Belgique
Senior Member
This is just for reference purposes in case someone is in the market later and does a search. I posted it on the other forum in response to a question, but it might be useful to someone later:
Traded a 2001 Itasca 35U in on a 2008 35J Sightseer 2 weeks ago. The 35U had dual windows and basement air. In 2 weeks we have put about 800 miles on the 35J including 1 trip with 5 humans, 5 big dogs and 2 cats. This weekend we were in the Shenandoah's and it got down to 17 one night. All this offered to substantiate that I can compare the options.
Dual Pane: Yes there is a difference but the fogging problem that is so prevalent mitigates that, IMHO. The few times that we do a lot of cold weather camping vs paying hundreds/thousands of dollars to replace fogged dual pane windows isn't worth it. And, the 35U had 2 fogged windows. Of course dual are better...maybe arm twist an extended window warranty?
Basement Air: not a deal breaker, either way. I love the extra storage that roof top air frees up. I also like being able to turn one of the AC's on or off for zone cooling (closing vents doesn't help IMHO). Since you do not have under bed storage in the new 35J, the basement room is nice. We liked our basement air and used the heat pump a fair amount. A $40 oil filled radiator has replaced that and gives us basement storage.
Some observations:
We love the floorplan and coach. We deliberately put her through the paces since we don't live near the dealer. I have not a single thing for the punch list. We did have a jack retraction issue: it would blow the fuse. Tech called Winnie and they said they made a mistake and called for a 5 amp fuse when it should have been 15 amp. Since then, no issues. Extremely well put together. The stuff that follows is minor and could be found on any brand. I offer it only for a heads up when you talk to your dealer. We have no regrets.
Propane: the tank is half the size of the 35U! 14 gal vs 28. If you do winter camping, this can be an issue.
Front TV: Useless. Too small and the viewing angle is very limited....almost have to watch it head on. We'll replace ours. Our 2008 has the TV up front; others report their TV is over the barrel chair. There is no inverter and no video distribution center on mine. The DVD player is the radio and it feeds the TV. Works fine. I haven't mastered yet getting all this to work with the rear TV.
Sat TV: they did a good thing, half way. They ran 1 RG6 to the utility compartment for a portable dish and one to the roof for a roof dish. For 50 cents more they could have run dual coax so a dual LNB could be used with a DVR so you could watch one/record another, etc. Fairly easy fix that I have done.
Barrel Chair: Useless. Not comfortable. We'll replace ours with a Lazy Boy type chair.
Water pump: the engineer that decided to put it under the bed needs to be condemned to sleep there for eternity. I'll be swapping it out for a quiet pump/accumulator.
CB Wiring: the manuals et al says it is there. Winnie says only the 12v wires are there since they stopped putting the antennas on the roof. I have yet to find the 12V wiring!!! I need 12v there for my TOAD brake warning receiver. I wish they ran more 12v jacks up front for GPS's Laptops etc. There is one under the radio and 1 under the passenger overhead compartment...to use it, you must have a wire hanging down.
Bunks: Grandson LOVES them! His dad even uses the top one. On ours, the audio is via an IR headphone, not wired as they were in '07. There is no speaker but G'Son turns his up loud and lays it near his head and is happy. These DVD players are just that...DVD players, no TV.
35J rides better and the engine is very quiet, even on steep grades (both of ours had the Ford V10).
Manuals are excellent. Winnie very supportive when you call them (as I had to do on the TV wiring). Control and explanation of the TV system is the only thing weak in the manuals.
There seems to be a lot more storage than on the 35U. I can't prove it but it feels that way. CCC is a lot better (probably because of things like a smaller propane tank!).
As always, these are just my opinions based on what we think is important. Yours will probably vary. It is just a data point.
steve
Traded a 2001 Itasca 35U in on a 2008 35J Sightseer 2 weeks ago. The 35U had dual windows and basement air. In 2 weeks we have put about 800 miles on the 35J including 1 trip with 5 humans, 5 big dogs and 2 cats. This weekend we were in the Shenandoah's and it got down to 17 one night. All this offered to substantiate that I can compare the options.
Dual Pane: Yes there is a difference but the fogging problem that is so prevalent mitigates that, IMHO. The few times that we do a lot of cold weather camping vs paying hundreds/thousands of dollars to replace fogged dual pane windows isn't worth it. And, the 35U had 2 fogged windows. Of course dual are better...maybe arm twist an extended window warranty?
Basement Air: not a deal breaker, either way. I love the extra storage that roof top air frees up. I also like being able to turn one of the AC's on or off for zone cooling (closing vents doesn't help IMHO). Since you do not have under bed storage in the new 35J, the basement room is nice. We liked our basement air and used the heat pump a fair amount. A $40 oil filled radiator has replaced that and gives us basement storage.
Some observations:
We love the floorplan and coach. We deliberately put her through the paces since we don't live near the dealer. I have not a single thing for the punch list. We did have a jack retraction issue: it would blow the fuse. Tech called Winnie and they said they made a mistake and called for a 5 amp fuse when it should have been 15 amp. Since then, no issues. Extremely well put together. The stuff that follows is minor and could be found on any brand. I offer it only for a heads up when you talk to your dealer. We have no regrets.
Propane: the tank is half the size of the 35U! 14 gal vs 28. If you do winter camping, this can be an issue.
Front TV: Useless. Too small and the viewing angle is very limited....almost have to watch it head on. We'll replace ours. Our 2008 has the TV up front; others report their TV is over the barrel chair. There is no inverter and no video distribution center on mine. The DVD player is the radio and it feeds the TV. Works fine. I haven't mastered yet getting all this to work with the rear TV.
Sat TV: they did a good thing, half way. They ran 1 RG6 to the utility compartment for a portable dish and one to the roof for a roof dish. For 50 cents more they could have run dual coax so a dual LNB could be used with a DVR so you could watch one/record another, etc. Fairly easy fix that I have done.
Barrel Chair: Useless. Not comfortable. We'll replace ours with a Lazy Boy type chair.
Water pump: the engineer that decided to put it under the bed needs to be condemned to sleep there for eternity. I'll be swapping it out for a quiet pump/accumulator.
CB Wiring: the manuals et al says it is there. Winnie says only the 12v wires are there since they stopped putting the antennas on the roof. I have yet to find the 12V wiring!!! I need 12v there for my TOAD brake warning receiver. I wish they ran more 12v jacks up front for GPS's Laptops etc. There is one under the radio and 1 under the passenger overhead compartment...to use it, you must have a wire hanging down.
Bunks: Grandson LOVES them! His dad even uses the top one. On ours, the audio is via an IR headphone, not wired as they were in '07. There is no speaker but G'Son turns his up loud and lays it near his head and is happy. These DVD players are just that...DVD players, no TV.
35J rides better and the engine is very quiet, even on steep grades (both of ours had the Ford V10).
Manuals are excellent. Winnie very supportive when you call them (as I had to do on the TV wiring). Control and explanation of the TV system is the only thing weak in the manuals.
There seems to be a lot more storage than on the 35U. I can't prove it but it feels that way. CCC is a lot better (probably because of things like a smaller propane tank!).
As always, these are just my opinions based on what we think is important. Yours will probably vary. It is just a data point.
steve
