Palomino Backpack Edition HS 690 HS-690 reviews

I bought this camper new last June. Health issues intervened and I've decided to sell it. Inspecting it I discovered that the bathroom door had warped-- it was an inch out of line, causing the door to hit the trim at the corner and the latch did not hit the striker. I contacted the dealer and they said it would be covered under warranty, bring them the door and lots of pictures. I took pictures, removed the door and drove 2 hours to the dealership in my small truck (big truck was working out of state) to show them the door and pictures only to be told that the pictures had to be taken with THEIR camera. So I drove home with bad door. Haven't heard reply to my email to Palomino asking why my pics weren't acceptable. (Just having them ship me a replacement door would run about $200 according to the parts guy at the dealership; I'm a woodworker and would just make a better door if I were keeping it.) One other problem-- the support jacks are mounted to stick outside the body of the camper which means they block the sight lines of my Chevy 2500HD extendable rear-view mirrors. I was planning on moving the jacks (simple side-to-side swap) so they were inside the sight lines but I'm selling it because of my health. Show less

My husband and I purchased a 2018 Forest Pines, Palomino truck camper. It was a new camper we bought in 2019. When my husband went to pick up the camper, he noticed some RV antifreeze on the floor. When asking what it was from, he was told they must have spilled some when winterizing it. My husband brought it home and filled it with water. After about an hour he checked it only to find water covering the floor and dripping outside. We cleaned it up and dried it out. We were given a new water tank since the attachment was cracked. We were told the camper was supposed to come with a one year manufacturers warranty. We took it camping one season. After three times camping, we felt the soft spots in the floor. We have tried to contact Forest Pines and Palomino immediately and it’s now February 2021 and we are still trying to get it fixed. We’re paying for it but can’t use it. Palomino hasn’t returned a phone call or message yet. We are extremely dissatisfied customers. We will never buy from this company again and we do not recommend it to anyone. Terrible customer service. Show less

Although I have been unable to use this unit it is very light for the amount of space provided. Quality of workmanship is top notch. Will work well on any modern 3/4 ton pickup on up. Solar panels provide ample dry camping time. Show less

I purchased this camper after retiring from the US Army, don’t have time to use it now, it’s a great camper. It has everything you need to camp anywhere. If you have space to park a truck, you have enough space to camp. Wonderful for any outdoor activities, it takes less then 30 minutes to load and leave for your next adventure. Show less

The quality and workmanship on this camper is terrible. I wish I would have been more thorough and looked more closely at the fit and finish before purchasing this. Forest River/Palomino should be ashamed of themselves. The fold down bed fell completely off the first time we tried to use it, the screws were stripped out in the wood. The wiring is like a rats nest and extra wire balled up everywhere in the battery/fuse panel/water tank compartment, no organization at all. The battery shut off didn't work, they had a wire looping the circuit effectively bypassing the switch and the fuse. There were water leaks at the water heater and the fill for the storage tank. The storage tank is loose- nothing holding it down and it slides into the back of the fuse box/charger. The kitchen faucet drips constantly when the pump is on. The toilet is loose and it sits crooked because it hits the black tank vent pipe that was installed in the wrong location. The bathroom caulking was caulked right over top of dirt and shavings from manufacturing. The water heater worked intermittently, the fuse was incorrectly inserted and was arcing inside the fuse box. There is trim missing below the bathroom. The left front jack bracket was not installed plumb and the jack was at an angle under the camper causing the camper to "buckle" or twist in that direction when it was up on the jacks as if it wanted to break the jack. The air conditioner was only cooling for a few minutes then wouldn't cool, I found the temperature sensor installed in the cold air outlet instead of the inlet. The roof membrane has bubbles and wrinkles. You can feel hard objects under the bubbles, dirt or wood chunks maybe little pebbles? The wrinkles are around the roof vents, the membrane is not attached around them. We found random pieces of trim cutoffs inside the camper. The camper was full of sawdust and shavings. This is all the manufacturers poor quality control. Next is the dealer, which was for the most part decent other than they installed a 7 ft awning where an 8.5 ft awning should have been. I think they ran out of, or didn't have the proper size. I have verified with other HS750 owners that 8.5 is what fits. Also I they charged me $1400 for the 7ft awning which I found out the 8.5ft is only $800. I will never buy Forest River or Palomino again. Hopefully there will be a class action lawsuit. I am willing to bet the majority of Forest River campers have the same quality issue. I am going to tell every person i know and every fellow camper I meet from now on, and I have all the photo documentation to show as well. Show less