Well, I'm the wife and the hubby is the one who wanted the hybrid! It was a joint decision but in our opinion, a good one. We had a pop up for one year and really ejoyed it. With three kids though, having access to the comforts provided by a hybrid is worth it's weight in chicken nuggets! (the freezer and microwave are used often) Plus, it's an added sense of saftey the kids not having to use public washrooms and very nice at 3am not to have decide what to do! Other than the chicken nuggets we still cook outside, eat outside, and spend most of our time outside however when it's raining, or when it's time to change, having the comfort and privacy is very nice. I could go on, but as others have said, it partly depends on what you have to tow with. Good luck.

2002 Palomino Stampede Hybrid 235-SL
3 Great Kidlets
Ages 7, 5 & 5
The Magical Flying Camper Club
5GoneFishing's Website

We too were popup owners, Palamino Pinto, and were looking for the largest popup we could find and then at an RV show saw a hybrid and liked what it had to offer and bought it. At the time we were towing with a 1997 Chevy Astro with the trailer package and have since upgraded our tow vehicle to a 2001 Ford Expedition with the towing package. An added benefit for us is we are able to write off the hybrid's interest and taxes off of our income taxes.

Downsizing from a Class C (not necessarily my choice!), I wanted to keep camping so I bought a pop-up. I had been use to simply opening the door and going in to check on supplies needed for upcoming trips so having to crank up to get inside and then crank down, was a hassle.
Now with a hybrid, I can have the convenience and comfort I once had. Hybrids are the way to go!

I had my last popup for 9 years. Put over 20,000 miles on it. Longest single trip was 3 weeks.

I also had a 36' Class A for a couple years. Lived in it fulltime for over a year. Sold it, bought a house once again, and wanted another camper.

I looked closely at Popups once again. But the Niagara was SO expensive! Has all the downsides already mentioned. The only real benefit to a Popup is while towing. Being smaller and lighter has a downside once you arrive, especially if it's raining!

So while suffering sticker shock, I looked at hybrids and lightweight TTs. I found that a 25' Rockwood 2502, fully loaded, costs no more than a Niagara. The TT was also lighter than the hybrids I looked at.

Having dealt with the sun shining on bunk ends, I wasn't enthusiastic about having to deal with that once again with a hybrid.

The TT is more of a hassle to tow. It's big, and takes up more fuel. But the benefits far outweigh the cons, IMHO.

Being able to use it at rest stops while traveling is a nice feature. Not having to raise the roof to load it is also a big plus. Full sized appliances, a real bed, and INSULATED walls, floors, and ceiling. Onboard storage tanks for waste when dry camping. The list goes on and on.

Loved my Popup. But having a TT or hybrid is less work, and more comfortable.

I agree with you Robert 100%....We were going to upgrade from our 10' Coleman Pop-up to a larger 12' Coleman. I just happened to pop my head into a Cub hybrid at the dealership (19 footer) and was looking to see that it was not much heavier and the cost was only a few $$$ more. Well once we turned into the direction of getting into a hybrid my wife liked the 21'er better. O then the 22'er was even better yet. O but when she saw the 24'er with all the counterspace that was a done deal. I think it has more counterspace than our house and 27 cabinet doors. There was no turning back. I sure like the fact of loading it up for trips. I just pull it in the yard a day ahead of time a fill-er-up. In the pop-up you would have to crawl on your knees and stuff it full. So after camping about 105 nights in 2 seasons I'm glad we went in this direction.

As has been said, I TOO HAVE A POPUP and want something different (mainly a bathroom). A 72 Apache.

One question I have (and my husbands biggest concern) is do the bed ends leak on these hybrids?

Thanks!

We too, graduated from a popup to a hybrid. On our last trip in the popup, we ended up in a motel room because we didn't want to pop up and pop down after only one night. I was misrable, being in a beautiful area on the coast and not camping!!! We love our hybrid, it has a U shaped dinette and we often use that as a bed when we stay overnight and need to leave early in the morning. It is great having a bathroom, refridge and freezer. That being said, I do miss the complete openess of our popup, but then again, we spend most of our time outside. We did have a problem with one bunkend leaking, but it turned out to be a faulty gutter and once that was replaced, we haven't had any other problems.

You might also look at the Trail Mannor and Hi-Lo units as well. They are full hardsides that colapse down to lower the towing height and reduce drag. As for the Pop-up vs Hybred debate there are pros and cons to each - all have been mentioned here. I have never owned either - the DW hates tents of any kind so I have had full hard side TTs. I also have no first hand experience with them and also no bias. My objective opinion is that haveing some hard sides are nice and make for better bathrooms, kitchens, and dining areas, plus you can load them without setting them up. Setup appears to be easier since only the two bunk ends need to be set up. Cons - higher towing profile will eat into MPG. They are also a bit heavier/ft than a pop-up. Built on TT chassis some have tandem axles and all have larger tires.

Pop-ups pros lighter and roomer for any given tow length. Low profile makes for easier towing. Small wheels coupled with usually single axles make them squirlly to back up. Setup requires more effort.

Both require major drying out after being open during rain.

We had a 2004 Fleetwood Sequoia for two years. It was loaded - built-in microwave, hardwall shower, 6 gallon water heater, cassette toilet, etc. Really enjoyed camping in it until we got into some pretty heavy storms in eastern Colorado in late May as well as some pretty hard wind in Utah. The wind was bad enough that it bent a bed-end canvas support rod. At that time, we decided that if we wanted to continue camping, we needed to do something differently.

We had previously owned a small (24') fifth wheel, and we got tired of towing that - which is the reason we went back to a pop-up. We began our search and stumbled upon TrailManors. We tow with a Ford Expedition, and didn't really want to trade tow vehicles. We absolutely love the Trailmanor. We bought their 3124KS model - it's easier to tow and back that the pop-up, even though the unit in towing configuration is 10' longer that the pop-up. It weighs about 4000# loaded for a two week trip. It takes us about 10 minutes to open and be completely set up, a job that used to take 15-20 minutes with the pop-up. It is completely hard-sided, no canvas.

The important thing is to look at all the options, and get what YOU are happy with. Everyone has their own individual preferences and likes/dislikes. Some swear by hybrids. Some swear by Hi-Lo's. Some will keep their pop-up's. We love our TrailManor. So, it's up to you - explore your options.

Bob