (or Chaser Style) - look at mine - Chaser Style - for sale.

If you choose a Horizon, then there is one for sale over on iH8mud.com - I have the guys e-mail address. PM me for details.

 

[GunnIt]

I have a horizon and almost your exact same tow rig. My previous tow rig was a SWB Rubicon and it did fine towing the trailer off road, however I dreaded towing it on pavement. This is likely the reason for the preference for the Chaser over on the jeep board. My current jeep tows the trailer very well both on and off road. The fellow that I bought my jeep from was a factory trained jeep driver and he recommended that I tow the trailer on pavement with the cruise control on...I was skeptical at first but now I use it all the time and find it much easier to concentrate on controlling the vehicle and the trailer.

The horizon suites the needs of my wife and I and our 8 year-old son. I would buy another one in a heartbeat. We switched out our large size Autohome tent for and extra large tent which gives us more room.

Here is a photo of my tow rig and trailer. The 37's on the jeep make the 35's on the trailer look small.

 

[Woodchuck]

Thanks Gunnit!

What gears are you running in the Jeep and is it an Auto or Manual? I was thinking of going to 37's but am also contemplating the Hemi swap and don't want to regear for 37 the turn around and put in the hemi and have to do it all over again.

 

[GunnIt]

Thanks Gunnit!

What gears are you running in the Jeep and is it an Auto or Manual? I was thinking of going to 37's but am also contemplating the Hemi swap and don't want to regear for 37 the turn around and put in the hemi and have to do it all over again.

I'm running 488's with the 6 speed transmission. The gearing appears to be perfect for the 37's and the 4" Teraflex long arm. I'm getting ready to step down to the 3.5" in. lift due to drive shaft issues and will still fit the 37" tires with no problem. Go Sooners.

 

[Scott Brady]

Terry,

I need to stop in and say hello. Are you still at the river this time of year?

 

[Gear]

The Horizon or the Chaser will suite you just fine. Obviously I have the Chaser and Love it. Here are a couple of current photographs with my new Eezi Awn 2200. This tent is huge and serves my family of 4 great. One think I might suggest with either trailer is a hitch extender so you can get into the tailgate. If you look at the different photographs between GunnIt's Jeep with the Horizon and mine you can see the difference the hitch extender makes. My Chaser loaded down is right at 2000 pounds. It pulls just fine with my auto and 5:13 gears. I personally like the open aspect of the Chaser. It allows me to see everything inside at one glance. While also giving me ample opportunity to change things up depending on the trip.

For reference here is the same my Chaser with an Autohome Overland large.

 

[Woodchuck]

Go Sooners.

You a Sooner fan? Wife and I both went to OU. Hopefully we can win out an salvage the season. I think it is harder to be a fan of a great program because instead of just wanting wins you want championships. Don't get me wrong...I'm not one of those nut jobs that thinks we need to "hang half a hundred" on teams but when you get used to winning the loses are harder to take.

BOOMER SOONER BABY!!!

 

[R_Lefebvre]

and he recommended that I tow the trailer on pavement with the cruise control on...I was skeptical at first but now I use it all the time and find it much easier to concentrate on controlling the vehicle and the trailer.

Are you saying your Jeep tows such that you have to think about controlling the trailer? Towing with my Land Rover, I don't even know the trailer is there other than the truck is slower and I can see it filling up the rearview.

 

[GunnIt]

Are you saying your Jeep tows such that you have to think about controlling the trailer? Towing with my Land Rover, I don't even know the trailer is there other than the truck is slower and I can see it filling up the rearview.

Rob,

If you have driven Hwy 89A, you would understand what I'm talking about. Our road is really narrow and gets a lot of traffic since it is the road that connect the north and south rim of the Grand Canyon. The trailer slows my jeep, I cannot tell that it influences the handling but I know that it is there. Towing it with my Excursion or 2500HD, I have to look back and make sure that it is still there.

 

[pygmyowl]

I have had my Horizon two years now and first word that comes to my mind is versatility - it excells at that. Can't beat those side boxes, just add some plastic cutting board material and you have a built in shelf to work from. I located my fridge in the back of my 06 Tundra secured with Macs tie down rings on a sheet of plywood that is covered with a re-cycled tire mat material that is way durable and dense. I have Equipts National Luna Portable Power Pack for my big Odyssey 2150 battery. I went backpacking in the White Clouds last month, was gone 4 1/2 days with Lynda and my dog, with highs in the upper 70's to low 80's and lows in the upper 40's -low 50's and was blown away at the end of the trip to see the ARB fridge LCD displaying 39F - best IPA I ever had followed by cheese an crackers. Also like my fridge in my truck, as I can leave the Horizon and go out wheeling in just the truck and get the batteries charged up.

Last month I sold my EA 1800 and just now I'm mounting up a Globetrotter. Only myself, my wife and dog and usually just myself, so the Globetrotter is sweet with the little room attached to get out of the weather. Seems that I'm always pulling in some where just as it starts to storm, and with the GT as soon as you open it you have a roof over your head to get oriented and get the rest of your kit set up.

Scotty