Owners Feedback

Having caravanned with my parents during the 60’s and 70’s in the ubiquitous Sprite, there has never been a time when the family hasn’t owned a caravan.

When my wife and I started a family, we decided to buy a caravan of our own.  Starting with a used 1990 Mardon Meridian, followed by a new 1998 Abbey Domino. We collected our Geist LV535 from Wandahome at the end of March '04.

Whilst neither the Mardon or the Abbey have been particularly problematic, the Mardon required some resealing on the front panel and the floor on the Abbey had started to de-laminate for the second time.

For the last two seasons we have actively looked to replace the Abbey, but wanted something that would stay the course better than our last two caravans. We concluded that judging from the quality and reliability studies conducted by the Caravan Club, almost all British manufacturers seemed to be tarred with the same brush.

Having looked at several German caravans, we were sure that the build quality was superior, but were put off by things like the large dinning table. The table is too large and too heavy to easily be stowed away or put in the awning.  Slightly less niggling, but still off putting was the absence of factory supplied battery lockers, tiny water containers in the gas lockers, small SMEV ovens and of course – the door in the wrong side.

The Geist immediately appealed by promising German build quality, without the compromises. The 535 is not perfect, I would have preferred to see additional ceiling lights towards the rear of the caravan, retaining lips on the wardrobe shelves, table storage that did not encroach on the wardrobe space, drawers in the bottom of the wardrobe and in the front chest.  The control panel for water and electrics may prove far too tempting for the occupant of the top bunk and turning off the aerial amplifier requires going on all fours under the wardrobe.

These are of course only small details and the quality of the caravan shows through in things like the fully lined gas locker, brushed Aluminium skirts, heavy duty corner steady’s, lighting in the washroom and the overall fit and finish.

Since collecting the caravan, I have fitted a CD player and IDM3 alarm. If you are planning to fit a CD player in your Geist I would suggest that you check the polarity of the 12 volt wiring. On our caravan the Blue wire was positive and the Brown wire negative, which is the opposite of what I would have expected.

The IDM3 alarm was an absolute breeze to fit. If you are thinking of fitting this alarm to your caravan, I would be happy to provide information on the installation. Please e-mail Admin@Geistowners.co.uk for details.

C Snellock, Surrey.