Thinking about a Pause

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Callabo

New member
New to the game. Have some land that our family of four wants to off grid camp on a piece of land that we own (without utility hookup). Needs to be as 4 season as possible. Been looking at Pause trailers. Anyone have other opinions or options. Am I on the right track? Thanks
 
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Obsessed2findARuggedHybid

Well-known member
One of the cons of the Pause is it's made by Forest River. Separate divisions for sure. Unless you on a budget other then the Pause/Reboot I would look hard at Kingdom Camping XL. Xplore x195 is another but been some issues lately. Search the Pause/Reboot and the Xplore FB group pages (they are separate). There is a new rig I know nothing about. Roam Resiliant Baja Additional that is similar. Kimberley Kampers are liklely the best but may not be quite as insulated but close.

If you can go a bit smaller there are other options.
 
mvbeggs

mvbeggs

Adventurer
I can't speak to the other options mentioned, but I do have a fair amount of experience in the Xplore X195.

We've owned an Xplore X195 for about a year. They are well very insulated and the Truma Combi heater does a great job of keeping it warm. The gray and water tanks have ducted heat as well as tank heater pads. I have no reservations taking the X195 into freezing temperatures. Actually, the trailer is more capable of sustaining itself in cold temperatures than we are physically willing to put up with. If it starts getting cold, we're heading south or to a lower elevation. That's why it has wheels. :)

I've been impressed with the X195's solar panels and battery setup- the are awesome. (~1,200w of solar and 1080 Ah of lithium battery) After my initial shakedown, I hadn't plugged my trailer in until about a month ago. We plugged in a few times on a recent 3 week trip to Maine- we had a straight week of rain and overcast. Even at that, we never saw battery capacity drop below 75%.

The Xplore's Cruise Master suspension is definitely overkill if you are only trailering to land you own. (I'm assuming it is close.) If I was primarily staying in one location, a small cabin, with solar panels and batteries, would be something I'd consider.

Best of luck to you!
 
mvbeggs

mvbeggs

Adventurer
Just saw you had a family of four. The X195 probably isn't a good fit. It's a smaller trailer and you'd be hard pressed to sleep 4 comfortably.
 
mvbeggs

mvbeggs

Adventurer
Obsessed2findARuggedHybid said:
Callabo

In regard to Xplore 195/145 please check out the Facebook group " Xplore Trailer Community " . Recent posts are very concerning. Huge apologies to all Xplore by Imperial Outdoors owners. It is what it is.
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Obesessed- Absolutely no need to apologize—

I’m active on the "Xplore Trailer Community" and the "Xplore x145 & x195 Owners Group" FB groups and have read about the reported issues, although I haven't personally encountered any (yet!).

It’s easy to jump to conclusions, but it’s worth remembering that any solid company, including Imperial, is constantly evolving and improving its products. I’m confident that they’re listening to customer feedback, warranty issues, and implementing thoughtful design changes, which will only enhance the X195 over time. I see that Imperial's website says they have upgraded the frame for 2025.

I remember this same type of forum chatter when Black Series hit the market. Lots of doom and gloom. My Black Series HQ-19 was solid and traveled many miles.

Here’s an informative post from Raspy, a well-regarded former Roamer 1 / X195 owner- now Pause Reboot owner- who’s experienced with off-road trailers. (This was posted here, Exped Portal, on 02-28-2024.)

Raspy said:
I have a lot of respect for Pause. They have the right intentions and the resources to back it up with a quality product. But I just can't get past the, sort of, rudimentary outcome of their endeavors, and the lingering legacy of the Indiana trailer history. The frames are a crude design, while strong. The tongues are very short and filled with stuff, the frame angle in front of the body is not conducive to maneuvering or avoiding contact with the rear of the truck and there is barely room to open the tailgate. The in-house articulating hitch is an ongoing design exercise that misses the point. The tires are small, they are using drum brakes, the wheels stick out from the sides of the body and make the trailer wide, but give no more interior room. Wide trailers are harder to get through narrow spots off-road. The simple frame design mandates that the wheels will stick out so far. The body panels are really tough, but they had to plaster a huge decal over the entire side to hide imperfections in the panels and that decal will get torn up by passing branches with no way to fix it, whereas fiberglass sides can be buffed out and painted if necessary. Mor-Ryde is scrambling to make suspension and hitches for them because they have a close relationship and because Pause insists on using American products. That's fine. But there is a lack of sophistication and beauty of design somehow that leaves me cold.

