Better than any salesperson they could employ! The manufacturers should make this their sales video. I was surprised the Cruisemaster system wasn't standard kit for a van of this spec. Brilliant review again Nathan. Your presentations are the leading standard in this market.
Haha, thanks mate, appreciate it 🙏 Yes, the suspension is a costly item, so I guess it offers affordability to those who are already pushing the limits, but I would highly recommend it 👍 Thanks again mate
@@ronniegauci3843 absolutely sure. Nathan would declare if he was receiving commissions from commercial organizations. He makes it clear where products have been supplied for testing and review.
Awesome video again Nathan! As others have stated I’d like to hear how you go with an external kitchen only? It’s what I’m also after, but I have people telling me that you’ll regret not getting an indoor kitchen.
great video. Estimated total Price of the build? I know they are a $100k caravan but being that you are so value oriented I would love to know the figures.
Yeah mate, I don't like talking about the price/costing too much given how often and quickly they change, but yes we are talking in the vicinity of $120k for almost all the options on this SE model 👍
It could potentially be an option as there are many different ways to fit heating/cooling into these campers. The roof top is probably the easiest though and I mean we are running 1.08kW of solar... how much more do we need 😆
Thanks Jim. Yeah the 240V Starlink is definitely power hungry. We choose when we actually need it, rather than just setting it up as part of a routine. Starlink hasn't been quite as impressive as the fans make it out to be 👍
@@XploringOzyeah I’d agree with that. We manage a station near broken hill & we and our neighbours have starlink & it leaves NBNs sky muster for dead, but we had a 5G dual band receiver & this gave us less bandwidth for up/downloads but didn’t have the delays on teams or similar platforms that satellite has. Also, an ISI bike carrier is an investment but in my experience it’s worth it as you can adapt it as the kids grow & move it on (to your vehicle or next trailer)
Thanks mate 🙏 Haha, no sales speeches here. After years of research, and more years of waiting, the camper is exactly as we envisioned and therefore, we are loving it! 👍
I’m doing the maths here and I can’t make out how you’re under you GCM of 6800kg. Your loaded caravan mass is 3200kg which means your fully loaded Landcruiser has to be under 3600kg. In a previous weight video you stated that your LandCruiser empty (with fuel) was 3540kg. You and the four kids are going to be 200kg so how did you manage to be under your GCM?
For sure, keeping in mind this was the first time we weighed the camper fully loaded before we left. We have been playing with the distributions and reducing gear to get these weights to match. It's much of a balancing game when it comes to our limits as we heavy, but we still need to get a final weigh in before I can comment regarding our final weights 👍
3:20 re. adding to the ball weight is incorrect ( unless adding loads of weight on the A frame ) Lengthening the drawbar by itself is like lifting a wheelbarrow with extra long handles , it = greater leverage / less load to lift .
I understands, I made a mistake in my wording here. But yes, you are correct. Obviously if adding extra weight to that drawbar this would increase that down force 👍 Thanks fr mentioning it and hopefully others can read this too 🙏
Hi Mate,enjoy your video & find them informative. Couple of points,(we also have ATX with air bags) it may be worth checking your rebound cables. I noticed they are starting to wear into the air bags. My wore through to the canvas. After speaking with CruiseMaster, discovered that the rebound cables were not installed correctly. Second point I believe that longer A frame would reduce ball weight ?
Your absolutely right in regards to the drawbar weights and that’s my mistake. I’m regards to the suspension, I’ll look into it and see what cruisemaster have to say about it 👍 Cheers
@@XploringOz All good Nathan. Cruise master sent us the installation instructions. I would send you a copy ,Unfortunately our copy are in van & our van is in QLD atm & we are in nsw.
Great vids! Extremely informative Only hiccup I found was that a longer drawbar will in fact lighten the tow ball weight. Presented better than lifestyle themselves!
