By far the most important thing is the size of the tires, we owned a pop-up with small tires for 13 yrs. and had 13 flats in that time.....the larger the tires the better.....
Other than that we loved our pop-up
Good luck

We had a pop-up for years. Had to get a big one cause the girls had to bring lots of friends with them. Your limiting factor will be your towing capacity of your jeep. Things I liked about ours:
1. we could open the bottom of the door without raising the top (allowed us to put things inside)
2. lots of big windows, could open it up and get lots of breezes thru the camper
3. it was a Starcraft and had a "space station" over one bunk for extra storate. It was just a shelf that raised with the brace for the pop-up, but gave lots of storage.
4. there was a connection and hanger for the "stove" outside and that is where I did most of the cooking so it stayed cooler inside.

What I didn't like:
1. the counters were very low and inconvenient
2. having to pop-up and dry out when we got home (seems like it was always raining when we packed up)
3. it came with "curtains" over the windows, so when they needed replaceing we took it apart and sent it off to have zip up canvas panels put on. (love that Bear Creek Canvas)
4. lots of time to set up and pack up.
5. tiny sink that didn't drain well

Things that were available we should have gotten:
1. small potty/shower (would have been very nice for the kids when they were little)
2. hot water heater
3. outside water supply
4. awning on both sides
5. bike rack

If we had it to do now I think we would get a hybrid trailer with the pop out beds.

Hope this helps.
beverly

I've seen popups go on the same tires for 1/2 their life.

You might consider going to a reputable tire store and requesting a higher ply / better grade tire.

Lately, I've been looking, even though I just bought a new $3400 cargo trailer to move my camping equipment for the next few years.

I really like the Aspen, due to the quick popup and the middle headroom. But not sure if there is enough sleeping room for 3 or 4.

Popups are slick. You should have a fun time shopping.

My guess, is that just looking at a lot of options in person, should be a big help.

researching popups? what we did was goto RV trade shows , but most over now. you can try RV dealers, but some of them don't give you much time for a popup vs. a moho.

look at the manufacturers' websites:
fleetwood
palomino
rockwood
jayco
starcraft
forest river
...to name a few...

Look at what layouts you want, floorplans and options - make sure you have fridge, furnace, sink, waterpump...

ignore the 'dry' weight, use the total gross weight rating to plan towing capacity (dry weights do not include battery, propane, fridge, A/C or any options). Also add 100 pounds to the tongue weight they state (same reason as above).

slideouts are very nice, but make sure you have towing capacity. like said, towing capacity will limit your choices. Some dealers/salespeople only care you have enough tow capacity to get it off the lot.

see
http://www.trailerlife.com/output.cfm?id=42175

here is a great site to learn from:
http://www.title-3.com/index.html

and if you want more help than you ever asked for, go into the www.popupexplorer.com forums.

have fun!

You can get some pretty good popup camper info over on
www.popuptimes.com
that's a popup camping board thgat's been around awhile.

Dale

Another good place to ask other pop-up owners questions and do some research is www.sepuc.com

Barb

speaking of tire troubles, with the small tires, makes me wonder if people ever read the tire pressure requirements, both on the tire, and in the trailer manual!
I can't remember what pressure was required on our tent trailer, as it was 40 years ago that we had it! but, the air pressure required was somewhere in the realm of 65 lbs!
"WHAAAATTT! 65 lbs. in those teeny tires? Why, they'll blow out on the first bump!! Why, my car tire only holds 32 lbs. air pressure! Those people are crazy!! Hmmmphh! I'm going to run 20 lbs. in them, thats enough!"
Well, it ain't enough--not by a long shot!
In all of the time we had our tent trailer, 5-6 years, it still had the original tires on it when we traded it. I ran the tires at 65 lbs! And towed at the speed limits, too!
One day, several years ago, i stopped for gas, and there was a car and a luggage trailer at the pump in front of me. The trailer was loaded down, and the little tires were bulging from low air pressure. I told the driver he should put more air in them, but got told to mind my own business! ohhhkay! He left before me, and about 5 miles down the road--there he sat, with a blowout on the trailer! Of course, i minded my own business, and drove right on past! A toot of the horn and a cheery wave, minding my own business!

Bias trailer tires that have been on the market for years need to be inflated to what it calls for on the sidewall of the tire. So many trailer owners thought by puting in less air would mean the trailer would ride better but in truth they would only be toying with disaster! When the required rigid sidewalls on bias trailer tires are allowed to flex too much they begin to heat-up real fast and what follows is usually a blow-out or a tire failure of some kind.

For example, I have an 8' box Starcraft popup that has the 12" tires (5.30 X 12 to be exact). But this sized tire has two different series: load range "B" and load range "C". The B's where usually put on boat trailers but on the popup campers they went with C's. Here's the difference ~

5.30 X 12 load range "B" = 840 lbs carrying capacity at the optimum tire pressure of 55 psi.
5.30 X 12 load range "C" = 1045 lbs carrying capacity at the optimum tire pressure of 80 psi.

My little Starcraft requires the "C" range tires and they jolly well mean 80 psi or do look for trouble! And a lot of popup campers with this sized tire and load range requirements have replaced a worn tire with the incorrect load ranged tire (load range "B") only to have it fail very shortly on down the road ... then blame the tire company for a defective product!

Bottom line, gots to make sure (#1) your running the correct tire pressure, and (#2) it's the proper size and load range.

See ya on down the road some place!

Dale

PopUp_Trailer_Camping is a Yahoo group that I really like. I joined it when we decided to picture my sister's 2000 Viking pop-up. I would tour dealers checking out the differences in the campers and see what you really want and then compensate with what you could afford. I have to say that we let price rule on our decision to get the Viking - not a good idea since it is the cheaper model and you can tell in many of the little things. We had an old '78 Starcraft before that was really built to last. Our first trip out the leaf springs went (found out they were weak and had a small crack in one), it hadn't been greased for a while which caused a few problems....I guess we are learning some of the things to watch next time. Check out other Yahoo pop-up camper groups - there are some that are even for certain brands and they can be a huge help. I have contacted them with each problem that comes up and they give me the answer. Great people!

Good luck in getting your camper and have fun!
Barb

We have had a Coleman pop up for 15 years & I still love it. Ours is the suquoia model and it has seen many camping trips & vacations everywhere, They are great when you have small kids (mine were 2 & 5 , now they are 18 & 21) I would look at R.V. shows & go to a few dealers. I would by all means get one with the built in frig & an air conditioning unit. It just depends on what your needs are.Good luck and happy camping.

bluefuzzy, if I may recommend Pop UP Times Arvee Club.
I think you'll like it!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pop UP Times Arvee Club