Better Late than Never – What I thought about the RV show

The RV Show was at Dallas Market Hall on February 19th through the 22nd.

The major players in the Dallas area were all there like Blue Compass, United RV, McClains, Holiday World, and Vogt. NIRV center was also there with their motorhome lineup.

I noticed nothing really new or innovative since the last show with the exception of the bathrooms going back to a normal size. A few years ago, it seemed like huge bathrooms were the “In” thing. That’s unrealistic in my view. No one lives in their bathroom.

The sale prices/discounts seemed decent, but not as decent as in September’s 2025 show. This show was smaller than last September’s show with fewer manufacturers, even though they touted it as the largest show of the year.

The long and the short is that we didn’t see anything that blew our socks off.

One thing I found strange was that is that Grand Design didn’t have an Imagine 2970RL on the lot.  That really surprised us as it is a really popular model. The rest of their lineup was really nothing to write home about, putting it mildly. Obviously, with what has gone on with Grand Design in the last few years, that is a brand I would stay away from. That is just my opinion.

When we got home, I decided to look at their 2970RL Imagine online, and wow, they’ve made some changes to it.  They have moved the pantry from next to the TV. It has been moved to the wall that borders the bathroom. That reduced that other counter as a result, which had two long drawers and overhead cabinets. Where the pantry used to be had now been replaced with long space for the Televator TV. That also took away a lot of cabinet storage. This is a huge reduction in storage compared to our old Imagine 2950RL. This newer floor plan has no appeal to me. Remember, you’re probably never going to ask yourself, “why do we have so much storage?”. My opinion is that they just ruined a very nice floorplan.

Alliance Delta was at the show.  They had a nice mix of trailers. We saw our salesman from last year, Chipper, a great guy and he was having a good sales day. On a side note –   It looks like quite a few of the manufacturers are moving to the interior colors that we first saw in the Delta.

Then there were the folks in the exhibitors section:

It was a Carnival atmosphere in the Exhibitors section.  Folks shouting out to you to look at their merchandise. It wasn’t always like this.  My recommendation is to change the atmosphere of that. No one wants to be called out like they are at a carnival. If they want your product they’ll seek you out.

I did stop and talk to the Flex Armor roof folks because at some point I’m not going to want to scale my RV anymore to do roof cleaning and maintenance.  That won’t happen anytime soon, but it will happen at some point. Other than that, we just kept moving.

There may be another RV show at the same location in September, that will be the Southwest RV supershow.  I don’t know this for certain, but it seems likely.

If that show takes place, it will be made up of Texas RV dealers.  Last year it was huge, and that’s where we found the Delta 294RK. An RV show is almost always a good time. Even if you are not in the market, it’s a fun afternoon.

You don’t need a supershow to get a deal on an RV, you just need to do your research and then negotiate.  If you are uncomfortable negotiating, then you will spend a lot more money than you need to.

If we are not camping during the next show in September, I will check it out and let you know what might be new and exciting, or old and boring.