New Roamer1

[Raspy]

Raspy, wondering how you are liking your R1 so far? After a little over a year with a truck-based overlanding vehicle we think we are better suited for a tow vehicle-trailer combo. We are looking for significant but not crazy off-road capability, comfort, and quality—and considering the Roamer1 and the Kimberley T3. Interested in perspectives of anyone who has had one (or both).

Jen, I too am a big fan of a tow vehicle and trailer. Overall, I really like the R1. But I have come to the conclusion that all trailers have problems. Not enough to stop us from having fun, necessarily, but none of them are perfect.

The R1 has had a few problems during its initial release but they are getting everything ironed out. Mine was the first one delivered. It works very well, is comfortable, tows perfectly, has a lot of solar and battery power, an excellent bathroom, excellent storage, a great outdoor kitchen, north/south bed, disk brakes, compressor fridge, 12 volt AC, fully adjustable air suspension, high quality piggy-back shocks, very good ground clearance, excellent tires and great insulation. etc, etc. The X195 is just an R1 without the outdoor kitchen, and some other options that might not be important to you. Look at those too. I immediately took out the Laveo toilet and installed a Separret brand "Tiny" model which goes in remarkably easy and is a much better design, modified the tongue jack, did a few interior cabinetry changes, reinforced the kitchen cabinets, installed a couple more receptacles, Switched to a different television and mounted it properly, added an exterior drop down table, a microwave and a McHitch automatic coupler (McHitch.us).

This all sounds like a lot, but I enjoy working on the trailers when not camping and these changes were all for good reasons and worked out well.

Look at my Hwy 50 video in post 16. It tows straight as an arrow. Also looking forward to some serious off-road adventures with it. We'll be heading out to Texas, from Nevada, via Arizona, for the eclipse early next year. Already been to Utah and Colorado.

 

[mvbeggs]

Raspy, wondering how you are liking your R1 so far?...

... The X195 is just an R1 without the outdoor kitchen, and some other options that might not be important to you. Look at those too. ...

I'll second Raspy's comment to also look at the X195.

We looked at the R1, but coming from our Black Series HQ-19 we already had/or did not want, many of the "extras" added to the R1. (i.e. tools, dishes, outdoor kitchen, cabinet mods, etc.)

ROA seems to have done a good job on the R1's outdoor kitchen. However, we found after extensive travel in our Black Series HQ-19, more times than not, we opted to use our Blackstone when cooking outside. The Black Series' outdoor kitchen was mostly utilized for its massive fold out table/prep space. Now that we're in an X195, we just tote along a small plastic (2'x4') prep table and the Blackstone. This setup gives us some flexibility on where to setup our kitchen in inclement weather. We also wanted to use the front storage for "storage" rather than to house an outdoor kitchen.

R1 or X195, I don't think you can go wrong if you're looking for a true 4 season, off roadable, trailer with lots of comfort.

Good luck in your search/purchase.

 

[Treefarmer1]

Raspy, wondering how you are liking your R1 so far? After a little over a year with a truck-based overlanding vehicle we think we are better suited for a tow vehicle-trailer combo. We are looking for significant but not crazy off-road capability, comfort, and quality—and considering the Roamer1 and the Kimberley T3. Interested in perspectives of anyone who has had one (or both).

You should also check out the Kingdom Camping Caravan XL. More customizable and less expensive. It's sold direct from the manufacturer (no dealer intermediary).

 

[mvbeggs]

You should also check out the Kingdom Camping Caravan XL. More customizable and less expensive. It's sold direct from the manufacturer (no dealer intermediary).

Interesting. I just watched their YouTube video walk through of the XL. Very similar concept to the X195. Haven't heard of Kingdom Camping before. How long have they been around? Do you own/travel in one? Any first hand knowledge of the build quality?

Firm believer in competition betters the market and drives innovation.

 

[rehammer81]

Treefarmer is ground zero for the Kingdom XL. They full-time in production unit #1. They were heavily involved in developing the design and layout with Kingdom.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Obsessed2findARuggedHybid]

Interesting. I just watched their YouTube video walk through of the XL. Very similar concept to the X195. Haven't heard of Kingdom Camping before. How long have they been around? Do you own/travel in one? Any first hand knowledge of the build quality?

Firm believer in competition betters the market and drives innovation.

Treefarmer will get back to you I am sure but from what they have told me they are super impressed with Jamin the owner.

 

[mvbeggs]

Treefarmer is ground zero for the Kingdom XL. They full-time in production unit #1. They were heavily involved in developing the design and layout with Kingdom.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Thanks. Good to know.

 

[Treefarmer1]

Interesting. I just watched their YouTube video walk through of the XL. Very similar concept to the X195. Haven't heard of Kingdom Camping before. How long have they been around? Do you own/travel in one? Any first hand knowledge of the build quality?

Firm believer in competition betters the market and drives innovation.

We covered the build of our Caravan XL here on Expedition Portal in the "Our Kingdom Camping Build" forum. We also did about nine posts on our blog with a lot of photos and comments throughout the process (https://r-v-ino.blogspot.com/). Between those two spots you'll get more detail about the build process of an off road trailer than just about anywhere else. Our trailer was the prototype so we were able to specify just about the entire process. Since then Kingdom has built one other XL and has two more scheduled for 2024. You can also message us directly if you have any questions. We lived/traveled for 11 years in a New Horizons 5th wheel and moved from that into the Caravan XL fulltime last April. We're camping in AZ now.

 

[mvbeggs]

We covered the build of our Caravan XL here on Expedition Portal in the "Our Kingdom Camping Build" forum. We also did about nine posts on our blog with a lot of photos and comments throughout the process (https://r-v-ino.blogspot.com/). Between those two spots you'll get more detail about the build process of an off road trailer than just about anywhere else. Our trailer was the prototype so we were able to specify just about the entire process. Since then Kingdom has built one other XL and has two more scheduled for 2024. You can also message us directly if you have any questions. We lived/traveled for 11 years in a New Horizons 5th wheel and moved from that into the Caravan XL fulltime last April. We're camping in AZ now.

Thanks. I did find, and review, the build thread on your XL. Great details. I must have missed that thread when you were documenting the process. Sounds like it was a fun, but time consuming, project.

 

[LabLover]

Thanks to all for your detailed and quick replies. Especially on outdoor kitchen. I agree a lot of the R1 upgrades (kitted out inside) are not what we would need, but was attracted to the outdoor kitchen in concept but hadn’t considered the storage trade off. Would prefer an option for composting toilet—we have one now in our camper and think it is great.

 

[Treefarmer1]

Thanks to all for your detailed and quick replies. Especially on outdoor kitchen. I agree a lot of the R1 upgrades (kitted out inside) are not what we would need, but was attracted to the outdoor kitchen in concept but hadn’t considered the storage trade off. Would prefer an option for composting toilet—we have one now in our camper and think it is great.

You should be able to put any "non black tank" toilet into one of these trailers. We happened to spec our Kingdom XL with a Separett Toilet, but they could have just as easily installed any of the composting toilets. If we had gone that way, my choice in composters would have been the Air Head.

 

[LabLover]

You should be able to put any "non black tank" toilet into one of these trailers. We happened to spec our Kingdom XL with a Separett Toilet, but they could have just as easily installed any of the composting toilets. If we had gone that way, my choice in composters would have been the Air Head.

Yes we have the airhead, it is great. Very simple and does not smell.