[Music] Well, good afternoon! Welcome to the Outdoor Zone. If you're new here, this is Jamison,

and I'm Devin, and we are the hosts. That's right. Um, so today, what we want to chat with

you about is why not to buy an Airstream. There are tons of resources on the internet about why you should buy an

Airstream and all the pros, um, but we've been in ours for just short of a year,

and there are definitely some reasons we discovered, just depending on your priorities when RV shopping, of why it

may not be a good fit. Yeah, so that's what we're going to chat about. Yeah, you might be

uh, you know, brand new to the RV lifestyle and, and you're looking, and there's, you know, all these different

options. You might, you know, already be a seasoned RV veteran and, uh, you know, you have a current RV, but

you're curious about Airstreams and, and maybe you want to make the switch, right? Or you could have just been driving

around along the road and saw this silver bullet-looking thing and thought, "The heck is that?" Before we got ours, we

had the same thoughts. We toured some other travel trailers, had seen Airstreams, like that little silver

bullet style going down the road, but had never actually been inside of one. But that's just one option; there are

hundreds of RVs out there for you to choose from. So let's go ahead and pop in

and talk about why it may not be a good fit. Yeah. All right, so before we go inside, we're going to talk about our

first point, which is space. If space is a priority for you, an Airstream may not be the best fit. You

May envision when you walk in your RV, a nice open space like a big kitchen with like a little island, or

a separate living room area, maybe a couple of bedrooms. That's a possibility when you're RV shopping, but when you walk into an

Airstream, what you get is some version of one long hallway. So I'm 5'11" and I fit pretty comfortably

in here. As you can see, I've got a good amount of space between the top of my head and the roof. Now if you're a couple

of inches taller than I am, I think that's where you might start to feel a little less comfortable

in an Airstream, but I think where you're really going to run into an issue is the shower

and the bathroom. So the shower—I've got shoes on, so I've got maybe a half inch, you know,

extra here—but like I'm almost to the top of the shower, and your wingspan, you're going to be pretty tight.

But I make it work. If you're a little bit bigger than me, it it's going to be pretty uncomfortable.

And then there's the toilet. I'll let you make your own conclusions based off what you can see here.

I'm sitting caddy-corner, my legs up against the cabinet. I make it work; it's not that big of a deal for me, but then

again, for some people it might be a little uncomfortable. Still staying on that same idea of space, um, for now it's just Jameson, myself, and

our two dogs. Um, so we've got this queen bed and that works for us, but there are really limited spaces for sleeping and

different types of activities. For example, a huge pain point for us currently is the fact that we don't really

have a couch to relax on at the same time that we have a table. So we have to put down our table in order to make the

couch, and that's also what families who have, say, young kids have to do in order to convert it into a

bed each night. So you're thinking, every single day we've gotta put the table down, make the bed, pick it back up and

then set back up the table. Maybe now it's time after dinner; we want to relax on the couch. Time to put the table back

down. Now we have a couch, so that's not necessarily ideal for us. Actually, that's a huge pain point in the Airstream.

That's really the only thing that's been super annoying to us, but if that's important to you to have

constant spaces for kids that aren't having to be converted all the time, that may be something to think about. Well, let

me show you what I mean. We've got a queen bed, which the dogs utilize during the day, and then we've got this table. So

our table is two parts, and each of them comes off. So what's kind of fun is it will give us different configurations,

like we can make a U-shaped couch and sort of sit with this one up and kind of sit

with the, um, like panoramic view behind us. We can obviously, um, we can take this one off and then turn it to the side so that

James and I can sit on either side of this pretty comfortably with less table. But the function of this really, too, is

to actually drop down, and these tabletops sit right here between the two couches, and then we have additional

cushions to put on top of that to make the couch. We don't do that very often

because we don't like to do it, so we typically just deal without a couch. So we'll sit outside a lot, but again, it's

super hot in Texas, and so, um, we typically are just sitting around the table. Something else to think about when

You're considering what RV to purchase.  Is entertaining and hosting if you're someone who likes to do a lot

of that? The good news is you don't really get an RV because you want to spend most of your time inside.

