Forest River Folding Trailer reviews

Will never by a Forest River popup again. Something breaks every time you use it and you feel like you’re just waiting for what’s next. Broken in first two years… Canopy, lock mechanism for bed pullouts, drapes, light/fan, door frame, front jack, wood trim mercilessly banged up. The floor plan is awful - the long sofa is uncomfortable and cushions too thin. The pullout support that makes the couch into a bed is poorly designed - moves around, you can feel the lip under your leg when sitting there. Can’t get the roof exterior clean. Electrical system is dumb - can’t lift the roof with shore power need the battery charged. Complete insanity how long they e been building these things and still can’t make them last.

This Fold up Unit in my opinion is worthless unless you are plugged in to power all the time! It does have a solar panel but will not charge or keep up with the electric refrigerator or the all electric hot water heater. Cannot use the RV for regular outback camping unless you are parked in a RV Park with full electric hookups! We did not know this when purchasing this Unit!

My wife and I purchased an Aframe hard side (A213HW) camper. We purchased it used from a dealership. Some of the positive things we found are the overall floor plan. We like the two single beds, lots of storage (could use more), and very easy to pull and setup. Once it's leveled, it only takes about 3 minutes to set up. Now for the only big problem we have. The actuator arm that lifts the top into position is a piece of junk. The design is totally wrong. If it rains, water is able to get into the gear and electrical housing. We are on our third arm in three years. Did I mention that we keep it in our garage when not in use. Luckily, I was able to redesign it as a backup. The manufacturer needs to spend some time and money to redesign it.

The winch to raise the camper is loud AF, it is always on if you have the battery connected. If anyone touches the winch switch, wether by accident or on purpose in either the up or down position would lead to catastrophic failure. The wiring underneath is a mess of unprotected wires and wire nuts, not professionally done. There is no manual specific to the model, even still the "online manual" is so generic it could be applied to any rv. The slide outs for the beds are way to hard to move. The wifi antennae is backwards and full of moisture, there is no storage inside, there is but not enough with all the goofy gizmos. Save your money this POS makes me wanna 😢

The build quality was horrible. Had to replace lift system after 3 years. The black tank valve Broke off in my hand. Worst of all the front wall of the camper broke away from the sidewall causing the front bunk and wall to peel away from the rest of the camper. I believe it's a design flaw with the bunk end supports. I had high hopes that we would use this camper for many years but was fortunate to trade it in for what we paid for it. Also blew two tires . I feel the tires were at or near there max load carrying capacity. Also had to replace awning pole when one was bent.also microwave became dislodged from it's bracket causing the microwave to fall out.

From day one this trailer has been a money sucking disaster. Almost the moment the trailer was out of warranty things started to go wrong. The roof leaked through the roof rack, causing rot and forced the replacement of roof, not covered. The pop up winch sheered, making it unusable after a 3 hour drive to a campground. Not covered. Screws rip out easily and parts break. Wires have come loose, the weatherstripping is useless, and it is impossible to plug all of the gaps to keep insects out. Overall the Rockwood ESP belongs in the scrap pile. It is certainly not with the price paid.

I bought new in 2005. They still sell the same unit. The Rockwood 1640 and the Flagstaff 176 are the same unit. I paid like 4700 bucks, the least expensive new one now is 10K. I got electric brakes and an air conditioner. The airco was an accident and they shrugged their shoulders and said well you got airco as they accidently put it on. The electric brakes involved giving me the axle off of a 12 box (pre set up for electric brakes) and they only charged me like 300 bucks. The biggest advantage with a small pop up now days is that you can find a spot and you can get places others can't in their travel trailers etc. This size unit can literally go anywhere, anytime, anyplace. And you can pull it with a small SUV like a Jeep Cherokee with the trailer package. The build quality was excellent. In the 13 years I had it, all I did was grease the bearings and lift system every spring and tighten screws, period.. And I never figured out where all those screws on the floor came from but had em ready for when one would disappear. I went through three sets of tires in 13 years. Never had a blowout. The "Filon" soft top was bulletproof. I towed with a Subaru Forester then a Ram 1500. As an FYI, the best mileage I ever got was with the Ram at a solid 20 mpg in Montana. This trailer is like exactly the same height and width as a Ram1500 and creates some kind of perfect aerodynamic set up for driving through the wind. Just an fyi. One of the mid size pick ups out now would be PERFECTION. This is a perfect first camper for people NOT into a lot of creature comforts. It works best as a rolling bedroom and was how we used it. One of the best features was the electric mattresses when you had power. It goes well with a small generator. Fridge works fine but you do need power, so... and so does furnace. But all you need is a regular plug. Even my airco would work on that. It wasn't supposed to... That little cabinet by the door fits a porta potti perfect. Don't skimp on this. Thetford has it down to a science so it is NOT a major mess with some gloves. So, if you have one or two small kids (I'd put up to about 12 years old) and want to camp, this is a good choice. Used ones would be the best buy IF you can find one. Flip the axle for off road dry camping... but even then they are fine irrespective. Now days, there is a lot to be said for this type of camping. This is a good choice as it has been around forever and Forest River has worked the bugs out of it with improvements over time. YOU should be able to find a site due to its size vs everyone else now days. AND it appears to run around half of the newer "hard side" pop ups with the same space. It's a good choice.

Given that many companies are short handed and back logs are significant, the consumer has to do many repairs themselves..so having such poor customer service who tells you that they are not bonded to work with the public, is just that…poor customer service…When screws fall out, bungees cords fray, making order of frequent replacement parts or recommendation would be helpful, especially when local dealers are 6 months out on repair work. I will never buy another rock wood/forest River product for this reason.. A liner has much better customer service..in this regard.

This is a great pop-up. I like to get off the beaten path. I have had this in some very remote places at the end of some very rough trails. Done quite a bit of spring/fall camping where the weather gets cooler at night and the heater works great and warms up the camper very quickly. This unit packs up small but opens up to create all kinds of space. Has plenty of room for 2 adults and 3 kids (2 teen). Holds 20 gallons of water which can last a whole weekend with 5 people if you don't let the water run constantly. The hose on the outside is super handy for cleaning up dishes and yourself. Never had any issues with the battery going dead but do have it connected to a solar panel.