Avenger Quality

[Keen Family]

Hello Everyone,

We are considering the purchase of a 2016 Avenger 30QBS, with an outdoor kitchen. Any comments on the quality of the Avenger line generally?

[Platokidd]

The Avenger is imo Prime Time's entry level model.

Prime Time does stand behind their units quite well.
Thats good, because your most likely going to need them to at some point. Just like any other unit on the market with todays RV quality or lack of it.

We had a PT Tracer and now the Lacrosse.

[another_newfie]

It is an entry level rig. That doesn't mean low quality though. I think the Avenger is a good solid product. Very price competitive.

[abrakadabra01]

Holy crap. We have the 32FBI and it is a piece of junk. My husband serves in the Army and we are living in it until housing comes available.

First of all, anyone who says this is an entry level model is ridiculous. No one ever mentioned this to us when we bought it, and we paid $35K!

Secondly, all of the issues we have had (major and minor) are NOT part of being in an RV. People who say to "suck it up" clearly have lower standards.

1.The cabinetry is crap. We have had it 6 months and the veneer has peeled all over the place. Little nicks and dings. I constantly have to walk around with my stain-marker from Home Depot covering up the peeling just so I don't go crazy. The pots &pans drawer rails broke within a month and now the drawer slides out randomly. The formica counter tops are all popping. The seams are separating. I can only imagine what it's going to look like in a year.

2. The underbelly is a joke. The pictures on the brochure make it seem like its a nice, well-insulated casing...ha ha. It's 4mm Coroplast. The damn thing was filled with scraps and garbage when we first got the trailer. My hubby had to cut into it to find the source of a very large leak. We then found out that the leak had come from Prime Time assembly team NOT ATTACHING THE SHOWER DRAIN TO THE P-TRAP. The drain pipe was literally just sitting there, dumping water into the underbelly. When we opened the front panel, the P-Trap was turned 90 degrees from the shower drain pipe, unconnected.

3. The "marine grade speakers" outside are junk...worst sound ever.

4. In the process moving to Fort Benning GA from Fort Carson CO two weeks ago, the heater went out (it was 20 degrees at night most of the trip), the frame of the trailer has loosened so none of the doors fit right in the frames now. The U-Frame dinette had to come out, because the fabric on the cushions (chenille) wore so fast that they started to unravel and then eventually shredded. The dinette has always been wobbly.

There are many more issues, but I'm tired of going over them. The saddest part of all of theis was that we were very clear that we were going to be full-timing in this lemon from the beginning. The dealer was more than happy to rave about Prime Time, but now we hate this thing. In fact, as were travelling across the country, every RV we park we stayed at, we had discovered a new problem. It has become a joke with my hubby and I. We always joke now about the "quality" and how this was the worst investment we have ever made.

The final straw--Three days ago I was entering the RV. I grabbed the handle to walk up the stairs. The handle literally tore off the RV and I fell all the way down the stairs onto the ground and landed on my tailbone. I had a broken sacrum about 3 years ago and that fall put me in bed for 3 days.

Everytime we make a payment to the bank we get mad. I refuse to settle for horrible quality and the manufacturer talks a good game, but at the end of the day, they aren't making any considerable efforts to help. We started having issues 1 week after taking delivery. I have been documenting everything. Even if it is the smallest cosmetic damage, it has been emailed to Prime Time. We are just praying that we can get out of this junk. It has come to the point where my hubby is considering legal action. When he saw me fall onto my tail bone, he check out the handle, and only 4 of the eight scres had been installed. Not only that, but they were 1/4" screws held together by a lot of industrial glue.

So, at the end of this depressing story, I would not recommend Prime Time, or Forest River. We never had any problems like this with our Jayco and wish we would have stayed with them.

So, buyer beware and investigate EVERYTHING before you buy.

[Sallen80]

I picked up a 30qbs last year. It has been a great rig. We have towed it all over the place and the kids love it as well. I would buy another of these if i was in the market.
The only thing on my wish list right now is a better mattress but that was fixed with a pad for now.

if you have any questions pm me

Shay

[georgew48]

Originally Posted by abrakadabra01

Holy crap. We have the 32FBI and it is a piece of junk. My husband serves in the Army and we are living in it until housing comes available.

First of all, anyone who says this is an entry level model is ridiculous. No one ever mentioned this to us when we bought it, and we paid $35K!

Secondly, all of the issues we have had (major and minor) are NOT part of being in an RV. People who say to "suck it up" clearly have lower standards.

1.The cabinetry is crap. We have had it 6 months and the veneer has peeled all over the place. Little nicks and dings. I constantly have to walk around with my stain-marker from Home Depot covering up the peeling just so I don't go crazy. The pots &pans drawer rails broke within a month and now the drawer slides out randomly. The formica counter tops are all popping. The seams are separating. I can only imagine what it's going to look like in a year.

2. The underbelly is a joke. The pictures on the brochure make it seem like its a nice, well-insulated casing...ha ha. It's 4mm Coroplast. The damn thing was filled with scraps and garbage when we first got the trailer. My hubby had to cut into it to find the source of a very large leak. We then found out that the leak had come from Prime Time assembly team NOT ATTACHING THE SHOWER DRAIN TO THE P-TRAP. The drain pipe was literally just sitting there, dumping water into the underbelly. When we opened the front panel, the P-Trap was turned 90 degrees from the shower drain pipe, unconnected.

