Hello G12 owners. I am debating buying one and Aaron (the owner) has probably been the most patient, responsive and helpful person I’ve worked with, so I would like to support his company and product. The G12 with the spec I’d like would be nearly $60k USD (plus 10% sales tax in my state)
That said, I am also considering a conqueror UEV-490 that is used and about $30k. It is also well specced (lithium battery, diesel heater to replace the electric AC/heat).
My question to you all: is it really worth $30k for a better made and better supported camper? I’m coming from a Scout truck camper which had lots of issues (although Scout - Adventurer was great to work with to fix them)…so I am a bit gun shy about rv quality (and scouts are US made, so this is not a NAM vs. Chinese manufacturer issue in my opinion)…but $30k is a big chunk of change.
Use case: family of 4, 3+ season camping mostly off grid, prefer simplicity (e.g. no black tanks, easy winterization, small size for towing and so everyone is “forced” to be mostly outside.
Appreciate any input on this.
So here’s my camper math on this. And I was a bit nervous to buy a new camper cuz the saver in me was screaming my head off lol.
Assuming by off-grid you’re doing some more rugged roads, you’ll beat up anything cheap that you buy.
The Arkto is our 3rd camper. We went cheaper with our first two and we were always breaking things from bumping down dirt. (Both were used). Plus we had to do a lot of mods to get things to be useable for us.
Essentially, each of our campers would last 4-5 years before we would either sink a bunch of money into them or they started to fall apart.
Of course, it’s a toy at the end of the day so I don’t expect ours to be perfect forever and things will need to be dealt with. And I don’t look at it as an asset either.
But the way I see it, I can buy something that’s built well and more expensive with the right suspension, non wood construction, and durability to match our camping style and have it last 10 years, or I can continue to buy cheaper campers that won’t last as long, will require more maintenance/upkeep when stuff gets strained/breaks, and have the hassle of having to buy/trade every few years.
However, we are a family of 3 and we love our G12, but depending on your kid’s ages 4 is a tight fit sleep wise imo - something to consider if your looking at a 10 year time horizon.
A second way I looked at it was calculating how much per night we ‘spend’ from the price tag. We get about 30 nights a year camping. When I broke it down over a 10 year lifespan - random but our hope is it’ll last that long - (and assumed no resale cuz I never really see them used) it came out to a number I could swallow a little easier.
Hopefully that gives a different perspective for you.
