Hi,

Anyone hitting up the RV show out at Hershey this year? My wife and I are going out to get some ideas. Looking at the layout, it is definitely a multi-day event. However, can you see most of the show on let's say a full day on a Saturday? We are not interested in seminars however we will look at the camping/campground association booths for places to go.

In other words, is it worth the trip?

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

I have been there several times. There is a good number of campers, certainly a full day. More leisurely if you take two days. Almost everything is outside so weather can certainly be a determining factor. My wife and I always like to look, but will not be there this year.

It probably has about the same number of campers as the Tampa Super Show, just based on my impressions. There are so many huge dealerships now the search can go on forever.

 

BTW - The RV show is Sept 15-20th.

 

We went to Hershey RV show last year. Bought our camper too. The prices are better there then at a dealer. The manufacturer of parts give the dealer incentives at the show that go away after the show. Worked for us. Great show. As stated its is outside. Very few accessories though. Enjoy.

 

We've been there several times, last year being the latest. We bought our last and current camper there several years ago. Can't beat the prices IMO.

But it's really a two day event. We usually camp at Hershey and make it a long weekend. You can do it in a day, but I'll bet you'll miss a lot of what there is to see and probably be exhausted at the end of the day. We've always enjoyed it. But it's big!

 

We've been there once several years ago.


Maybe we will go this year and see what's new.

 

Thanks for the replies so far. I know the show takes place of multiple days. However, my wife and I can only really do the Saturday this time. We have been a few in NJ over the last couple of years and they pretty much an afternoon show with a number of booth vendors with nothing to do with camping at all (home improvements.) We were able to walk the show in a couple of hours and call it a day. The last one we went to had a Knoebels booth. We wound up get a few coupons for ride tickets and a reduced camping daily rate. Plus we got to spread the wealth around to some of the family.

As for the Hershey show, yes it would be nice to spread it out over an extra day. However, we are going to look at certain model layouts. We have seen a particular bump pull toy hauler that peaked both my wife and I's interest. Since it is a new model, we are hoping a vendor would have one on display so we can get a feel for the layout in person. Also it would be nice to see if there are other models that are similar in layout or provide a better layout.

As for buying this year, we are just going to be looking. We have no plans to buy but it is nice to know pricing will be competitive with a possible better than normal discount. We are hoping to be in this position in the next couple of years but who knows. Right now to get an idea of what we want to get as our next travel and what kind of pricing to expect will set this course of what we are going to do in the future. The goal is to buy the larger house with the property for storing the trailer first.

I look forward to going to this event. Who knows what is going to happen.

 

We have the same plan for Tampa.

 

Hello FTE!

Wow! That is a big show to take in. If you have a certain game plan or idea of what to look for, you can narrow down the search. We got there around 9 this morning. We managed to walk most of it in the coolness of the morning before the sun came out. My wife and I found the model of trailer that peaked our interest. It was a nice unit but the number of draw backs were enough to be put off when we went back for the second look. Looking around is a really nice thing when you have the luxury of being able to walk away.

Here is what we are taking away from our experience.

-The show price was nothing to really special. It felt like some of the MSRP numbers were inflated to give a better appearance of a better price. One show vendor was about 15% off MSRP on everything. Nothing spectacular but they were making it into something more. My wife found a flyer from another dealer showing the same exact model we looked at. The owner said I got 2 on the lot right now. We can take the number in our flyer and go a bit further if you are interested. Their flyer was at 30% off of MSRP no show pricing. For example, $46K MSRP for a make model the showing vendor was asking $36K, The dealer with the flyer was asking $32K plus willing to go further in price. Go figure.

-Layouts. Some of the layout were a literal walk in and out. One of them was what i called wasted space. Granted there is a need to make just about everyone happy but still. This is a trailer. Making all the space usable should always be considered.

-Build quality. I am going to leave this one alone. It keeps some members employed on here However I will say this, I could see a number of these units failing way before the note is paid in full.

-So many new things to go wrong or can fail over time. While it might be nice to have an outdoor kitchen, I see another set of appliances that will fail. Another refrigerator or stove top that goes unused. This is really nothing a cooler and BBQ cannot handle in the current state of set up. pretty much all of the trailers we looked at had electric awning. Buzz another failure point in which I had to deal with when my parents rented a trailer last year. Brand new trailer from the rental company. They could not use the awning since the motor fried according to the rental agency. Remotes for the lighting, slide outs and other features ready to get lost. One of the system panels on the one unit we looked at had more switches and buttons than my house and truck combined. All I wanted to do is look at the black water tank levels lol

-Taking toy haulers off the list of units to look at. It was an idea from the beginning but reality is saying something different. My wife and I didn't find something that was appealing to both of us. That is a big sticking point. We are the ones paying the note every month. Many of these trailers have pretty large price tags associated with them. We decided that when it's time, we will some thing that will be an upgrade for us which will be an bumper pull trailer.

On a more positive note, it was really nice to meet some smaller industry folks trying to make it in the business. One of the vendors actually said to me, go to Amazon for the best price since this particular vendor marked up the pricing to make it feel like you getting something for a better price! All I asked if he sold direct instead of though a dealer. he was a cool guy that made a USA made product and his business was based out of New Jersey! On the other hand, I had one vendor blind me with his brand of LED lights. I was looking at his assortment and he asked if I was in the process of converting. I said I had already did and my wife does not get headaches anymore since the switch. He was well how bright are they and all this and that. Then he proceeds to plug in the bulb blinds me with it. I told him that wasn't cool and walked off. The dude was a putz and wanted me to buy a product from him. umm yeah...

Once again, my wife and I are in a position in which upgrading would be nice but not required. Buying right now was not an option either. We like our current trailer and walked away knowing we are going to be satisfied for some time. We have other goals long before buying another trailer. However, this latest generation of trailers we have second thoughts about buying our next one for awhile longer. Quite possibly to see how things pan out first.

Overall, it was a pretty cool show. It was neat to see so many different makes and models at one spot. Of course everyone wants you to buy. I didn't see that a bad thing since that is their job. We would go again if we had something in mind and were ready to buy. I think deals can be had if the you play your cards right.

That's my 2 cents about the whole thing.

 

We decided not to do the Tampa show. My wife has already told me the one she likes.