Summer is finally here, which means countless Americans are hitting the road in trucks and SUVs loaded with their families and a camper in tow. If you want to hit the road with a camper this summer and don’t want to spend a lot of money to do it, there are some pretty neat options out there. If you have just $11,000, you can even buy a feature-packed, brand-new camper to make some memories in. Let’s take a look at what scraping the bottom of the new RV market will currently get you.
So many recreational vehicles are ridiculously expensive today. There are companies out there that ask you to spend half a million dollars on a camper van and do so with a totally straight face. Motor coaches aren’t any more affordable, and even travel trailers can go well into the six digit range. I’ve said in the past that an RV may be one of the largest purchases that someone could make, second to a house. Depending on your chosen RV, it’s entirely possible that a camper is the most expensive thing you’ll ever buy.
It doesn’t have to be that way. You can still create memories with your family and you can do so by spending only a fraction of the price of the cheapest new car on sale today. The camper that I’m about to show you is not luxurious, and the quality will be a huge question mark. At the very least, at just $11,000, it’ll be a bit easier to stomach if something really stupid breaks.
Back in January, I wrote about how the 2025 Keystone Coleman 13B is the cheapest bunkhouse travel trailer in America in 2025 at just $9,999. Since publishing that article, prices for the 13B have risen to $10,399. Hey, an extra $400 isn’t that bad! From what I can tell, that trailer remains the absolute cheapest bunkhouse towable that you can buy new.
But here’s the thing: The Coleman 13B is a tiny trailer. The trailer’s box is only 13 feet long, and it should be a crime to attempt to fit more than four people in there. Even then, I hope your fourth guest is a spouse because they’re going to have to share a really adorable bed with you.
If you can scrape up about another $600, you can get a lot more trailer for your money.
This is the 2025 Heartland Prowler Lynx 17RBX. Heartland was founded in 2003 and acquired the towable brand trademarks of Fleetwood RV in 2010. Later that year, Heartland RV was scooped up by mega conglomerate Thor Industries. Today, Heartland is the Thor brand that has a focus on packing current design trends and lots of features into larger trailers with low prices.
The Prowler Lynx 17RBX has a base price of just $17,408, but dealerships discount them to $12,000 with one dealer being so aggressive to charge only $11,000 for its stock, and that price includes the freight cost and inspection fees that other dealers tack onto units with low prices.
That’s crazy cheap. We’re nominally a site with an automotive lean, so naturally, I’m going to compare this to a car. The Mitsubishi Mirage has been sent off into the sunset, making the Nissan Versa the cheapest new car in America in the 2025 model year. That thing has a starting price of $17,190. This camper is a place to eat, cook, and sleep for less than the price of the cheapest new car that can drive you to work. Yes, I know that the comparison is wonky, but it’s still pretty neat to me.
One of the things that you give up in spending so little cash on a camper is advanced technology and building materials. You won’t find any fancy Azdel or a double-hulled fiberglass monocoque here. You aren’t going to find an aluminum structure or even a particularly snazzy frame either. This camper is what many would call a “stick build.” It’s pretty old-school with wood framing, a rubberized roof, and basic aluminum siding.
The frame you’re looking at there is just painted steel, and it doesn’t even have a power tongue jack. This trailer is so basic that there’s only one pass-through storage compartment, and it’s up front. There are also no slides, no frills, and very few thrills.
That said, this trailer does have some nice touches for a unit in its price bracket. The Lynx 17RBX has four stabilizer jacks, which is awesome to find in this price range. It also has propane. A lot of these super cheap campers have only two jacks and no propane. It also has a traditional rooftop air-conditioner.
Yes, this is an additional opening for water to potentially get in, but it’s an interesting feature as the calling card of so many dirt-cheap units is a tiny window air-conditioner that’s been shoved into a huge cutout in the trailer’s wall. So, the Lynx 17RBX doesn’t look as cheap as it actually is. That said, I will note that the air-conditioner pumps out just 5,000 BTU, which isn’t much, but it’s also a small trailer, so you should be okay.
It’s also interesting to see a power awning make an appearance here. It’s not the end of the world if you have to manually open the awning, but it’s a nice touch considering the price.
The real cost-cutting is apparent when you walk inside. Heartland likes making travel trailers that mimic the interior design of modern cookie-cutter homes, but that’s really hard to do at this price point. As such, you’ll notice that the Prowler 17RBX has plain white walls without any wallpaper design. The ceiling and the countertops are also aggressively plain. The only splash of color here is with the cabinetry, and that’s barely a color.
