Practical Caravan - April Issue

[bertieboy1]

Just finished April's issue of Practical Caravan - In February !
The "Live in Test" covered the Swift Base camp Plus caravan and the tester tries to find out if "it lives up to it's name when pitted against an icy Yorkshire winter"
I'm afraid the report fails miserably to do this,the nearest it gets is to say is "even without the carpet we didn't get cold feet,because there is a well positioned heating vent" - nothing to do with the underfloor heating of course.
How did the van perform in icy Yorkshire,what was the outside and inside temperatures,did the van heat up quickly,did the thermostat keep the van cosy.
This report fails miserably to provide the info one expected from the Icy Yorkshire winter - the descriptions given are one which anyone can easily describe and report.You'll need to up your game and provide more meaningful reports.

 

[LizziePope]

Hi and thanks for your post. We passed it onto Peter who wrote the Basecamp Plus review. We hope his reply clears a few things up:

"I'm sorry you felt that our test of the Swift Basecamp Plus was not as rigorous a winter time test as you would have liked. I thought we had given the impression that is very cosy, due to the well positioned blown air heating vents and insulation.

We do take our responsibilities very seriously when conducting such live-in tests, and always examine every aspect of the caravan, including its appearance, spec level and construction. You can see from the panels at the end of the test that the Basecamp has achieved a Grade 3 in thermal insulation, which means it would be suitable for the average icy British winter.

I would like to thank you, however, for pointing out one potential source of confusion in the article. The Basecamp does indeed have an underfloor heater, but it is only underfloor in the sense of being under the chassis so as to leave more space for the interior of the caravan. It does not have underfloor heating of the kind that you would expect in a house, for example, with pipes or cables spread right around the floor providing heat. I think we may need to look at rewording this in the future. I am sorry if we have caused confusion.

I do hope you carry on reading our reviews and enjoy the next one more."