Why the Chinook is better than a $600,000 Earthroamer

[68camaro]

First Happy Thanksgiving......

This site has been a little quiet, so....since I have few minutes before putting Turkey in the oven, I figured I would start a tongue-in-cheek list of reasons why our Chinooks are better than new Earthroamer (ER) LTI's that start at $590,000 and package out up to $700k.

First, an early 2000 Concourse can be had around $27k, a new EarthRoamer is roughly $650,000 - so, fir the price of a new ER you can buy 24 Concourse XL's thereby cornering the market on Concourses. Heck, ER has a 2006 used one for sale at $270k....thats still 10 Concourses we can buy for one 2006 ER.....Chinooks are WAY under priced!

2nd. This is big deal.....While our beloved rigs have 6 tires due to being a duly, ER's have only 4 tires. So our rigs have 50% more tires than a EarthRoamer for hundreds of thousand dollars less. Not only do you save with Concourse but its like getting two free additional tires.

3rd. Cab to camper entry....the Chinook Van cutout out is big, wide, tall opening from front seats to camper and is unobstructed, this makes an easy comfortable transition. The ER uses a 550 pickup, they have long console between front seats and have a back seat so to get to camper, you need to crawl over console, back seat and then get on knees to fit in small opening to camper, not bad for those flexible and nimble

4th. E350 van nose way shorter than F550 nose, so nimbleness it tight parking lots or meandering through tight forest turns is easier in the Concourse, or turns in Yogibear campground.

5th. Black water tank. Our Chinooks use blackwater tanks which give feel of civilized indoor plumbing instead of outhouse feel, ER uses fancy buckets...typically composting.

6th. Chinook much shorter and less tall then ER. During zombie apocalypse stealth will be critical.

7th. ER has no lounge seats - anyone here with lounge seats knows how insanely comfortable they are. I will have hard time giving these up.

8th, Chinook has 3 burner stove WITH fire...fire, the way we were made to cook, ER has 2 burning induction - electrical? If God wanted us to cook over induction he would not have invented fire.....

And Finally, the ER has NO generator, it is totally run on big lithium battery bank powered by huge solar panels and at least 2 super duty alternators....what fun is this? How can they annoy their neigbors who are trying to enjoy sounds of nature if you cannot fire up a loud smelly generator first thing in the morning...oh, the humanity.......

Seeing that our Chinooks are way better deals than a new ER, in the interest in being neighborly, if any ER owners want to trade their ER for my Chinook I will make the sacrifice and do the trade, however you need to pay my ER's registration fees for the next 5 years....

[chin_k]

Well, the ER has carbon fiber in its body, so that alone make it lighter, and give it better fuel economy. The LTi model can get at least 9 MPG easily, and without it, the MPG would only be 8.9 MPG. So for the extra $10k on the carbon fiber, it really worth every penny when it comes to saving weight. The bigger HD has 6-8 MPG, but it is not in the same league as the Concourse that most people has (priced just around 1.5 million).

Regarding the tires, they actually converted the dually to a single rear wheel, so it eliminates the extra cost of two tires! Each of these tires costs around $600. So for the single-wheel-conversion (just a few grands), it save you money because you do not have to pay for 6 tires like those with a dual wheels. It also eliminate the issue of having a rock between the dually, and you all know that happens every other mile when you are on the dirt road, and most of us a too dumb to know how to deal with that and have to call for AAA. Besides, each of the tires is 120 lb, so you really don't want to deal with having to change the tires on the road anyway.

The electric system is a great intuitive, advanced integrated system. It has learning capability, and it will do things that you won't know what it is doing. The user can't really debug or service it unless he/she has an advanced degree in EE. This makes it impossible for anyone to mess up the system with DIY. Why there is no heat? Time to bring it back to EarthRoamer for the professional repair! Save you lot of headache and hassle and having to post on the RV forum. With 250 vehicles made in past 20 yrs, I am sure they are very familiar with each and every one of them.

[Manitou]

hahaj great post.. but let me know when you find a modern diesel 4x4 chinook for sale. I saw a 7.3 diesel for sale once.. thought about converting it to some more nodern diesel and 4x4.. but too much work/money. Earth roamers are just crazy expensive.. wasn't there another brand of similar purpose? Tiger I think they were called.

[chin_k]

The link is https://www.tigervehicles.com/
Someone mentioned it a few weeks ago on the Chinook Alternatives discussion.
viewtopic.php?p=18169#p18169

If I get a EarthRoamer, the sale tax on it is enough for me to get two Chinooks in great shape. But I guess if I can afford to buy one, I should not be worry about the sale tax or the cost to fill up the fuel tank. I just don't think I want to deal with all the networked electronics in there since I like to tinker around. (Sounds like that is the only reason that stopping me from getting one, you know )

[68camaro]

I almost bought a Provan Tiger before getting my Chinook, I went to their SC factory twice, second time with check in hand. But this was three years ago and I was 5 years from retirement so I couldn't justify $150k to sit in storage area 97% of the time. I will retire in two years so looking at my options, Tiger is in running, the ER is not...haha. But, I really like my Chinook, I have it dialed in and it really pushes so many of the right buttons.

The ER is insane, way over the top and built like yacht, I've seen in person and just beautiful plus couldn't ask for better boonedocking performance. For those that can pay the sale price the tires, gas, registration, taxes, maintenance etc. are just no big deal.

Chin, you bring up good point, any electrical or cabin issues probably need this to be taken back to Colorado.

[chin_k]

I wonder if the EarthRoamer will hire me as a salesman?

BTW, I think the wheel on them is split rim. I kind of understand why they want to do that, and maybe the modern ones is better than the "widow maker" rim of the olden days. But how many really want to be able to take the rim apart in the middle of nowhere? I probably will just call someone on my satellite phone to drop off another spare tire from a helicopter.

[68camaro]

I wonder if the EarthRoamer will hire me as a salesman?

BTW, I think the wheel on them is split rim. I kind of understand why they want to do that, and maybe the modern ones is better than the "widow maker" rim of the olden days. But how many really want to be able to take the rim apart in the middle of nowhere? I probably will just call someone on my satellite phone to drop off another spare tire from a helicopter.

Very funny, if weather grounds helicopter you can just have spare ER delivered.