The cheapness also means that color coordination is a disaster. The two-burner stove is silver metal, but the hood is black. The sink has a somewhat fancy metal faucet, but is just plain white plastic. The dinette cushions are doing their own thing and the rest of the appliances — a refrigerator, microwave, and simulated fireplace — are black. Still, I think the inside looks pretty nice for the $11,000 you’re paying.
There’s also a functional bathroom in the rear with a cabinet, a toilet, and a small tub.
Finally, the entire front of the trailer is a queen bed for two to sleep on. I don’t need to point out that the bed there is nearly as thin as the cushions of transit bus seats. I’ve slept in beds like these before and can tell you that they’re as comfortable as a bus seat, too. But that’s not the worst thing because a bed is pretty easy to replace. Of course, the dinette and its equally thin cushions also turn into a bed.
You get all of this in a unit that measures 20′-10-3/4″ and weighs 2,992 pounds empty. Fully loaded, you’re looking at 3,902 pounds. So, this thing can be safely hauled by many crossovers and even some small trucks.
I also like how you get a 41-gallon fresh tank, a 30-gallon grey tank, and a 30-gallon waste tank. It has more than enough stores for a weekend away from shore power and a sewer!
In a way, it’s sort of impressive that you can get all of this for just $11,000. However, there is a potential catch. I’ve now written several stories about the quality of typical RVs. I go to lots of RV shows, and the Heartland units at those shows often already have surface rust on their frames despite being only a couple of months old. I’ve also written many stories about how my family’s Heartland trailer has been a huge headache. That being said, I have not seen this one in person, so I cannot really comment with authority on its quality.
Thankfully, this little guy has far fewer things to break inside of it. This trailer also seems to have some improvements over my family’s trailer. It doesn’t appear to have a refrigerator with flimsy handles like my family’s unit. There are no slides for water to leak into, no outdoor kitchen to fall apart, and paper-thin walls aren’t being used to make three distinct rooms. It’s also just $11,000 rather than $62,800, so it hurts a little less when something breaks.
My personal recommendation would be to get a used trailer from a brand known for quality, like Scamp. However, I get the appeal of buying new. A new trailer has a warranty, and you know that nobody has taken a morning dump in the toilet but you. It’s nice being the first in a camper. I get that.
Just go into this knowing that you aren’t buying a Toyota here. Don’t be surprised if something breaks on your first outing. Also, be sure to have the trailer looked over before you buy it. Take a look at it with your own eyes and have someone who knows what to look for inspect it. Be prepared to walk away if it doesn’t meet your standards.
The 2025 Heartland Prowler Lynx 17RBX is on sale now at dealerships across America. Many are selling them in the $12,000 range, but San Antonio RVs in Spring Branch, Texas, is the one with a handful for sale at $11,000. With luck, I think even one of these $11,000 jobs can be a fun way to camp this summer. No matter if you go new or used, I wish you a fun season, and maybe I’ll see you out there!
At 11K, you are peaking camping gear besides the shower. crap 5K will probably get you a 4-season tent made of canvas WITH an outdoor kitchen set up. You want this camping, go big. If you want boondocking go smol.
RVs aren’t affordable, but they sure are cheap. To make a high-quality RV, the price would likely be double the current average. But there aren’t enough consumers who can spend that much so most companies makes crap people can afford. The cost to build it is what it is.
The issue is that as the wealth gap grows increasingly wide, fewer people can afford the things they previously thought they could afford. Rather than price themselves out of that, hopefully, market RV makers do their version of “shinkflation” and just sell disposable garbage. Anything of real quality (and that utilizes modern materials, designs, and technology to enhance the user experience) comes with a price tag that seems outrageous.
A 1958 Airstream 26′ Overlander cost $4600 when new. That would be about $51k today. Meanwhile, a 2025 25′ International starts at $126k.
That might actually work for us. As empty nesters we only need to sleep two and a new mattress is relatively cheap. I already have a pickup and we like to go where there are no nearby hotels so we save on travel time.
I’m sure the construction is cheap and nasty, but the more basic the rig, the less to go wrong.
Fairly certain I would not want to vacation in a FEMA trailer at any cost.
Bleak.
Especially when $11,000 would buy a couple a beautiful two+ week trip to Europe.
