KZ Sportsmen SE reviews

I’ve owned four 5th wheels over the years and the 231RK has provided me the best experience. My first two units were monsters, big and stressful to pull. Trying to find an adequate space to park and camp and having a truck large enough to pull it were downsides for me. I’m a good driver, but as I get older I don’t want to be driving and pulling large vehicles anymore. The 231RK in my opinion is a perfect size for my wife and I to travel. It pulls like a dream and I can easily do that with my F150! We can unhook and still have a convenient vehicle to drive around the local area. For those who like 5th wheels but want something more manageable for traveling, I recommend checking this out. We have found that vacationing and seeing the country has worked better for us and we can get camping spots much easier with the 231RK. It has everything we need to enjoy our time adventuring around the country! Show less

Buyer beware. If you buy one of these be prepared to go over and reseal every place they caulk or sealed in any way or within 18 months the water will be coming in and it is your fault because you didn’t redo there poor quality work . They will blame it on government regulations that don’t let them use quality materials any longer. Gorilla tape and silicone caulk would be a vast improvement. Would not recommend this brand to anyone. Show less

We purchased a new 2018 KZ Sportsmen in Oct. 2017. There were some quality issues that started within the first year. Initially some of the external decals began to peel. We had some replaced under warranty, but others peeled after the warranty expired. I've had to have the water pump replaced twice. About the summer of 2023 we noticed the jackknife sofa (made by Lippert) began to crack and peel. I have since learned this was a very common issue with that sofa. The KZ manufacturer gave me the Lippert manufacturing number to try and get some type of replacement. Lippert's employees will sell a Thomas Payne sofa as an aftermarket solution at a discount. Unfortunately, they have the retail price higher than the Amazon price, which means they're still making a nice profit while supposedly trying to "help" the consumer; however, even with a discount they don't have the sofa we need until June according to one of their aftermarket sales agents. So, I bought from Amazon which will deliver next week. KZ seems to wash their hands of any responsibility, also. Beware, Lippert jackknife couches are still found in many of the new RV's. Show less

I bought this camper new. KZ as a company slips together these campers and does not test them for workability. They make excuses such as “we don’t make water heaters”. With that being said you don’t test out everything in the camper is in good working order before shipping off to a dealer. They don’t want to deal with anything. I bought this camper new in May 2023 and have brought it back to the dealer three times for failures. Water heater hose was too short and leaked all over and through the walls, alarm system poorly placed under bunk and kept going off for 45 minutes every time the camper was in use. No way to stop the alarm because it was hard wired in. Had to retire alarm and move by door. Radio did not work, covering for water tank, dragging on ground. Had to tape back up, inverter fell down and was hanging, propane not working or able to run heat and refrigerator off propane. Thank goodness I purchased the warranty through the dealer. I do not recommend anything from KZ. Absolute awful craftsmanship and quality. Do yourself a favor and take your business elsewhere. Totally unsatisfied. Show less

We really enjoyed this floor plan, and PRICE POINT. It’s very comfortable for moving around and has a lot of comfortable sleeping areas. The kitchen setup is great and feels roomy. We love the dual entrance bathroom from both the hallway and master bedroom. The bathroom is roomy with the curved shower door for extra movement space. We loved having a dresser in the bedroom, plus under bed storage! The storage is fantastic throughout. I don’t think we even used all the space we had. Lots of big windows to enjoy the great outdoors and let light in… including three skylight/vents. If you want a very nice trailer without spending all your savings, it’s a fantastic choice. (I only gave it a 4 on towing because we never did tow it. No reason to believe there was any issues.) Show less

