Community Forums

Disneyfix · 03-04-2012, 12:40 PM

Are they the same manufacture? Does the FR have less problems than the coachmen? Would you rate one over the other?

FC Ontario · 03-04-2012, 04:48 PM

Forest River owns Coachman, but they do not share any production facilities to my knowledge.

wnytaxman · 03-04-2012, 05:17 PM

In theory at least, the Berkshire line is considered to be a step up from Coachmen. We have owned both, although our Coachmen ownership was prior to the company being purchased by Berkshire Hathaway's Forest River. Using price point and amenities as a guage I would put the Berkshire over the Coachmen line. The Forest River Charleston would be considered to be over the Berkshire.

Disneyfix · 03-04-2012, 06:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FC Ontario

Forest River owns Coachman, but they do not share any production facilities to my knowledge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnytaxman

In theory at least, the Berkshire line is considered to be a step up from Coachmen. We have owned both, although our Coachmen ownership was prior to the company being purchased by Berkshire Hathaway's Forest River. Using price point and amenities as a guage I would put the Berkshire over the Coachmen line. The Forest River Charleston would be considered to be over the Berkshire.

I was looking at FRBerk, what did ya think of the quality and durability? Or keep looking further up the food chain?

wnytaxman · 03-05-2012, 06:27 AM

Disney, it depends on what you are looking for. For us the choice was looking for an "entry level" diesel pusher. We weren't looking for the ultimate of luxury but rather for the practical approach for our purposes. We needed a unit that would sleep six with bunks and a good fold out queen sized bed in the front. Our search had us look at a lot of different units with our two finalists being the Tiffin Allegro Red and the Berkshire. The Berkshire offered more amenities with things like the pass through storage slide, generator on a front slide out, and what appeared to be better construction. Also we found that the dinette was too small for more than one adult on a side in the Tiffin and the hall was too narrow to be used easily when the slides were in. The plus for the Tiffin was the reputation of them standing up for their customers. That was literally the only plus. We did more research and found that problems that Tiffin had encountered years ago were still being found. Their manufacturing had apparently not changed even though they knew they had a problem. That issue quickly destroyed the image of a company that takes care of their customers.

The Berkshire has been a great unit for us. We have had very few problems and those that we have had have been quickly taken care of by the dealer. If parts were needed from FR they were sent quickly with no hassles. I would definitely stay with FR for future needs. The only thing that would change would be if we decided to go with more features when the kids were gone in another few years. If we were to go that route we would look at the Entegra line first and foremost.

Good luck with your search. As with many trips the journey can be as much fun as the destination.

OSP1268 · 03-05-2012, 06:47 AM

We had a Forest River, Cedar Creek, 5th wheel. Got all the bells and whistles we could when we got it. We had it about 6 years before moving up to a class A. During the time we owned it we only had one minor problem & that was the hose to the ice maker sprang a leak. Caught it and replaced the line myself. The only option we didn't have, and it wasn't offered at the time, was self leveling. Something I would definitly get if we were to go back to a 5th wheel.