Keystone Quality

**sourdough** · 12-20-2017, 02:33 PM

There have been many, many discussions of Keystone quality or the lack thereof. Interestingly, I just received my digital copy of Trailer Life and.....low and behold Keystone is the 2017 gold award recipient in the 5th wheel and toy hauler categories! Now this isn't from the few on the forum but rather the entire Trailer Life readership which encompasses owners of virtually all brands. Maybe things aren't so bad after all......??

http://www.trailerlife.com/rv-gear/2...19177_12202017

Tbos · 12-20-2017, 03:16 PM

Sure makes you wonder. I see Outdoor and Northwood didn’t make the list.

2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW

Gegrad · 12-20-2017, 03:27 PM

Saw in the Travel Trailer section Lance won. That's all good and well, but 1) they are 75% more expensive than Keystones. I HIGHLY doubt they will last 75% longer when both are well cared for. 2) They don't make anything longer than 23 ft. That's nice for people who really can't tow with anything bigger than an SUV, but useless for anyone that wants to sleep with more than 4 without being shoehorned in the trailer.

srvnt · 12-20-2017, 04:05 PM

What if anything would be considered high quality on a stock Passport? Not the brakes, not the tires, not the fit and finish, not the electronics, and not the floor or roof among others. So what then? They don't even exhaust the oven fan outside!

**sourdough** · 12-20-2017, 05:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gegrad

Saw in the Travel Trailer section Lance won. That's all good and well, but 1) they are 75% more expensive than Keystones. I HIGHLY doubt they will last 75% longer when both are well cared for. 2) They don't make anything longer than 23 ft. That's nice for people who really can't tow with anything bigger than an SUV, but useless for anyone that wants to sleep with more than 4 without being shoehorned in the trailer.

You're right. I can't factor Lance into what we need, so, I suppose Keystone would be next....

**sourdough** · 12-20-2017, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by srvnt

What if anything would be considered high quality on a stock Passport? Not the brakes, not the tires, not the fit and finish, not the electronics, and not the floor or roof among others. So what then? They don't even exhaust the oven fan outside!

High quality? You got all the items you mentioned but I suppose they're not top of the line? What did you pay for your Passport?

Tinner12002 · 12-21-2017, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

There have been many, many discussions of Keystone quality or the lack thereof. Interestingly, I just received my digital copy of Trailer Life and.....low and behold Keystone is the 2017 gold award recipient in the 5th wheel and toy hauler categories! Now this isn't from the few on the forum but rather the entire Trailer Life readership which encompasses owners of virtually all brands. Maybe things aren't so bad after all......??

http://www.trailerlife.com/rv-gear/2...19177_12202017

Yep seen that also, was thinking maybe I made a good choice! Did you also see the 2018 tow guide...looked like Ram is the top dog in their charts for 3500 max towing. I thought the big 3 were all closer in towing capacities than what they have listed.

ken56 · 12-21-2017, 06:24 AM

I believe its called the "readers choice" awards so that tells me its just a collection of other peoples opinions really. A popularity contest in essence. What controls and criteria were used to arrive at "the best"? The auto industry and some others use JD Power and associates to collect buyer satisfaction surveys among other guidelines to come up with a somewhat better picture of quality and buyer satisfaction. Maybe the RV manufacturers should start doing something like this.

srvnt · 12-21-2017, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

High quality? You got all the items you mentioned but I suppose they're not top of the line? What did you pay for your Passport?

Hardly top of the line. Manufacturers use the cheapest materials they can. And craftsmanship? don't get me started LOL! 26 grand for a new cheezy RV, which i knew about going in, but we've had a blast the last couple years! I know they can do much better.

dcg9381 · 12-21-2017, 01:18 PM

1) Who are the major advertisers that keep trailer life in business?
2) If it's readers choice, by vote, Keystone is one of the largest market segments. People tend to vote for what they own.

This has nothing to do with quality or lack of.

If they did a survey of owner quality, that's an entirely different ballgame... But I don't think Trailer Life is in the business of pissing off their largest advertisers..