I want to go places where hotels are rare and I don’t want to sleep in a tent, I get the trip to Europe metric but that doesn’t put me at Hart Mountain, or prime moose spotting on the Trail of the Coeur d’Alene.
There are popular Moose crossings on the road from Calgary to Banff.
Apparently they know to cross there because of the big signs in the shape of a Moose.
It’s Canada. There are moose crossings in Downtown Toronto.
Don’t worry, I thought the Ruler Supreme has eliminated FEMA.. so you don’t need to vacation in one.
I’d like to read a piece on your thoughts on new vs. used. Seems like new ones always have factory defects and (hopefully) a used one had them fixed already. Price comparisons would be neat, too.
I don’t see the math working out any better on these, they seem like an even bigger sucker bet.
Cost of unit divided by number of nights actually using it offset by the minimal resale value after X years. Add the cost per night to actually park it at a campsite and hook it up. What’s that come out to for you per night, realistically?
Don’t forget to include cost of something that can tow this, the cost of the extra gas used while towing (double normal usage?), extra wear and tear, insurance for both, repairs for both vs whatever the normal car would/could be.
How does that compare to just driving as you would normally, getting a decent hotel near where you want to be and MAYBE buying the absolute best and fanciest tent for sale at REI for those two nights a year when you really want to get to the middle of nowhere before you’re bored of it all again and would rather come home and watch the game on your real couch.
How much is storage assuming you can’t just store it in your driveway and annoy your neighbors? Need to add that in or add an aggravation factor cost for having to walk around it every time you get the mail or have it block part of the driveway.
I guess I just do not see the appeal at all, especially for someone on a budget who can’t afford to just blow more money and who is already stretched on every other aspect so the whole endeavor is an even bigger compromise than it would be otherwise. There is no such thing as a cheap travel trailer.
The Mitsubishi Mirage sounds like heaven compared to this. Sure, it’s slow but it does drive itself, has a killer warranty, actually is reliable, and I think in general probably far exceeds whatever minimal expectations the Mirage has placed upon it nowadays. It might even be more comfortable to sleep in, at least I’d be confident it wouldn’t leak.
$11,000. That’s a lot of (pretty good, actually) hotel rooms, especially out near the sticks where you might find a campsite. And you don’t have to pay the $11k all at once or pay interest on it.
Pricing in the tow vehicle is kind of unnecessary because regardless of what camper you buy, you’re going to need to buy a tow vehicle. Very few cars sold in America are really capable of safely pulling a trailer.
I guess there’s two ways to look at it. A) You aren’t just spending $11k to enjoy camper life if your only existing vehicle is a Corolla or Altima or CR-V or whatever, you’re also buying something capable of pulling the trailer vs driving the Corolla to a hotel or a campsite or B) You are like many other Americans and already own an F150 or a Tahoe or similar that can in fact tow this thing but then again need to factor in the extra wear and tear, gasoline cost, etc.
In short, the $11k price for the camper is just the beginning of the costs.
For 11k I’d consider kicking the tires on one. Our Mercedes has begun a primer on potential RV pitfalls to look for.
Once again: Just give me a nice low-10K-15K Teardrop. If you want something like this for this price you wanna get a hotel room.
A Tear-drop gets you a hard-sided/insulated tent with a nice galley. You’re out in the elements but you have essentials. I DID see one teardrop with an actual low-roof wet bath. I get a cassette toilet, but If I need to bath I’m terry-cloth/butt-wipe cleaning until I get to an actual shower.
Single axle becuse you like to be in the median on your roof.
Given this:
https://www.theautopian.com/my-familys-62800-camper-is-so-poorly-built-that-the-dumbest-things-keep-breaking-on-every-trip/
and many many stories just like it…
Any Camper or RV review is apparently meaningless unless it is written from a hands-on inspection at an actual dealer sales lot. Otherwise it’s just smoke and mirrors.
A review based on a hand-picked unit for journalist, or from pictures provided by the brand, seems kind of like perpetuating the scam.
You must have skipped reading after the bathroom pictures, where she qualifies all of this.
I’m busted…
I read almost all of the article, but you are correct, I did start to skim.
I went back and read, and I appreciate that Mercedes put the obvious caveats/warnings in there.
No worries!
Mercedes implied without saying it that a trailer for $11K is something you should consider disposable. Make some memories and then get a new one in 3 years when it falls apart.