Imperial, on the other hand, has a different problem. The owner Isaac is in complete control and responsible for the entire design. He is good, but not perfect. He's human. He misses the details in his eagerness to be efficient. Those problems are now showing up with poorly designed cabinets that are more like IKEA furniture than robust off-road furniture. Inadequate inverter and fridge venting must be improved. The solar is good on the new line of trailers, X195 and Roamer1, but ridiculous on the earlier ones, the X22 and XR22. Now, there have been some initial rollout problems that are a very common general issue with all new products that get rushed into production with inadequate testing. This happens across the board with all new products that are developed under a deadline. Fortunately, the venting and the cabinet issues are simple to fix, but people spending this kind of money are not patient with this kind of problem. The trailers are a beautiful overall design with lines that please and tow extremely well. The storage boxes are thick aluminum, the tongue is long and narrow. The suspension is the best in the world. The frames are a sophisticated design built by a separate manufacturer that has worked with them for years and are well done. The tires are large and housed under the trailer, with steel fenders, and disk brakes. The perimeter extrusions are aluminum, whereas the Pause extrusions are plastic. This means strength and it means awnings can be bolted directly to the extrusions without a lot of special brackets. The battery bank is enormous, at 1,080 AH of Expion brand lithium, and has heat ducted to it. There is an emergency backup charging system that helps with self recovery if the batteries are shut down, the AC is quiet and runs on 12 volts, the solar is huge at 1,240 watts. There is no ridiculous black tank. And it has 60 gallons of fresh water. It has a parking brake. My job, with my Roamer1, is to dial it in and report on how to do that simply and efficiently. That is what I'm doing. I now have about 36 modifications I have done and I'm very happy with the results. Before I got the R1, I had an X22 for a couple of years and did 50 modifications on that one. It turned out to be an extremely comfortable and capable trailer that was almost completely off grid, including its AC system. My new R1 is getting better in a number of ways and is nearly done. More efficient, more durable, more user friendly, better energy management. I'm finding the weak points and dealing with them. Anyone interested in this should come over to Xplore Trailer Community on Facebook and join the conversation. It's a friendly and very useful site for anyone interested in Xplore trailers, with a lot of capable owners. We share info on repairs, upgrades, new models and camping trips. I'm happy to share my findings and up-grade strategies.

Over the years, I have had a pop-up camper on my truck, a 20 ft Thor toy hauler, an Oliver E2, a Black Series HQ19, an Xplore X22 and now a Roamer1. I live in northern Nevada and camp on BLM land almost exclusively, but I do cover a lot of miles both on and off highway. While traveling I stay at rest areas, truck stops, and National Forests, but absolutely avoid KOAs and don't need any hookups.
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I think John did a great job summarizing the issues with the X195. It's apparent that Raspy's opinion has shifted regarding the Pause, and just as obvious, that Pause has improved their product- otherwise Raspy would still be in his Roamer 1.

Would love to hear other's opinions.

Again, best of luck to you!
 
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jschuman

New member
Family of 4 here, 5 if you include the Labrador. We were in a similar search for a trailer that was built well, off road capable and high end components.

Bunk bed option was a requirement for us. The three models we were shopping ended up being the Reboot 19.6, Pause 21.4 and the kingdom camping caravan XL. We narrowed down to the pause and XL, ultimately chose the custom build route with kingdom XL.

We had lots of custom details we wanted hence the decision towards kingdom camping. Ours is in production now and should be ready soon.

That said, pause / reboot options are looking really good so I’m sure you’ll be happy if you go that route!

Jake
 
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