Im going to little guy head quarters this weekend, its only a couple hours from me. Looking at a rough rider (duh). I have been researching teardrops for a while, unfortunately, I dont have time or resources to build one, and AT's are out of my price range
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I havent been able to find many long term customer reviews. 4x4x4 - how has your held up?
Mine has held up great and I couldn't be more pleased.
Like you, the custom ATs were out of my price range and building myself wasn't an option. (I was in the doghouse already for a long-term truck project that had occupied the garage and gone way over schedule although I stayed in budget.)
I bought mine from a dealer about 250 miles from me at the end of the 2005 season. Mine is a 2005. They had used it as a demo/rental and let it go for a bargain price.
Mine has been stored outside and uncovered since then. Last year, I did have to replace the roof vent because the plastic had oxidized and deteriorated. It never leaked, just didn't seal airtight any more. Not bad for 5 years. I replaced it with a fantastic fan vent. Turns out the LG was prewired! so that was an easy chore. It also was a money-well spent upgrade. Last summer, I woke up cold had to turn the darn thing off.
I replaced the included double AA powered lights with 12 vdc and run them and the vent fan off a battery now. The battery comes home with me and gets put on a charger in the garage. This year I hope to get it mounted permanently and wire it to charge off the truck.
The 2005 model had two doors into the storage cabinet that faced the sleeping area. I bought two more and will have them face the galley. LG already made this change in production models.
In 2005, they had a tongue problem. As it finally turned out, I believe the final count was 3 that needed replacement due to a supplier screwup. They notified me of the issue and offered to pay for me to have it inspected locally rather than take it back to the selling dealer. As it turned out, mine was not one of the 3 affected but they would have allowed me to have it repaired locally as well with them picking up the charge. No hassles at all and very responsive service.
Mine doesn't typically go much further into the wilds than a FS road. Nothing hard core yet. It still has the 26-27 inch tires although those will need replaced this year due to age cracking.
I'm the guy no one wants to go camping with as I will bring the rain and wind with me. I had to get out of a tent. This is great for me.
I can be set up in 10 minutes. I can also be packed in similar time.
In the morning when I wake up, I open the door and put my feet down just like in my BR at home. As noted, the wife doesn't rough it any worse than Days Inn and she will let it be known that it was lacking so I don't have feedback on the 2 or more persons aspects.
It looks as good and seals out the weather as well today as when I bought it.
Design-wise: As noted the additional storage doors.
I would make the fenders flat top to better use as shoe storage.
The screens on the doors are inside and low. If the load inside comes in contact, it can wear a hole through them from movement while towing. Better packing on my part would also solve that.
My first time using it was colder than **** and on a mountain top. Condensation was my only issue. After the first night, I learned to crack the vent just a wee bit.
I have stayed in a campground when it was cold and threw one of those 1000 watt ceramic heaters in. First time was turned too high and you could have baked pizza on your sleeping bag.
I sleep on a 4-5 foam just slightly wider than my sleeping bag. This gives me half the floor space to spread out or store if I want. With two people, you'd need to be more inventive/careful.
If you spend a lot of time in populated campgrounds, I would consider adding a shower curtain type enclosure to make it possible to stand up outside and get dressed.
I have only stayed "off the grid" for a max of 4 nights at a time. It gets used about 15-20 nights per year although last year was less because of scheduling.