What more can I say Nathan? This video is so well crafted. The information is clear and comprehensive. I hope you get lots of views and many more subscribers so that the time and effort you put into your work is properly rewarded 🥇
Thanks Greg, I appreciate that 🙏 I hope that this series can help many others determine whether hybrids are for them and if so, whether the Lifestyle is the right way to go 👍
Hi Nathan love your videos . I really thought is this the van for us and a quick 30 second google search found horrendous reviews . There is also a video on RU-vid showing all the faults . Let’s hope you have better luck . It’s a real shame . Just to add and ask did you look at the reviews?
Yeah, online reviews are well... online reviews. People don't often post at length and in detail the positives on products, however as soon as something goes wrong, it's plastered everywhere. Considering the quantity of campers produced, the issues are a small percentage, as they are with any manufacturer. I did my research and compared to other brands on the market, this was well and truely above the industry average for problems. We only had this camper for 3 days prior to full time travel and I was nervous, given the 'teething' issues normally present, but I have been pleasantly impressed. Of course there has been a small thing here and there, but overall we couldn't have asked for a better camper to hit the road straight away. We wouldn't change a thing. Obviously reviews and thoughts on quality will be posted in the future, but in short we are very happy and very impressed.
@@XploringOz Agree about the reviews you never see much of the positive . I looked on product review website and they do have some good pictures to describe one persons problems. I will have a chat to the company at the next camper show as i do like the look of them. Love ya work and thankyou for the responce
@@Susieandchris Yeah, don't get me wrong, no company gets it right, but I do believe Lifestyle do try their best and overall do a great job... also couldn't really find the YT video as you describe. Do you have a link so I could have a look?
Ah yes, I did come across this during my research. It sure is disappointing and amazing how much can go wrong on a single camper! This being said, my research was squarely aimed at the newer models with a very different construction technique and material. I won't say that new issues aren't possible, however I'm hoping that Lifestyle have learnt from this 🤞
Hi Nathan, your video was very detailed and well articulated (as usual),. We have already done a few short trips in our R4T SE yet still managed to learn a few things about the camper that we weren't aware of.. We echo you comments about the airbag suspension, initially we opted for it because of its capabilities but quickly fell in love with how easy it made levelling the van at the camp site. Well done and looking forward to parts 2 and 3. Cheers, Richard.
Thanks Richard, appreciate that. Yes, the suspension is a stand out feature on these campers for sure! The next parts are uploaded and ready to go, my favourite being Pt 3 with our overkill and over designed off-grid power setup 😆 All good fun 👍
Your caravan is too big. You're not alone out there, unfortunately. On paper it might all be legitimate, but in the reality of safety, it's just not. The number one unwritten rule for towing heavy shit, is... The tow vehicle must be significantly heavier than what's being towed. This is just basic laws of physics and common-sense. Most experts worth their salt, will recommend you tow 85% of the maximum GVM of your tow vehicle. So in your case, assuming you have a gvm upgraded to 3.6t, the caravan shouldn't weigh anything above 3t max. Even at these weights, you'd be right at your GCM limit. This 85% rule isn't a law here in Australia, but it bloody well should be. And Australia is one of the only countries in the world that allows vehicles to tow such large caravans. It's a joke. I don't understand wht people think you need such large and luxurious caravans? It's absolutely not necessary, even if you are living from it full-time, and it's also dangerous and inconvenient to all other road users. I bloody hate waiting inline behind a convoy of slow caravaners, most of you haven't the first clue. Less is best, people!
With the kitchen being on the outside, did you ever run into bad weather where you were not able to cook outside? Its a weapon of a hybrid/van/camper 😍.
