Monty owner wannaB "in training" - Montana Owners Club

Dawnika · 04-07-2005, 03:49 PM

Hello everyone. My husband and I (married almost 4 years) are ready to quit camping in our PU and buy a 5er. We just bought our F-350 PSD SWD 4x4 two weeks ago and love it. We're researching the Montana and it's quality. We love the floorplans, but after reading some posts, we are concerned that maybe it's quality isn't what it used to be.

We figured we would learn a lot from this site. Owners are the best people to listen to...IMHO. We analyze everything do death; so with your help, I think we'll make the right decision. It's just an expensive proposition, and I'm a little nervous.

Thanks for all your useful information, and have a GREAT day!
Dawn

Dave e Victoria · 04-07-2005, 04:10 PM

Dawn,
This club is the most ouspoken bunch you will ever run into. (We) respect everyone's right to vent as long as it is not mean spirited. Therefore, you will get all the good, the bad and the ugly in raw form. Like all products, there are good days and bad days. However, on average, most manufacturers strive for continuous improvement. The good thing here is, this is NOT a company sponsored site so the comments are unfiltered. The next good thing is that the folks at Montana(keystone) seem to be reading the posts -- in other words, paying attention to their customers.

We bought our unit 18 months ago. Yes, there ere a few problems but, by and large, it has been an excellent experience. We have found the certified service centers able to solve problems. Our dealer did a thorough pre-delivery inspection. One good thing is the basic design seems solid. When that is the case, problems that may arise are solvable. If it was a basically bad design, few of us would be here. My guess is you will have a great time with a Montana.
Dave

DHenry · 04-07-2005, 05:26 PM

Dawnika, welcome to the MOC. We are extremely happy with our Montana 3670RL. We do not full time in it but do take it out for at least 2 to 4 weeks at a time when we go. It is hard on a unit to bounce it down the road several hundred miles a day and not have a problem or two to take care of. We have had our unit just over a year now and have not had any major problems to speak of. We did have an air conditioner problem and a window problem that was taken care of by our dealer, but that really is the biggest issue other than a few small things that I took care of myself. I think I have more problems to take care of on my stick house than I do on the Montana and I don't bounce the stick house down the road. Good luck on your choice of RV.

stiles watson · 04-07-2005, 09:21 PM

Welcome to Montana Madness. We gripe and complain about this and that, but very few are ready to abandon their Montanas. The entire RV industry is lacking in sufficient quality control. After doing a lot of looking and tire kicking, we decided that the Montana gave us the most of what we wanted for the least amount of investment. To date, we have not been the least sorry about our decision. Whatever you decide, buy it, don't nit-pick it to death, and be determined to have a great adventure.

Joyce H · 04-08-2005, 01:29 AM

Dawn,
First of all welcome to the MOC forum. Thanks for the introduction. Great Tow Vehicle!! (see our signature) We researched several RV's before deciding on our Montana. Tom reitired last fall and we have been in our unit full time since Christmas (snowbirding in FL). Our unit will be 2 years old next month and we have been extremely happy with it. Very few minor problems which have all been fixed under warranty. Keystone which makes the Montana is a great company to deal with, in particular their Montana Division. They are very good with customer service, even after warranty expiration and totally stand behind their units. I am sure many others will be along to add to your inquiry. I guess the best thing I can say is when we are ready for a newer unit it will be another Montana. There are others here who are on their 2nd Montana. Good luck in your search. Keep us posted on your decision.

Sunshine · 04-08-2005, 04:15 AM

Welcome to the forum and good luck in your search for the unit that is right for you. We're not as experienced as some on this forum when it comes to 5th wheels, but we aren't new to RV'ing, having owned a 30' top of the line Prowler TT for 15 years. It was our experience with quality that kept drawing us back to Montana when we first started looking at 5ers. A recent experience with a trailer tire that lost its entire tread in one piece made us thankful for the closed underbody of the Montana - there was a lot of damage to the side of the trailer, and the metal underneath was bent and damaged, but it kept the tread from damaging the furnace, refrigerator and water heater "workings". It sounds like you are folks who do your homework, so whatever unit you choose will be the right one to fit your needs. Keep us posted.

melnjoy · 04-08-2005, 04:20 AM

Dawn welcome aboard. As you can see most people love their Montana's.
As far as problems you can't make a trailer with this many systems and not have some problems. Montana is not the best out there but I believe it is the best bang for the buck. We looked for two years at all of the brands and checked with people and they all have problems some worst then others. You can look at other forums and find stories where the manufacure will do every thing not to fix a problem, in the most part Keystone will do every thing to make their customers happy.
Even fixing problems years later. You can't beat that.

sreigle · 04-08-2005, 07:03 AM

Like the others, we're very happy with this Montana and with our prior Montana. Being number one in sales for four straight years says a lot about the quality and the company that stands behind it. One thing you'll find on this forum is that we are not very good about touting all the good things. We tend to post questions about problems. As other said, there will be problems. It's the nature of the beast. But ours have been minor and Keystone has been superb about standing behind it. To wit, we have a small problem and Keystone has us scheduled at their factory service center to take a look at it. Our experience is they go well above and beyond what they would technically have to do. We've put somewhere between 25k and 30k miles on ours and are still very happy with it. Whatever you decide, good luck. Don't hesitate to ask questions. Answering questions and helping each other out is a strength of this group of people. Plus, we have met some truly terrific people through this forum. Our rally last September (67 Montanas there!) was fantastic. We have another coming up in Reno, NV, area in early October plus several regional "chapters" are planning get-togethers. Again, don't hesitate to ask questions. There is no dumb question here.

Dawnika · 04-10-2005, 02:52 PM

Thank you all for your helpful and encouraging replies. I look forward to spending many hours on this site.

trukdoc · 04-10-2005, 03:30 PM

I did not go with the Montana but rather the sister to it. Might look into the Mountaineer as well. For the money very impressive. We took delivery Nov. 2004 and have over 4000 miles on it already. My biggest problem so far is the Frige will not stay lit on Propane while driving. Mentioned it to the dealer and without hesitation said to bring it in.
I most certainly would do the whole process again.

Just148 · 04-12-2005, 03:01 AM

Welcome Dawn to the MOC. As the others has mention there may be some issues and maybe not. I have the 2980rl and love it. Yes I've had some issues but they were so small I taken care of them my self. There is one I need the dealer to take care of and I will be pulling it in for service. Other than that I can't say anything bad.
Good luck on your purchase.

Amps · 04-12-2005, 06:18 AM

Welcome to the MOC. We searched for over a year for a 5er and same as Truckdoc we settled for a Mountainer 297RKS. We have used it for a year now and had NOt a single problem with it. We noticed after delivery that the main picture window had a scratch and the dealer came to our park, pick up the 5er, took it back to his shop, changed the window, returned it to our park at no cost and no arguments. You have to look at the quality of the RV as well as the Dealer. Good luck and happy RVing.

campbud · 04-12-2005, 08:16 AM

Hello and welcome to the forum! We just purchased ours in February 2005. We love it! We have been really pleased with our dealer. We had just a few small problems(the tv in the bedroom was hitting the door, dealer replaced the tv and domentic replaced the the thermostat.They gave us the option to do it ourselves or the dealer, we opted for us b/c our dealer is 1.5 hours away and weather was not good)We have been out twice and everything has been great! I think you will find that every unit, no matter what manufacture, will have something not up to par. Your choice of dealers is also very important too! Best of all is this forum...you will never meet such friendly,honest and helpful Monty owners! Good Luck on your decision!

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