the authorities on camper trailers?

[Chook Chook]

What is the most trusted Magazines/websites that put camper trailers through thier paces?

[depslibrary]

Camper Trailer Australia is a good all round magazine with lots of reviews each month. Members of the group receive a discount for subscriptions I think. I'm sure Rob will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Shaker]

Camper Trailer Australia is a good all round magazine with lots of reviews each month. Members of the group receive a discount for subscriptions I think. I'm sure Rob will correct me if I'm wrong.

Camper Trailer Australia only offers heavily biased reviews which could only be described as advertorials, at best!

[timsgonecamping]

I think people reading magazines like CTA understand that they are treading a line between giving fair reviews and not being too negative towards their advertisers products.
So I don't think it is so much about being biased. More like being a bit kind with their reviews.
They do however point out things that they don't like and that could be improved.
The descriptions and pictures can give you a good idea whether a camper is worth further consideration.

I think forums like this are a good source of information for reviewing a potential camper.
People seem happy to point out the good and bad about their campers and most of us are on the eternal quest to modify our campers to make them that little bit better than when they came out of the factory.
The camper trailer meets are even better in that you can look over a range of campers without a salesman in sight.
Tim

[KevKathQld]

I think Tim & Julie have hit the nail on the head. The mags are not going to say something is bad if they are an advertiser. Best to take what they write with a grain of salt, note the specs and what you get for your money. With all the members here there is likely at least one has what you are interested in and can give you a real evaluation. At the end of the day you need to look it over and decide if it's what you want and suits your purpose. The local meets are a good place to see what others have but Townsville is a long way from the SE Qld meets. The national meet, at Glenn Innes this year, is the place to see them all and talk to owners. What we have my wife loves but it's not what I wanted. Happy wife, happy life...

[Shaker]

I think Tim & Julie have hit the nail on the head. The mags are not going to say something is bad if they are an advertiser. Best to take what they write with a grain of salt, note the specs and what you get for your money. With all the members here there is likely at least one has what you are interested in and can give you a real evaluation. At the end of the day you need to look it over and decide if it's what you want and suits your purpose. The local meets are a good place to see what others have but Townsville is a long way from the SE Qld meets. The national meet, at Glenn Innes this year, is the place to see them all and talk to owners. What we have my wife loves but it's not what I wanted. Happy wife, happy life...

In that case it's a waste of time & money reading them!
I have been led to believe that one if the judges on the recent CTOTY tests is now a Complete Campsite agent, after they 'won' nearly every category.

[robcaz]

There are two magazines that revolve around camper trailers. These are Campertrailer Australia from the Bauer Media Group & Camper Trailer Touring from the Express Media Group. Both are very different in the way the magazines are set out, so most prefer one over the other.

Any camper trailer review will only give you a little insight into the way a journalist sees things. The best way to get personal unbiased advise on a particular model that takes your fancy is to attend one of the CamperTrailers weekend get togethers where you are more than welcome to wander around the various makes & models & speak to the owners. All upcoming weekends can be found at http://www.campertrailers.org/upcoming_events.htm

Campertrailer Australia magazine off members a discount subscription. Please find the details listed in the 'discount to members' section.

[boobook]

It is rare today to get an independent, educated review of a camper trailer or indeed any product in a magazine these days, and it is pretty hard to interpret what you like from what someone else thinks is important. However magazines, including reviews of all camper trailers are useful for educating yourself in what you like or dislike in a unit. Keep in mind though that any EMG magazine will have more bias than most on their advertising, they are shockers and can not be trusted. They invest in some advertisers ( Roo Systems, Tigerz and possibly GIC) who remarkably always get good reviews.

As has been noted then take the knowledge you get from the mags and go to at least 2 or 3 shows.

Don't hurry, 90% of the process is learning what you really want as opposed to what you think you want.

[DiscoKym]

I found CamperTrailer Australia great in the beginning so I was a subscriber from the beginning....

Lately I have noticed the standards have slipped badly, so now it seems like the text is penned before they see the camper. "wish it had an outside kitchen" with the picture next to the text showing an outside kitchen???

The diagrams seem the same as parts are all over the place, they even put the A-frame on the wrong end of one of them..

Needless to say I didn't renew my subscription this year..

[Ern_Reeders]

IMO the editing leaves quite something to be desired.