Top 10 Best truck camper lists, articles and videos are misleading and potentially dangerous. Here’s proof, and the right way to find the best truck camper for you. Fellow truck campers, beware!
We recently met a fellow truck camper who purchased a rig that was significantly overweight for their truck, mismatched for center of gravity, and totally wrong for their truck camping plans. They based their decision on a “Number 1” choice from a “Top 10 Best” truck camper list they found online.
Now they have a truck and camper set-up that doesn’t handle properly and can’t go where they want to camp. After saving for years, retiring, and purchasing a truck and camper, their truck camping dreams are in question. It’s a maddening situation that could have been avoided with the right information, but it’s too late.
Unfortunately, this is happening more and more as bogus “Top 10 Best” (or Top 5 Best, Top 8 Best, etc.) truck camper lists proliferate across the internet. Here’s an example:
And here’s, “Go Travel Trailers” telling you about the, “Top 10 Best Truck Campers for 2020”.
As you can see, the articles appear as expert written lists, but they offer no basis for their rankings and zero attempt at objectivity. Mostly all they do is rattle off model descriptions, specifications and capacities you could read from manufacturers’ websites and brochures. It’s as if they wrote one paragraph per model while reading through the manufacturers’ websites. That was easy.
Critical facts concerning truck camper weight and truck matching are stated casually with no apparent fact checking or revealed math. Looking for a real wet weight calculation? Trying to make a safe truck and camper match? Good luck.
Here’s another unfortunate example:
I would love to ask Camper Trailer Report exactly why one truck camper make and model is, “Number 1” and another all the way down at, “Number 6”? Without a revealed basis for their ranking, it’s just the author’s opinion. You are simply supposed to take the writer’s word for it – as an expert.
Over the years we have met too many people who have received bad truck and camper advice from uninformed sources. These poor folks often wind up with a truck and camper that isn’t just wrong for their needs, but wildly mismatched by weight, center of gravity and fitment. They usually end up losing thousands of dollars trying to fix their situation – or worse – giving up on truck camping.
Always at the center of this problem are dishonest individuals who care more about their own pocketbook then your personal safety and truck camping dreams. Anyone who publishes a, “Top 10 Best” list certainly fits this description. By their actions, they risk sending you down the wrong road – all for a few clicks, and a few bucks.
Proof That Every Top 10 Best Truck Camper List is Baloney
As the Publishers of Truck Camper Magazine, we have seen almost every truck camper made, been to almost every truck camper factory across the United States and Canada multiple times, talked in-depth with the leadership and management teams, spent days observing the production teams, met thousands of truck camper owners, taken many dozens of truck camper makes and models out for extended truck camping adventures, and produced some of the most in-depth truck camper reviews ever created.
So why haven’t we created a legitimate and honest, “Top 10 Best” truck camper list?
Because it’s impossible.
If every existing and potential truck camper owner had the same truck preferences, identical camper preferences, wanted carbon copy truck camping experiences, and had equivalent budget requirements – then a, “Top 10 Best” truck camper list would be a breeze. If that were the case, I would have published a list over a decade ago.
Of course that’s not the case. Every potential and existing truck camper owner has very specific truck and camper preferences, budgets, expectations and requirements. What you want and need in a truck and camper is almost never what the next person wants and needs in a truck and camper.
Dealers hear this day in and day out. A couple walks into their dealership and they simply won’t consider anything without three slides and a dry bath – mostly for snowbirding in Texas.
The next person walks in, by herself, and wants a pop-up truck camper under 1,600 pounds, wet and loaded, so she can safely pull her horse trailer into the mountains of Colorado.
The dealership door opens again and the customer wants to tow a boat, and keep the entire truck and camper under $50,000. His wife won’t budget for anything more.
Every truck camper customer needs and wants something different – sometimes with very specific requirements. Flip through Truck Camper Magazine’s calendar contest galleries and you’ll see the results of this reality. Photo after photo, rig after rig, there’s a remarkable diversity of truck and camper combinations and lifestyles.
This proves that any attempt to create a, “Top 10 Best” truck camper list is baloney.
Top 10 Best for whose budget? Top 10 Best for what requirements? Top 10 Best for which lifestyle? What about towing? What about personal floor plan preferences? And don’t even get me started with safe and proper truck and camper matching. That’s where these lists almost always turn a blind and very dangerous eye.
The truth is, the only thing these, “Top 10 Best” lists might be good for are the wallets of those who created them. The rest of us get hosed.
Find the Best Truck Camper For You – The Right Way
Unless you are willing to overlook your personal preferences, needs, wants, budget, and safety, there is no such thing as an honest and legitimate, “Top 10 Best” truck camper list. So what should you do to find the best truck camper for you?
If you’re completely new to the truck camper marketplace and lifestyle, start with the very first article in our Discover Truck Camping section, “Truck Campers: The Go Anywhere, Camp Anywhere, Tow Anything RV”. That article will give you a broad overview of the truck camper manufacturers and showcase the variety of truck camper types and styles.
Next read, “The Best Truck Camper”. This article will reveal just how important it is to know exactly what you want and need in a truck and camper rig before starting to make decisions. It also answers the question, “Who makes the best truck camper?” The right answer; you do.
After reading those articles, it’s time to get specific. “Picking the Perfect Truck Camper” will guide you through decisions like; hard side or pop-up, long bed or short, non-slide or slide, wet bath or dry bath, and beyond. Have a pen and paper handy when you read that article.
Once you’ve finished “picking”, enter your preferences into our, “Camper Chooser System”. The Camper Chooser System will literally tell you what truck camper makes and models fit your personal requirements. You can even request information directly from the resulting manufacturers, all through the Camper Chooser System.
At this point you’ll be very tempted to start researching the campers revealed by the Camper Chooser System, and you should. However, before proceeding please read, “How To Match A Truck and Camper”.
More than any other article in Truck Camper Magazine, “How To Match A Truck and Camper” is essential reading for anyone putting together a truck and camper rig. Read that article as soon as possible, and again before making a truck or camper purchase.
After that, check our our Buyers Guide, Gear Guide, Truck Camper Reviews, visit dealers, attend RV shows, and generally fine tune your research across as many sources as possible. By this point you should be very focused on a short list of campers that meet your needs.
Your Fairy Truck Camper Mother – Is You!
In my dreams, we would all have a fairy truck camper mother who would descend from the truck camping heavens, wave her magic turnbuckles, and reveal the best truck camper for your every want and need.
In the real world, you need to do a bit of homework to find the perfect truck and camper for you.
Fortunately, we have created a free online magazine that carefully guides you through the process. Follow the advice in our Discover Truck Camping section and you will be well on your way to years of safe and fun truck camping.
It’s so worth it.
