Sportsmobile vs. XP Camper -- Why the XP Camper Won For Us

OutbacKamper

Supporting Sponsor
The original V1 (short for version 1) camper requires a flatbed and a minimum 3/4-ton truck, preferable 1-ton. The V2 is designed for smaller trucks, originally the Tacoma but also larger 1/2-ton trucks like yours. It too requires a flatbed. There is a V3 in development that appears to be a slide-in for 1/2-ton trucks but details are still hard to find. You might check www.xpcamper.com or their forum site, forum.xpcamper.org, for details or to be among the first to know about their new camper development. I keep hearing about more versions for larger vehicles, too, but haven't seen any official announcements I could point you too. I'm sure it will hit here too, as soon as there are any official announcements.

Just a happy customer.
-Doug

Pretty good summary Doug, however the V3 is designed as a slide in for 1 ton trucks. The size and weight will be similar to the V1.
 
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If you're looking for good long-term feedback on an XP camper look at songoftheroad.com if you haven't already. They've been on the road for over a year now. It's a fun read with lots of good XP feedback mixed in. There are a couple other blogs out there from XP owners but theirs probably offers the most information.
 

justbecause

perpetually lost
man, I really wanted a 6foot flat bed to replace my OEM short bed... but now I am worried that I would need to put my axle back... which isnt in the cards.
 

Essiebessie

New member
I have a friend who tried and failed to get such a loan. He ended up mortgaging his house to buy it. Me, I paid cash, but the XP was a disaster and I sold it at a loss in 6 months. My insurance company dropped me due to the excessive claims on repairs on it. I wonder if word gets around and makes it harder to finance them.
 

mk216v

Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
I have a friend who tried and failed to get such a loan. He ended up mortgaging his house to buy it. Me, I paid cash, but the XP was a disaster and I sold it at a loss in 6 months. My insurance company dropped me due to the excessive claims on repairs on it. I wonder if word gets around and makes it harder to finance them.

Ugh, sorry to hear! :( Did you contact Mark about your concerns?
 

Maninga

Adventurer
Ugh, sorry to hear! :( Did you contact Mark about your concerns?

Been chatting with him offline. Sounds like it came down to three main things, a combination of bad luck (Webasto gear not working properly, later replace by Marc), batteries not being properly secured and moving, damaging a bunch of circuits (they're heavy buggers). And with the tray being hard mounted to the chassis, when the chasis flexed it caused a bunch of bad stress fractures in the camper, misaligning the door and causing issues with the windows, these not being covered by warranty.

Saw some of these issues on camper I bought before it got sent back to Marc for repairs. Still think it's a great product and design, but there's a few tweaks needed
 

adam88

Explorer
Saw some of these issues on camper I bought before it got sent back to Marc for repairs. Still think it's a great product and design, but there's a few tweaks needed

I saw that all flatbeds now come with "Xp flex mount" so I guess new flatbeds are pivot of some kind. I wonder if this has fixed it.
 

ripperj

Explorer
I love the look and design of the XP, but those problems don't seems like tweaks to me, more like fairly serious issues. Stress cracks in the
structure that cause window issues?(is this even accurate??) there's a bunch of these in various forms out there, surely this must be an isolated incident??(not counting the expected issues with prototypes, those don't count imho)

I don't see my self in the position to drop $80k on a popup, but if I did I would love to have an XP. I would also hope it wouldn't have issues like that.
I'm sure XP will fix the issue(sounds like they may have already)


Sent from my Passport
 

projected

Adventurer
Been chatting with him offline. Sounds like it came down to three main things, a combination of bad luck (Webasto gear not working properly, later replace by Marc), batteries not being properly secured and moving, damaging a bunch of circuits (they're heavy buggers). And with the tray being hard mounted to the chassis, when the chasis flexed it caused a bunch of bad stress fractures in the camper, misaligning the door and causing issues with the windows, these not being covered by warranty.

Saw some of these issues on camper I bought before it got sent back to Marc for repairs. Still think it's a great product and design, but there's a few tweaks needed

I saw that all flatbeds now come with "Xp flex mount" so I guess new flatbeds are pivot of some kind. I wonder if this has fixed it.

If XP now offers a flex mount why would essiebessie not be warrantied? Obviously we don't have the full story and timing but how can xp claim no warranty due to rigid mount flatbed and then turn around and design and offer the "xp flex mount".

Sort of sounds like essiebessie may have been a beta tester at his own expense.
 

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