Hi there.Newbie to the forum.Can anyone give me their opinions?I am looking to purchase a fc or tt,and am pointing to either a conway crusader or a camp-let concorde? There is only me,the missus and our young daughter,but dont want anything cramped. Drive a ford focus 1.8 (petrol) estate, and so know theres limits to my towing capabilities. Dont want to go back to the days of deflating airbeds,no lighting,drafts under a windblown tent & no pumped warm water,(so i know i want to be sleeping off the ground for starters). Being steered more towards a fc(due to ease of erecting),but have been also been swayed by the new concorde. Anyone suggest which i may be better suited to??
Two very different products but quite frankly the camplet is so much better conceived and designed in my opinion... also consider the combicamps in the same bracket. Okay they are both called folding campers but honestly would put the camplet and combi into sylish trailer tent territory. If you want a folding camper get a Dandy .... for that sort of money you need something that lasts, and can be used all year round.
Yes I am biased, as are most others here but all I can say is I really did my homework.
You will love whatever you choose... camping is the best
The two units are very different beasts. The Crusader is a folding camper (no pegging out of the main unit) and the Camp-let is a trailer tent (pegging required - i believe)
The Crusader has hot and cold water as from 1999 models and a toilet / washroom (a little cramped though) The Crusader has two totally seperate bedroom areas (one at each end) - we like this as the children sleep together at one end and we have the other.
The Crusader in a way is like the bottom half of a caravan and top half canvas with toilet / washroom, oven / hob, hot and cold water and a sink - i believe these are some of the facilities you were looking for.
We have had many tents, a Conway Canterbury (trailer tent) and a Crusader and we love the all round flexibility of the folding camper for weekend and long stays
I am sure there are many people out there that love their Cam-lets too - go have a look at a few and compare before you buy. The Conway Club also allow friends or visitors to join one of their rallies so you can see the units in use
very different units and not a fair comparison....def no hot water with a a camp-let but you can have cold pumped!! Crusader has all the mod cons and is luxurious camping, camp-let is comfy camping - goes up quick and hardly any pegging compared to other tt's but not in folding camper bracket....
I THINK I WILL HAVE TO GO AND HAVE A LOOK AT SOME FOLDING CAMPERS ON DISPLAY TO SEE WHAT THE MISSUS THINKS(ALTHOUGH IM STARTING TO THINK A CONWAY MODEL WOULD BEST SUIT US).
WANT COMFORTABLE BEDS, WARMTH,QUICKNESS OF PUTTING UP,SINK WITH WARM WATER,TOILET,LIGHTING....I GUESS THE THINGS MOST PEOPLE WANT.
IF I WANT IT THEN TO KEEP THIS FOR A FEW YEARS THEN I GUESS IT WOULD BE BETTER TO SPLASH OUT ON SOMETHING GOOD(LOOKING AT AROUND #5000.00 or less of course)
Pennine pathfinders are most similar to crusader's with newer ones having all of the things you listed plus full oven and some have heating too - newer ones have gas strutt opening - a big plus for ease of opening, I wouldn't go for one without as they are heavy to lift over....good luck..
The only thing im led to believe may distract the missus from a pathfinder is (arent they green n cream inside?...she doesnt want green interior?...and i got to keep the missus happy too).
Do pathfinders or others come with gas strutt opening? Like the idea of making it easier...thanks.
Thanks for the advice!!!
Keep it coming...youre all narrowing down my options for me,honest!
What i meant to say is...is there any other models other than the pathfinder(ie..not green/cream interior), which have the hep of gas strutts?(my last question didnt seem very good english?)
Hopefully get time to look at some campers displayed this weekend(where?).and that is if i can drag the missus past the caravans!
Try the links above - they will give you some idea of the kind of thing you are looking for. 5000 pounds will get you a good Conway Crusader with all the extras and would be my recommendation but you have to make up your own mind on this.
The Crusader and the Pathfinder have different opening mechanisms. The Pathfinder opens from the middle by flipping the beds over and thats why the gas struts are an advantage. The Crusader has slide out beds that also open up the canvas at the same time this is called a conaumatic system. Pennine bought out Conway in 2000 so the models have started to become similar and especially this year where both models have a king size bed.
Some will say that the bed slides on the Crusaders stick but i have one of these and its all about technique - so watch carefully if you have any demonstrations
5000 is quite a sum of money so be sure to establish what you need and how you are going to use it.
Finally the Crusader comes in Blue/Beige and Green/ Cream so i am sure you will find what you are looking for I think in 1999 the Crusader was blue then it changed to Green for 5 years then in 2004/5 a blue version came oit again - i might be wrong but that is what the catalogues seem to suggest
Check for
Modifications, repairs, rips, servicing, spend a while checking that everything works including hot water, fridge on gas and electric, condition of tyres, gas pipes (flexible) as these should be changed within 5 year periods, mould, bent awning poles etc..
Hope this helps
p.s. dont use capitals when typing as this is a form of "shouting"
..there prob are - Trigano might have one,not sure but you can get them fitted anyway - just more money...just googled for trigano fc's and found the 575 TC has hot water and "easy lift system" for opening - never seen one in the flesh but they have a very good reputation, so another runner....Confused....you soon will be - you'll be dreaming about them soon - thats when you realise you're a lost cause....... Join the club!!
We looked around at loads of TT's and folding campers over a period of about 4 months (Camplets included) before finally deciding on the Crusader. We picked it up last week and the hubby and daughter slept in it last night to test it out. So OK, ours is a brand new one but nonetheless we had it up to waterproof in 15 mins and kettle on in 45 mins (first attempt). The Pennine Pathfinder is very very similar but the decider for us was the ease of putting the conway up and the quality of the canvas. As said by others above, the folding campers are a more luxurious form of camping but heavier to tow (easy though) and more expensive but it depends on the type of camping holiday you're after and the amount of use you'll get out of it for your money. We previously had a VW camper and a tent but decided we wanted something a bit posher this time!!!! Good luck on which ever you decide. It's a long way for you but we got ours from Highbridge Caravans near Weston Super Mare, have a look at their website it is a great source of info on the folding campers and they do stock used models too. They're showroom had a good selection of TT's and folding campers and the folk are really helpful too.
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: conway crusader or camp-let concorde?
Confused....you soon will be - you'll be dreaming about them soon - thats when you realise you're a lost cause....... 
Join the club!!