It’s actually weirder than that. Most RV companies do not have a press fleet. So, most of the time, the unit a reviewer gets has already been sold to a customer (weird, but true) or is one that will go to a dealer after your review. That’s why the companies usually forbid reviewers from using the toilet. I’m supposed to review that Wingamm thing later this summer, but I’m told I can’t drive it too far because it’s already been sold and they can’t give a customer a new rig with a ton of miles.
Granted, a real press fleet probably isn’t even necessary because the majority of RV reviewers are influencers who might say they don’t like the floorplan or something really minor, but never really grill a manufacturer on quality.
We also have to be careful. You cannot outright call a vehicle’s quality bad without ever having touched it. Jalopnik circa 2009 can tell you what happens when you do that. So, my recommendation is that you look at it with your own eyes and inspect it before ever parting ways with money.
Interesting, and I see where you’re coming from.
I guess I just saw a huge contrast between your last RV article about how terrible RV quality can be, and how completely unaccountable the brands/dealers apparently are; then followed by a story about how great “the cheapest” camper was.
It’s hard to reconcile those two things.
Frame paint sure must cost a lot. They seems to use the absolute barest possible minimum. The cheap ass commodity stabilizer jacks they bolt on usually have higher quality paint than the frames these days.
I more suspect inadequate/no prep on the C channel as delivered.
Because the frames are welded together, I assume the steel is delivered bare and ‘painted’ after the welding is finished. However, that is entirely an assumption.
I really like the fact that there’s no shower wall, ensuring that you’ll get water damage the first time you take a shower.
Signed, a dedicated Heartland hater
They’re just trying to mimic a modern European home 🙂 But it looks like there’s a track for a curtain. Having lived with hard shower doors in my home for 15 years, I’ll take the curtain. It’s more forgiving on the elbows and head while trying to maneuver, and taking it down to wash (and clean the tub) is so much better than working around a hard plastic or glass surface. And less to break.
I like the idea of the sleeping space of a 13-15 footer but the extra bathroom space this one has. It’s obviously not luxurious from a materials standpoint, but the bathroom looks quite large and you could argue that’s a pretty big luxury.
I think this one would really appeal to my parents. My mother does not like tiny bathrooms (claustrophobia), so most smaller/cheaper trailers are not great for them.
Personally, I think they could spend a little more and try to avoid water damage totaling their trailer if they get another, but they did get quite a few years out of their last cheap trailer before it was too far gone.
I second that. I have stomach problems so I unfortunately spend more time in the bathroom than the average person. Having to use some cramped wet bath that’s smaller than my shower at home sounds miserable. I would happily trade other luxuries for a bathroom this size.
We wound up with a Heartland 22CRB. The bedroom is separated with a thin wall and came with a sliding door… that makes it impossible to pass the end of the bed to get to the opening. At the other end is the bathroom w/ a similar door. The bathroom is bigger than the bathroom in our house. When our youngest granddaughter walked in she spread her arms as wide as they would go and said “look mom, I can spin all the way around”.
All that said, there is no vent in the bedroom (and no framing for one), and the construction quality makes slap-dash sound like an upgrade. I was impressed that the $11000 trailer has a rubber roof. Our Heartland has a vinyl topper that looks like a table cloth from the Dollar Tree.
I have been looking at used scamps for a long time and they are still crazy expensive. I do not care how coordinated and colorful the interior is for this price. I will probably stick to my Gazelle T4 tent and army cot.
Scamps hold their value because they don’t wear out and also new ones aren’t significantly different from older ones. But they are a buy it for life sort of product
I appreciate this for what it is — a more comfortable version of tent/yurt camping. It’s not trying to be a fancy condo, it should fit in almost any spot in National/State Parks without crazy restrictions. It can be reversed a lot more easily, towed by a wider variety of cars, and you still have hard walls to provide a little more security from weather, wildlife, or casual thieves. And best of all, I’m not going to cry a river when several small issues crop up.
That’s my thought on these. There’s nothing wrong with cheap as long as it’s not pretending to be something more or worse something that’s expensive but actually crap (like most RVs)
And when you’re scraping the bottom of the price range, less features is probably a good thing. Could you imagine how janky a slide out would be if they tried to include one at this price level? Forget it, better off not attempting it
I agree, what a perfect trailer for a couple who want to see if they enjoy the camping experience without having to buy a monster truck. Or maybe an older couple who want to downsize.
I call it a hard walled tent.