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Topic: First-purchase - features advice

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Smax22TS

21/10/2013 at 12:42pm
Location: None Entered
Outfit: TBC

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Currently navigating the minefield that is the selection process for a new van for first- time owners. Having been to the NEC show, we have a few questions on some of the features available on modern vans and their usefulness:

i) LED lighting - does it provide a cosy or "warm" light or is it quite blue/"cold"? Hard to tell at the show, as in all the vans we saw, they were shown with additional halogen lighting in the roof-lights (dark indoors!), so you couldn't get a feel for this.

ii) Solar panels (~40W) - Do these provide sufficient power to extend the battery life off an EHU significantly/be self-sufficient? Thinking about bare essentials like lighting and water pump, rather than TVs etc. Particularly in conjunction with LED lighting (above)? We'd have a larger capacity battery as we're intending fitting a mover.

iii) Shock-absorbers - Many vans don't list these (Elddis Avante), but some do (Bailey Pegasus/Elddis Affinity). How much of a difference do they really make for towing?

iv) Wet-heating systems - Are these really a big plus-point? Seems like a lot to go wrong and extra weight etc? Or is the difference so marked as to make them a real bonus?

Any views on these features and usefulness appreciated!

hollyjai

21/10/2013 at 3:56pm
Location: staffordshire
Outfit: xtrail 173bhp elddis crusader mistral

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Hi we have the affinity 540 ,The led lighting is lovely and you have the choice of which to turn on so you can have subtle lighting or bright , its not harsh at all and uses a lot less battery.
we have an 80 watt solar panel and it keeps the battery topped up even using the alde heating and avtex tv as we dont tend to use electric hook up
Had shock absorbers on last two vans it makes towing smoother and van doesnt seem to bounce about as much
First time with Alde heating, owned the van for 3 months and would not want any other its brilliant
Gaynor

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