Most of the gathering and hanging out happens outside, but sometimes it's really cold and sometimes it's really

hot. Realistically, we can fit about four to five adults in the Airstream at a time, or maybe like four adults and two

kids, and that's about as much as this will take. So let's talk bells and whistles. Every RV is going to come with a variety

of different options, and one option you might be looking for is auto-leveling. Airstreams don't come with that option,

so what you're going to find instead is you're going to need to get something like these leveling blocks

that you would put under the tires, back up, and then check to see if you're level. If you want something a little more plug

and play, where you just push a button and the RV, the system does it itself, you're not going to find that with an

Airstream. Something that we use to help us out with that is the LevelMatePRO. It's very easy to use; it's got an app,

and it's just a little device that sits inside. You check it, you roll back onto your leveling blocks, and it will tell

you when you're level. Something that the Airstream does have is motorized stabilizers and awnings. Now, that depends

on the model, so you're not going to get that with all of them, but you should know that these options have become

pretty standard on other brands outside of Airstream. So if you're looking for a more tech-savvy setup, there's some

things that have become pretty standard among other RVs that you would find outside of an Airstream, something like a

smart home screen that controls all of your lights, ACs, and battery-powered vacuums that hide away in stairs; TVs that hide

away in a cabinet; fireplaces, etc. Overall, Airstreams aren't going to have those things; they're going to

have your basic living essentials like a fridge, microwave, stovetop, oven—all that. But if you want a more

tech-savvy setup, an Airstream is definitely going to keep it more simple. Okay, so no bells and whistles, but what else does

the Airstream not have that maybe would be worth considering, um, whether or not it'd be a good fit for you? Um,

storage. Our storage inside is certainly limited. It's been enough for us, but we're not the type that carries all seasons of

clothes with us or has space for extra chairs or things like—some people do those stowaway kayaks, tubes,

things like that. We're not traveling with. So if having an abundance of storage is important to you, there are

plenty of RVs that have it; the Airstream is not one of them. Um, and speaking of storage,

while we're outside, let's show you our outdoor storage. That's it; that's the whole thing.

I know many of you are thinking right now, "That's not going to work for us." And that's okay.

While we're out here, let's take a look at this beautiful shell. Right? It's nice; it's a little dirty

right now. This shell, this little silver bullet, is a lot of the reason why people do buy an Airstream. But you know what?

It's terrifying! It is really hard to clean without scratching, in our opinion. It just takes a delicate touch, um, and

one good hailstorm or something random like a ball flying from the neighbor's campsite could put us in a really

Expensive to fix, so that's something worth considering. As beautiful as she is, she'd be very expensive to fix and very easy to detect damage.

So, if having ample space and storage, room to entertain, bells and whistles, and ease of upkeep are important to you, then getting an Airstream might not be the best fit.

Yeah. And if you're curious how we feel after living in it for about 10 months—almost a year now—we actually are still huge fans.

Yeah. So the truth is, we love it. Some of our top reasons are: it's super aesthetic; it feels good to be in it; it's made really well (which not all RVs are), and that's something to definitely research.

Our experience with service has been really good, which we hear is really challenging for most RV owners.  The space hasn't been perfect, but it's been good.

The size and shape of our Airstream makes it really easy to tow, and we can stay wherever we want with the 27-foot trailer, for the most part. Whereas, you start creeping up into some of those bigger, more roomy trailers, and you're not going to be able to stay in a lot of state parks and some of the more niche campgrounds.

Right. So that's something that we really value. It feels good to be in. But really, all of the reasons you may not want to buy an Airstream—some of the reasons we've talked about today—are kind of the reasons we do like being in an Airstream.

And they can all be summed up in simplicity.

Yeah. Yeah. So we're alright with the storage; it's just fine. We don't need to carry too much. We like that there aren't a lot of bells and whistles, and that it's just a nice, simple space to call home. Sometimes you feel like if there's too...

Many features mean more things could break.  Yeah, so we like its simplicity; the fact that

it's always being towed, hitting bumps, and all kinds of things like that, it just

means there's less that could go wrong, and it's built really well. So those things make it

feel like a great place to call home. We are considering a layout change because of the big pain point of not

having a table and a couch at the same time; just a place to sit and enjoy your space without having to be at a table. Um,

that would be nice. That's why we're considering a layout change. We would potentially consider a different kind of

RV, like a different brand, when it comes time to have kids, that sort of thing. Not sure yet, but overall, we could

definitely see ourselves in an Airstream for a really long time. Yeah, and one thing we didn't mention is

So today we're going to talk about reasons why this may not be a good fit.

So come on, guys! [Laughter] So today, how did we get into making videos?

Reasons Why NOT to Buy an Airstream - From a Full-Time Airstream Couple

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