3. The "marine grade speakers" outside are junk...worst sound ever.

4. In the process moving to Fort Benning GA from Fort Carson CO two weeks ago, the heater went out (it was 20 degrees at night most of the trip), the frame of the trailer has loosened so none of the doors fit right in the frames now. The U-Frame dinette had to come out, because the fabric on the cushions (chenille) wore so fast that they started to unravel and then eventually shredded. The dinette has always been wobbly.

There are many more issues, but I'm tired of going over them. The saddest part of all of theis was that we were very clear that we were going to be full-timing in this lemon from the beginning. The dealer was more than happy to rave about Prime Time, but now we hate this thing. In fact, as were travelling across the country, every RV we park we stayed at, we had discovered a new problem. It has become a joke with my hubby and I. We always joke now about the "quality" and how this was the worst investment we have ever made.

The final straw--Three days ago I was entering the RV. I grabbed the handle to walk up the stairs. The handle literally tore off the RV and I fell all the way down the stairs onto the ground and landed on my tailbone. I had a broken sacrum about 3 years ago and that fall put me in bed for 3 days.

Everytime we make a payment to the bank we get mad. I refuse to settle for horrible quality and the manufacturer talks a good game, but at the end of the day, they aren't making any considerable efforts to help. We started having issues 1 week after taking delivery. I have been documenting everything. Even if it is the smallest cosmetic damage, it has been emailed to Prime Time. We are just praying that we can get out of this junk. It has come to the point where my hubby is considering legal action. When he saw me fall onto my tail bone, he check out the handle, and only 4 of the eight scres had been installed. Not only that, but they were 1/4" screws held together by a lot of industrial glue.

So, at the end of this depressing story, I would not recommend Prime Time, or Forest River. We never had any problems like this with our Jayco and wish we would have stayed with them.

So, buyer beware and investigate EVERYTHING before you buy.

NOTE:
Use your new recreational vehicle responsibly. Your camper was not designed to be used as a permanent dwelling, but for short-term and recreational use. If you intend to use your RV as permanent housing, it could cause premature wear on your appliances, furnace, water systems, carpet, drapes, upholstery, bedding and interior surfaces. This premature wear caused by perma- nent residency may be considered abnormal or abusive use and could reduce or in some cases void your war- ranty coverage.

Sorry for all your problems and some of your problems are poor workmanship. With that being said, who ever told you that this unit was ok for full time living lied to you. The above note is straight out of the owners manual and states that abnormal wear will happen if used for full time living. Hope you can get some relief from it soon. Thank your husband for his service.

[jswatzell]

I too am disappointed with my purchase but frankly, I am mostly at fault for my dissapointments. I had a 2011 Flagstaff fifth wheel which I was happy with but my wife was having trouble getting up and down the steps so we decided we wanted a travel trailer. The Avenger 28rks was the first one we looked at and we did what we should never do. Bought it on impulse. Initial look it seemed to meet all our needs however on our first camping trip the differences between the fully featured Flagstaff and the minimally featured Avenger became obvious. Had a couple of minor problems which I fixed so I didn't have to go back to dealer and lose use of it for awhile. I'm not complaining about my dealer's service. He took good care of me on the few problems I had with my Flagstaff. So what are the shortcomings? And keep in mind these are in comparison to my Flagstaff, no rear ladder, no slide topper, no power stab jacks, no struts to hold cabinet doors open, no gas struts to hold the bed up and the rod was incorrectly installed, small refrigerator, no sink topper, and general overall build quality. After our first outing I called my dealer and told him I wasn't happy and wanted my fifth wheel back or another unit of some sort. I would have lost close to 10K to trade back because he would have to sell my now "used" unit as used and he had my fiver priced about 5K more than he gave me as trade. Bottom line, I wish I had researched abit more before purchasing. Flagstaff makes a similar unit that has all the features I liked for only 4K or so more. Well worth the difference in my opinion. Lesson learned? Research, research, research. You get what you pay for I guess. As a footnote, we have only had this unit out 2 times so can't say much about how it holds up. Problem is, we probably won't have it out nearly as much as our Flagstaff simply because of how dissatisfied I am with it.

[utahlucky]

We purchased a new 2012 Avenger 23FBS. For two old couple, in our 70's, with two dogs, it was a nice fit. It was not to big to handle with our 2008 Chevy 2500 HD long bed truck. We have travel quit a bit. We are not full timers. The interior was large enough to take care of our camping needs. We did replace the bed with a better queen size bed. I like the what Prime Time called a Bike carrier build onto the back of the trailer. It will hold up to 250 lbs. We have carried a Champion 3500 generator on the carrier plus other items. Handy. It folds up if not needed. We do not carrier a lot of stuff, just the basic needs. The bathroom is small compared to larger trailers but we have managed quite well. So far we have had good luck with only a few problems with was solved by the dealer. Putting on new set of tires this year and I keep fairly close mileage so as to have the wheel bearing checked and repacked & the brakes checked. I keep the trailer washed and waxed and the roof cleaned and put the Dicor Roof-Gard on the roof at least twice a year or maybe more if we are back home from traveling. One of the things my wife wished she had was a electrical outlet between the kitchen sink and the stove to plug in some of her cooking items. We usually stay at a nice park for a period of time and travel with in a 100 mile radius of the park to see the sights we are interested in visiting. We do not stay in the trailer much except when traveling between stops. That was the purpose of traveling in a trailer like this is be able to have a place to stay the night or occasional bad weather, It is a nice travel trailer for our needs and (as a say 'knock on wood' ) had so far, good luck good traveling with it.