Montana wins the competition !!!!

[David and Jo-Anna]

Jo-Anna and I went to the RV show up in Hershey PA yesterday to check out the competition so that we could confirm whether or not we would be going with a Montana when we buy our rig next spring. And I'm overjoyed to say that MONTANA 3400 WINS THE COMPETITION!!!

Now that's not to say that the Montana 3400 we used as our model was the best RV we saw. We saw some really nice RVs from New Horizons, Travel Supreme, Teton, Newmar and other top manufacturers. But they were never the true competition--separate and apart from their much higher price, they were far heavier than I would be comfortable trying to handle with a F350. So looking at those units was more a matter of looking for ideas on what we might do with the rig we end up buying--as well as having some fun seeing what can be done with an RV when price and weight limits aren't a factor.

Instead, based on the good advice I got on this forum, and my followup research, I saw the closest competitors to the 3400 as being the Forest River Cardinal, Jayco Designer, Everest, Sunnybrook and Cedar Creek. We looked at them all, even though a few didn't have the specific model on the lot that I was most interested in. I don't deny that they are nice units, but none wowed us, and certainly none made us feel like it beat out the 3400. Indeed, when we dropped by the Montana area in the afternoon, sitting in the 3400 felt like coming home. Nice to feel peace of mind about the decision that THE 3400 IS THE ONE FOR US. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

So now we have to finalize our decisions about what options to go with and what standard equipment we might want to forego. On the latter point, there are a few items where we'd appreciate any info anyone can share with us on the following:

1. What's the current rebate that Montana gives if you decline to take one or both of the standard recliners?

2. What's the rebate if you don't take the standard jackknife sofa?

3. Has anyone ever been able to persuade Montana to put in dinette chairs with a different color pattern than the rest of the coach? We are inclined to go with the Sapphire Blue decor for most of the coach, but would like to get the dinette chairs in the Venetian Gold. Has anyone ever been able to do something like that?

4. There is a 6"-8" wide band of decorative wall paper trim that runs horizontally around the living room in a band about 3' up from the floor. We don't want it. Has anyone ever tried to remove it and/or been able to get Montana not to install it? Is it covering any type of seam in the wall covering that would be exposed if that decorative band is removed?

5. Can you have Montana install 3 of the 4 slide topper awnings on a 3400 but not all 4? We're thinking of going with the Carefree of Colorado awning for the big living room slide--the version that can be extended down to also form a window awning as needed in addition to being a slide top awning. But we could go with the regular Montana slide toppers for the other 3 slides as we don't feel they need window awnings.

Appreciate any info you great people can share on any of these points.