Geist

We went to there launch day in Queensland, look good but the quality is a bit iffy, there were cupboards and benches with screws pulling out of the chipboard on brand new vans, definately a smooth road van for carefull owners.

Cheers RosscoH

I have had a Geist LV 660 daul axle caravan since the April caravan show, Caulfield Racecourse Melbourne in 2005.

We are very pleased with the outfit and have even taken it way up into the Buckland Valley and parked it on an Island between the East & West Buckland rivers. I have a AWD Ford Territory which handles it well.

Its towing ability is outstanding. I have had it out Yarra Glen way on a very steep decents coming into a round-about and in pouring rain and it stops just like driving a normal car.

The sound system is awesome & I am currently ripping hundreds of CD's into MP3's since the sound system will play 2,000 songs from a DVD in the player. No need to carry suitcases of CD's. Just six or so DVD cramped with MP3's. The 17" TV is also outstanding & the Wind aerial picked up reception even high up in the mountain valley's of Victoria.

The ducted heating works well. They only seems to have a 12V/240V fridge, so we have upped the batteries to three plus two sharp 123w solar panels & have a Plasmatonics 20A regulator.

The 7'6" width is a great advantage, especially on narrower country roads. Also squeezing into off-road camps is easier with the thin design. Its reputed to reduce drag by 30% because of its low profile (only 6'2" inside height), so its not for tall people. I have put in allot of extras.

If you want more information please E-mail. I have sorted all the issues & we have it basically to go off road camping.

After the trip up the Buckland Valley I spent four hours going underneath & all over the van, since we subjected it to a right pounding.

Nothing was loose, but the microwave fell out & the heater front fell off. I re-secured both of these myself with better support.

The dolly wheel is weak & I have fitted a dual wheel ratchet from Carac. The existing dolly wheel will not reach my tow ball now that I have inverted it to get more clearance at the front, but the double wheel unit does the job well & I need it to ratchet it into a tight location on our driveway.

I have just been told they have sold 30 Geist caravans at the Sydney caravan show with 5 more pending negotation & Melb. have sold six recently with the Caulfield show this week probably selling a heap more. They have phased out the LV 660 & introduced a 630 model. The LV 660's are selling for $11,000 off the previous purchase price to make way for the new model which is 100 kg. lighter & 2 ft. shorter. I'm glad we have our unit as we would not want the new design with less room.

I have told you previously how well it tows. It's an amazing van. Get a tow test at a dealer. It stops on a sixpence & they throw it from one side of the road to the other with full on wheel turn at 80 km/hr & you would not know you are towing a van.

The base is stronger than anything I have seen in Australia. At the 2005 show they had an exposed base with no van on top to show how strong it was. It does not deflect from apex corner to apex corner. Hence great for longevity.

The ONLY problem we had was with the local electrical supply which was bleep . Have since had it rectified at a reputable repairer & we are now ready to rock'n roll.

We did no mods to to structure itself. It is low clearance, like most modern day vans, but it will go most places we want it to. I have parked it on river banks on the Ovens river with undulating dirt road access & overhanging trees & no problems whatever. It just follows the car.

I have the Ford heavy duty tow pack c/- Hayman Reece towing system fitted to the Territory.

The only issue is in strong side-wind conditions that restrict speed to around 90 km/hr. At 28 ft. overall length the wind creates allot of sideways movement, so we have decided we won't travel it the wind gets up much over 30 knots.

Hope this helps, Best Regards. John.