**sourdough** · 12-21-2017, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcg9381

1) Who are the major advertisers that keep trailer life in business?
2) If it's readers choice, by vote, Keystone is one of the largest market segments. People tend to vote for what they own.

This has nothing to do with quality or lack of.

If they did a survey of owner quality, that's an entirely different ballgame... But I don't think Trailer Life is in the business of pissing off their largest advertisers..

I would have to disagree. You tend to vote for what you own if you've had a good experience. Good experience = not in the shop every day = quality (in some form or fashion). We have had plenty on the forum that I'm sure wouldn't send in glowing reviews of their Keystone's because they "owned" them.

Now, as far as the size of the market share, yes, Keystone has a lot. In that respect, IF the votes came in in the same proportion as that of the ownership then they would possibly have an edge. Then again, you get into demographics, tendency to vote, etc. etc. etc. At that point, you need to be a professional pollster to thoroughly misread the results.

I think it is far easier to just read the info, take it for what it is and be done with it. Or, you could just write Trailer Life and ask all their criteria, how the scores were tabulated etc. I think I'd rather be fishing...

jbryant · 12-21-2017, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sourdough

There have been many, many discussions of Keystone quality or the lack thereof. Interestingly, I just received my digital copy of Trailer Life and.....low and behold Keystone is the 2017 gold award recipient in the 5th wheel and toy hauler categories! Now this isn't from the few on the forum but rather the entire Trailer Life readership which encompasses owners of virtually all brands. Maybe things aren't so bad after all......??

http://www.trailerlife.com/rv-gear/2...19177_12202017

Keystone hard to work with. Not Customer friendly.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

notanlines · 12-21-2017, 03:20 PM

jbryant, maybe back this up with some further information. Maybe you're correct and maybe not, but give us something to work with. You tow with a .....and you tow a ......and you had a problem with a .....see where I'm coming from?

KHBama · 12-21-2017, 03:45 PM

Been on 2 trips with our 5th and not impressed at all with quality. I think a lot of it could have been avoided with just a little extra attention to detail. Screws randomly coming out, boards loose, rubber coming off, etc. nothing major but just makes you wonder how they did on the items you can’t see.

notanlines · 12-21-2017, 04:51 PM

Bama, this won't make you feel better, but Keystone didn't make what you don't see.

Canonman · 12-21-2017, 05:12 PM

[QUOTE=jbryant;267223]Keystone hard to work with. Not Customer friendly.

I'm afraid I have to disagree. We had (More Than) our fair share of warranty issues in our first year owning our Cougar. Whenever we were in disagreement with CW over what Keystone would take care of we were treated very professionally by Keystone Customer Service and CW stepped up to every recommendation Keystone made.
Problems... YES. Solutions... Every time.
Could the manufacturer do a better QC job prior to delivery? Absolutely!
Are they any worse that any other major manufacturer? The forums say otherwise.
Our recommendation: be patient, keep good records and document everything.
And, finally, be courteous and professional dealing with both the dealer and the manufacturer.

CrazyCain · 12-21-2017, 05:22 PM

I like my little Hideout...

PopBeavers · 12-21-2017, 08:05 PM

We got our Keystone Cougar a year ago. I reported every little thing I could find, expecting to end up negotiating. I wanted some items that I was willing to give up.

They were all fixed, no questions asked.

My local dealer is short of techs, so it takes longer than I would like. BUT, everything I reported has been properly fixed.

I am very happy.

**chuckster57** · 12-21-2017, 09:14 PM

Keystone hard to work with? Not customer friendly?

Spend some time in the shop with me, Keystone isn’t the easiest, but they are BY FAR much easier than most.

Tinner12002 · 12-22-2017, 02:48 AM

Well I used to think that there was no way I would ever own a Keystone product...but here I is! I've read that all brands have issues, some more than others. I actually thought I'd be happy with the Full House toy hauler but they seem to have their share of issues also. I finally started looking at some of the Keystone stuff and liked several of their floorplans and ended up with the Raptor. So far so good with only a couple minor issues.

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