We loved this little camper. It was just me, my wife, and our little dog. We originally didn't want bunks, but our dog loved the lower bunk so much it became hers, and served as her bed and "kennel". The upper bunk was mostly a place to store things. The dinette slideout provided more space than you would think, allowed both of us to work on our laptops with extra screens at the same time (we staggered across from each other), and it opened up the walking space near the sink and kitchen area. The two-burner stove and microwave were more than enough to cook for both of us and the fridge and freezer, while not huge, were big enough for us to go 4-5 days without needing to run to the grocery store. We also did occasional cooking on the campfire using the old "meal in a back (tinfoil)" method, which also made leftovers that fit easily in the fridge. The slightly-larger-than-full-size bed up front was comfortable and big enough for both of us, though my wife did have to crawl over me if she wanted to get out, but that wasn't a big problem. There is plenty of storage for clothes and personal items, too, as long as you aren't a 'fashionista' and a hoarder. We lived in it for almost a 2-month stretch once and had approx 10-days of different "outfits" total, each, plust some layers for rain, cold and hot weather. You plan well and pack well, you have more than enough storage in this thing. The "booster" function on the antennae worked really well for air-channels and it even helped our wifi hotspot. I had a friend set me up with the solar hookup outside and it was perfect for the few times we boondocked; never worried about the battery dying for lights and whatnot. The freshwater, gray, and black tanks were all big enough for a few days off the grid (5 was our max and we didn't try hard to maximize their potential). No real mechanical issues with it in over four years of frequent use and PT living in it. I would have given more stars for Warranty if they would've given me a break on the microwave; the warranty was up for only three weeks when it went fritzy and I called them and they said "no dice". Livability is great, but it can get a little tough to shower in after a month of living in it like we did a few times, and we found ourselves using campground showers more than we planned simply to have the elbow room. But otherwise this thing is perfect for two people; I can't say enough for it. Show less

We had a brake hang up on 3rd trip camping, we also had panel bow out in bathroom, brought in for repair dealership took their time so called Kz warranty, operator very understanding but had to wait for call from a gal that was over the (SE) as she knew everything about the SE model. She then called dealership, sided with them and called me said spoke with service no problem found, I beg to differ, but was told this is the way this works and thank you for contacting us. I still have lt. rear brake I do not trust and as for the bulging panel in bath dealership says nothing behind panel to a fix to. They got our $30.000, thats all they wanted, and thats not helping me. Show less

This is honestly the worst quality travel trailer i have ever seen. I I opened up the sealed spaces to inspect basically everything that I could when the sink started leaking the second night. I found wood chips, sawdust, metal shavings, whole metal chunks (from the penetrations drilled through the exterior wall for connections), and places where wires passing through holes had ripped that inner wall structure when the component that the wires were attached to fell during assembly, tugging on the wires to make them act like a saw. In short, *assembly* quality isn't the only issue, there are some fundamental *design* quality problems that must be addressed too. Specifically stupid exterior hatch size choices, the layout of the accessories like batteries and the propane tank on the tongue, waste water dump location four feet underneath the trailer and maybe lowering the bathroom vanity so you could actually use the mirror. Show less

We bought this unit brand new. Manufactured 4 month prior to us purchasing it. One of the tires was not centered in the wheel well and was getting cut. The unit was "repaired", but the tire still was not centered and I was told by KZ's warranty manager "you bought it that way", "tires are centered", "there's nothing more that can be done". Until I discovered that the tire was STILL hitting the wheel well. Then the company treated me like crap and hassled me to get that repaired properly. Tried to word their documents in such a way that would allow them to screw us over and shirk their way out of actually repairing their defective product. Oh, AND they wanted us to continue to tow the unit on the road with other drivers because they refused to pick the unit up from our residence to take it to their facility for warranty repair. Imagine a company that doesn't care about your safety, their employee's safety, or anyone driving on the roads from Michigan to Indiana's safety. I would recommend that everyone buy any other kind of camper. Do NOT buy one from KZ as they don't stand behind their products, disregard safety, and cannot provide customer service. Show less

Quality is absolute garbage it has leaked since the day I bought it manufacturer and dealership basically told me there was too much to fix they were not honoring my warranty after 1 year. I now have a 3-year-old camper with multiple soft spots in slide outs and roof damage Show less