Imperial Outdoors Xplore XR22

Raspy

Active member
Yes, stage 2 batteries and stage 3 solar would be a better match. A good rule of thumb is 2X watts on top vs amp hours on batteries. It's still hard to see putting out $100k for this trailer. It's a great product, but that still seems steep.
If someone is looking for a way to lower the price of the trailer a small percentage, I'm not sure taking away 1/3 of the battery bank is a logical step. Basing all use patterns and all trailer designs on one overriding rule of thumb, doesn't make sense to me. These trailers are designed to cook only with an electric induction stove, they also have the option of heating with electric from the batteries, and of course, they have compressor fridges. Some folks camp in high clear weather, others at foggy beaches. Some in the snow and some in the summer heat with AC. And my theory is that usage will always rise to meet availability, with power. It's a new era and people expect to do what they want instead of adapting to limited systems. Getting enough solar has been an ongoing battle in the search for a true off-grid trailer. When I installed 660 watts of solar on my X22, and had the 480 AH of batteries, it, pretty much became an off grid trailer. But I still might have had to be careful with the AC and cook with propane. When camping at a friend's house up in Washington, the solar performance was dismal in the drizzly weather. But in the High Desert, it rocks. Also, it is much easier to get it in the beginning and be done with it than to try to add more later if needed. My friends want to go camping with us in their trailer, but they need hookups for, among other things, his CPAP. And I like to camp off-grid. So my offer is to just plug into my trailer as their shore tie connection. With 1100 AH of batteries and 1240 watts of solar, I'm the new small scale grid.
 

Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
Have you added up all the differences in the new trailers, the 145,195 and R1, to come to the conclusion that they are "over priced"? They are not competing on price, they are competing on capability, quality, and innovative design. So far, Imperial can't build them fast enough to keep up from what I see. It may be similar to buying a Jaguar or a Tesla, where discriminating buyers can see the value and are willing to pay for it. Great features, new tech, and knowing your audience. These trailers are not for price shoppers. For me, the R1 was worth considerably more than the X22, which was also an expensive trailer.

Two words Kingdom Camping
 

Raspy

Active member
You are spot on. They are not over priced at all in my opinion. They are no different then Kimberley, Bruder or any other unit with these capabilities. They are hand built, and its not cheap to build a quality product at this level.
Plus the equipment list is impressive: Cruisemaster ATX air suspension with disk brakes and high end shocks, parking brake, Isotherm compressor fridge with dual controls, Truma water heating and ducted space heating, 12 volt AC, three separate solar systems with 1240 watts total. (3) 360 AH Expion lithium batteries, backup charging system, induction cooktop, outdoor kitchen on the R1, beautiful heavy gauge aluminum storage boxes, full articulating hitch, backup camera and tire monitor on the R1, Trasharoo, Nautilus water management panel, onboard compressor and air tank, and the R1 gets a nice full set of tools including a torque wrench. The list goes on.
 

Treefarmer

Active member
If someone is looking for a way to lower the price of the trailer a small percentage, I'm not sure taking away 1/3 of the battery bank is a logical step. Basing all use patterns and all trailer designs on one overriding rule of thumb, doesn't make sense to me. These trailers are designed to cook only with an electric induction stove, they also have the option of heating with electric from the batteries, and of course, they have compressor fridges. Some folks camp in high clear weather, others at foggy beaches. Some in the snow and some in the summer heat with AC. And my theory is that usage will always rise to meet availability, with power. It's a new era and people expect to do what they want instead of adapting to limited systems. Getting enough solar has been an ongoing battle in the search for a true off-grid trailer. When I installed 660 watts of solar on my X22, and had the 480 AH of batteries, it, pretty much became an off grid trailer. But I still might have had to be careful with the AC and cook with propane. When camping at a friend's house up in Washington, the solar performance was dismal in the drizzly weather. But in the High Desert, it rocks. Also, it is much easier to get it in the beginning and be done with it than to try to add more later if needed. My friends want to go camping with us in their trailer, but they need hookups for, among other things, his CPAP. And I like to camp off-grid. So my offer is to just plug into my trailer as their shore tie connection. With 1100 AH of batteries and 1240 watts of solar, I'm the new small scale grid.
I agree with what you're saying. I wouldn't reduce the batteries to save money. I'd reduce them because the X145 doesn't have a lot of real estate on top for solar panels, and my goal is to match the watts with the AH as closely as possible. With the R1, you can support 1100AH of batteries because of all the panels on top. The "ideal" would be to have 2000+ watts of solar for that battery bank. We have 1104 AH of batteries and 2020 watts of solar. It works great, even in cloudy weather, but 2200 watts of solar would be "ideal" for us.
 

Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
Just reading about a guy who is stuck at the local xplore dealer with hydraulic suspension issues. They are so busy in thier service department they can't even get in to look at. The sales manager jumps in and tells him " hey maybe we can help" Guy replies I am camping in your lot waiting to get in. What's going over thier. I always thought that fish house hybrid suspension had to much that could go wrong. Hey I know all trailers have issues but I feel bad for this dude.
 

FordGuy1

Adventurer
Just reading about a guy who is stuck at the local xplore dealer with hydraulic suspension issues. They are so busy in thier service department they can't even get in to look at. The sales manager jumps in and tells him " hey maybe we can help" Guy replies I am camping in your lot waiting to get in. What's going over thier. I always thought that fish house hybrid suspension had to much that could go wrong. Hey I know all trailers have issues but I feel bad for this dude.
I thought the same about potential hydraulic failures. I like air bags better, just becouse I can replace a bag on the trail, or manually fill.
 

Treefarmer

Active member
Just reading about a guy who is stuck at the local xplore dealer with hydraulic suspension issues. They are so busy in thier service department they can't even get in to look at. The sales manager jumps in and tells him " hey maybe we can help" Guy replies I am camping in your lot waiting to get in. What's going over thier. I always thought that fish house hybrid suspension had to much that could go wrong. Hey I know all trailers have issues but I feel bad for this dude.
That was a funny post. I bet they're even more relieved they don't service Black Series anymore. They probably are counting he days until all the BS trailers they sold are decommissioned. Hydraulic lift systems in almost every industry are generally super reliable. The Bigfoot RV leveling systems are almost failsafe. I thought that was the one area where the Xplores wouldn't have a problem.
 

TGK

Active member
That was a funny post. I bet they're even more relieved they don't service Black Series anymore. They probably are counting he days until all the BS trailers they sold are decommissioned. Hydraulic lift systems in almost every industry are generally super reliable. The Bigfoot RV leveling systems are almost failsafe. I thought that was the one area where the Xplores wouldn't have a problem.
Are you talking about the Canadian fiberglass trailers from Bigfoot RV as having leveling systems?
 

TGK

Active member
Thanks for clarifying. I didn’t think it anything to do with the Canadian trailers and was not familiar with that company.
 

Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
Pardon my ignorance but does Bigfoot make hydraulics for an off road suspension on a 17 foot duel wheeled suspension like the Xplores 22? I am clueless on hydraulics for 5th wheels I just assumed this xplore suspension was from the ice house world as the trailers drop all the way down to the ice. Just seems heavy and maybe not the best for small off road trailer. Don't mean to be to critical as there are likely many xplore owners who have no problems. Also the new Xplores certainly don't use this hydraulic system
 

Treefarmer

Active member
Pardon my ignorance but does Bigfoot make hydraulics for an off road suspension on a 17 foot duel wheeled suspension like the Xplores 22? I am clueless on hydraulics for 5th wheels I just assumed this xplore suspension was from the ice house world as the trailers drop all the way down to the ice. Just seems heavy and maybe not the best for small off road trailer. Don't mean to be to critical as there are likely many xplore owners who have no problems. Also the new Xplores certainly don't use this hydraulic system
They don't make hydraulics for suspensions that I know about. I was just commenting that hydraulic systems in general are some of the most reliable mechanical systems around, so I was surprised that hydraulics would be an issue on the Xplores. If anything on the Xplores should be reliable, it should be that hydraulic lift system. It's just up and down. The torsion axle, hubs and wheels are doing all the hard work. I just used Bigfoot as an example of reliability. Another example would be the airline industry!
 

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