Thanks mate, it sure is an awesome camper! We have had plenty of bad weather. High winds, consistent rain and heaps of cold weather, but nothing we couldn't handle. The awning will prevent the rain and if the wind is bad, we'll stick up the awning walls which offer plenty ty of protection. We have been on the road for over 6 months now and only eaten dinner inside the camper once (this was because I parked in a way where we couldn't open the awning in the rain)
as a retired plumber it was always left hand threads for dangerous gases and right hand thread for non dangerous gases, I guess a persons life isn't worth as much as I thought
I can see the logic and safety reasons here, but I mean we are talking about a simple connection here that simply can't be confused with other connections in that area. if people can somehow plumb other fittings into this area on this camper the I think there might be bigger issues to consider 😆
Such an informative video Nathan👌 looking forward to the next episodes as well!! We are about to receive our van similar to yours and these episodes are great information for us.. 👍
Thanks mate, appreciate that 🙏 The next episode are uploaded and ready for release on Wed & Fri 👍 I'm really glad these can help a little and hopefully bring on the excitement for your handover! Love this camper!
That was a great explanation. Can I ask, how did you decide on the tandem axle compared to the single axle? We've got one on order, and we've gone for single axle, primarily for keeping the weight down (but there's only 2 of us, and you have 4). Was it just all the 'stuff' you needed for the 4 of you, so you needed the extra GVM (The single axle is only 2,800Kg GVM I think). I'm impressed that your total weight is way less than 3500Kg, especially with all that water on board. Cheers - David
Thanks mate 👍 For us the main reason was for weights, but there are several considerations for this decision. Maybe an idea for a future video. In the end, with a family of 4 we knew we would exceed to 2.8t atm on the single, particularly with all of the extras options added
Mate, fantastic review! We have the R4 Elite single axle and have been on the road for two weeks after picking it up in March (after a 23 month wait) My wife loves the outside kitchen, and l love the way it tows. I'm also using Starlink which is great, but could you tell me about your set up and where you got your components from, because at present my dish just sits on the ground, which can be tempting for undesirables? Looking forward to part two Cheers Glenn
That's awesome mate, sounds like we are in the same boat. Both love the camper! I couldn't think of anything I would change it for at the moment. Yes, so there are links in the description of the video in regards to both the mast and drawbar mount and the Starlink adaptor for the dish too 👍
Hi Nathan a great overview of the ReConn ,I think the mechanical advantage of the long drawbar should lower the TBM. Weights are the bain of all caravanners ,travelling full time with kids hard is to cull. Fantastic suspension on the Reconn what was the factors going for the drum brakes. Safe travels
G'Day Ian, yes you are completely right. I messed up my words there badly 🤦♂️ Although the option for additional storage would offset this if you were to go down this path. The suspension has been awesome, definitely up there with the top additions. The drum brakes are standard and to be honest the only reason we didn't upgrade to disc's was the cost and the fact we didn't need to with our tyres sizes 👍
Hey mate, this is a possibility and to be completely honest, it was an expensive oversight on our behalf 🤦♂️ Something we'll look into in the future 👍
One thing i found interesting was that Disc brakes are not a option or not available? The grey ando plug at the rear underside is for solar panels? What other options thatcwere available that you didnt want/ need?
Hey mate disc brakes are certainly an option if you want, one of the few we didn't opt for. Reasons because we didn't need it and the cost, they are not cheap! Anderson plug is for solar input (Pt. 3) 👍 Other accessories were rear camper camera, diesel heater/water heater, matching wheels and tyres (price limited)
one of the mods I've recently been told about is to get the 3m rear window protection film , it's 3mm thick and stops your back window smashing if hit by a rock or something like that.
For sure, that wouldn't be a bad idea. The Stone Stomper is a great alternative and I've never had an issue and this also protects the whole rear of the vehicle too. 👍
@@XploringOz because it stays intact because of the heavy duty film even if the glass is smashed your car is still secure and mostly dust and weather proof that having a rock stopper on the van can't really do so both would be better working together. what i seen in the video was it was getting hit with a hammer and not breaking so i found it very impressive
Thanks mate. That's a negative. We have done some steep inclines on and off-road. From the high country off-road requiring winches, to Tasmania tracks and both the Thunderbolts and Waterfalls Way which have put our combination under considerable stress 😬
