I recently purchased a Lance 650 slide in camper and I thought I would share my thoughts. I have a 5'7" bed and air suspension so I wanted the lightest shortest camper that was hard side and fully self-contained. The Lance 650 was really the only option that fit the bill and its just about perfect for my needs. The dry weight is just over 1600lbs which is over my rated payload but the truck handles it with ease. Initially when I loaded up with the camper and gear my air suspension locked me into 'normal ride height'. I've since added Sumosprings in the rear along with a Hellwig swaybar. The swaybar made a huge improvement in the handling of the truck with and without the camper. The sumosprings are like extended bump stops and they keep the air suspension working as normal but the ride without the camper is extremely harsh. I haven't figured out what I am going to do here but I'll likely take them on and off with the camper. At normal ride height the sumosprings are touching the rear axle. When I raise up to OR1 or OR2 the ride is as normal since the sumosprings aren't touching. With the camper on they make the truck ride well and the suspension performs great (slightly more harsh than normal).
Now that I have a few thousand miles on the truck with the camper (half of those miles are towing a 3000lb trailer in addition to the camper) I am confident in my choice. Mileage seems to be right around 17mpg with or without the trailer. I’ve had it in pretty severe crosswind and it has always handled great-I think I have the swaybar to thank for that.
I went with Happijac tie downs because there really aren’t many options for this truck. The rear bumper mounts cause the bumper to move around and I’m curious to hear if anyone has ideas out there how to better secure the rear of camper. Because of this play the camper bounces up and down a couple inches in gusty wind or very bad roads. It’s not an issue, just annoying.
Now for the camper itself:
The camper is considerably narrower than other campers. This reduces interior space but it makes it much more livable than other campers.
The cabover north/south bed is awesome. It’s a true queen size and very comfortable. It fits nicely over the crew cab of the truck.
The fridge is in the cabover so its smaller than I would like, but with a camper this size there are compromises and this is one. It is a pain to get the door open with bedding on the bed and my biggest complaint about the camper.
The dinette is a nice configuration and it sleeps two additional people in a pinch and will seat 4. The table is larger than it needs to be and slides in and out. The slide mechanism is pretty pathetic and makes the table intolerably wobbly so I’ll endup reconfiguring this.
The galley works, its small and lacks storage so we’ve had to find cookware that fits the space we have.
The tankage is fairly limited which is probably a blessing in disguise to keep me from further overloading the truck.
I like having the wet bath/shower, its small but it works.
This camper has an on demand waterheater which has been causing me some problems (currently being fixed by the dealer). I like the idea of saving weight and space but the time it takes to turn on and warm up seems to use an excessive amount of fresh water, which is in limited supply (20 gallons).
Propane tank is a 3 gallon tank. They could have squeezed a 5 gallon tank into this camper which would have made a lot more sense.
Insulation is great and the camper really does a great job of cutting out road noise when sleeping in a rest area.
Everything else works great. In hindsight I would be better off with a ¾ ton truck for the amount of towing and hauling I do but I love the 3D and now have over 30,000 miles on it. Also, for those concerned with the payload, almost every camper I see on a ¾ and 1 ton truck exceeds that trucks payload. If I had a larger truck my wife would have talked us into a camper with more amenities that would have pushed the limits of whatever truck we had. The Lance 650 is small, manageable and really rides well on the 3D. I see huge trucks with campers swaying and bouncing down the road and I know that even though I’m overloaded I’m stable and safe. What’s most notable is that its considerably narrower than other campers.
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Now that I have a few thousand miles on the truck with the camper (half of those miles are towing a 3000lb trailer in addition to the camper) I am confident in my choice. Mileage seems to be right around 17mpg with or without the trailer. I’ve had it in pretty severe crosswind and it has always handled great-I think I have the swaybar to thank for that.
I went with Happijac tie downs because there really aren’t many options for this truck. The rear bumper mounts cause the bumper to move around and I’m curious to hear if anyone has ideas out there how to better secure the rear of camper. Because of this play the camper bounces up and down a couple inches in gusty wind or very bad roads. It’s not an issue, just annoying.
Now for the camper itself:
The camper is considerably narrower than other campers. This reduces interior space but it makes it much more livable than other campers.
The cabover north/south bed is awesome. It’s a true queen size and very comfortable. It fits nicely over the crew cab of the truck.
The fridge is in the cabover so its smaller than I would like, but with a camper this size there are compromises and this is one. It is a pain to get the door open with bedding on the bed and my biggest complaint about the camper.
The dinette is a nice configuration and it sleeps two additional people in a pinch and will seat 4. The table is larger than it needs to be and slides in and out. The slide mechanism is pretty pathetic and makes the table intolerably wobbly so I’ll endup reconfiguring this.
The galley works, its small and lacks storage so we’ve had to find cookware that fits the space we have.
The tankage is fairly limited which is probably a blessing in disguise to keep me from further overloading the truck.
I like having the wet bath/shower, its small but it works.
This camper has an on demand waterheater which has been causing me some problems (currently being fixed by the dealer). I like the idea of saving weight and space but the time it takes to turn on and warm up seems to use an excessive amount of fresh water, which is in limited supply (20 gallons).
Propane tank is a 3 gallon tank. They could have squeezed a 5 gallon tank into this camper which would have made a lot more sense.
Insulation is great and the camper really does a great job of cutting out road noise when sleeping in a rest area.
Everything else works great. In hindsight I would be better off with a ¾ ton truck for the amount of towing and hauling I do but I love the 3D and now have over 30,000 miles on it. Also, for those concerned with the payload, almost every camper I see on a ¾ and 1 ton truck exceeds that trucks payload. If I had a larger truck my wife would have talked us into a camper with more amenities that would have pushed the limits of whatever truck we had. The Lance 650 is small, manageable and really rides well on the 3D. I see huge trucks with campers swaying and bouncing down the road and I know that even though I’m overloaded I’m stable and safe. What’s most notable is that its considerably narrower than other campers.
