Owners
Feedback
What I am going to do here is to tell you the dislikes the likes and then a conclusion, I will start from the front and work my way back. I hope this may answer the question that I had and may be of help to anyone who
is looking to buy a Geist.
Dislikes
1. The front Blinds The problem is as well as keeping the night out they also keep the sun out so when you are watching TV you have to pull all the blind down.
If you had three blinds you may only pull down one of the front side ones.
2. The front chest There are two small problems with this (A) the table can not be locked in place so as you come back to the table with salad or what ever and go to sit down you can knock the table and your glasses or food goes flying. (B) No drawer?? Though I must admit opening the top lid is a good way to see what you have in there.
3. There are no wraps around cushions. You need to pile up cushions so you dont put your head thought the window.
4. They have now cut a hole on the work top above the fire, this may be useful but it does not look nice.
5. No window in the door, the main problem is this makes the back of the van dark
6. The bathroom door opens into the caravan. I have never liked this so what we have done is to remove the door and to put a black out blind (colour coded to the van) in the bathroom so if you go to the loo just pull the blind down and you have just as much privacy as a door and when it is up it looks like a sliding door. We can now leave the blind up our dog can go to his bed (the shower tray) and we can see the full length of the van and the nice looking bathroom, this really has made the van look much bigger and all who have seen it have said it is a good looking job (if you want a photo, as it looks better than it sounds, e-mail me and I will send you one).
7. The wardrobe Sorry but this is just too small with the table in there, it also makes it hard to get to your clothes on the shelves. This is just not a good design.
8. I would have liked the bathroom window to have been clear and not frosted (going back to being able to see though the van).
9. The rear light cluster there are some good looking vans out there but here we just get a light cluster stuck on the back, not my favourite.
10. Lack of screw covers one of the first jobs I did was to go and get 27 screw covers to cover the heads that Geist had left
off. A small job but why did I have to do it????
11. No drawers a few would have been nice.
12. Lights - just not enough, I had read this site and asked the dealer to put a canter light at the back door, this looks good and is a great help when entering the van. I also added light to the van my self, I put small 12volt reading light at the bottom end of each seat, so on one side I could read in bed and on the other it could be angled to the seat for reading or the kitchen for the work top, I put the same light over the cooker as the 12v strip light is just not enough and on the other side I put the light over the work surface. They look good and work very well. I will send you a photo if you want.
Likes
1. The Winterhoff stabiliser this van may be heavy (I tow with a VW passat 130 tdi) but it is the most stable and best van I have ever towed.
2. Gas locker Box Just great it opens up to allow great entry and it holds a great deal (when you lift this lid you will get a feel of the build quality of this van)
3. The small front windows I like them the van looks really solid with so much wall as apposed to all windows.
4. The cushions are firm and very supportive.
5. It is a German Van made well and solid and I am told will not leak (all my other British vans have had damp)
6. Just loads of storage though the personal load limit is not high you can spread the load about.
7. The sink -has a deep drainer so my feet whops sorry I have to be honest my wife feet dont get wet when washing up.
8. Worktops - I have never seen a van with so much space on the worktops just fantastic
9. The finish of the van - though the screw covers were not in place the van does
seem to be built very well and feels very solid (open a German locker door then open a British locker door and they do not compare)
Conclusion
I have had to add a few lights, put some cushion floor in the bath room take the door of and add a blind, but I can say I like this van I like the feel the build the lay out and the fact it is made in Germany from Girders as the magazines have said.
They do ask why have you bought a Geist caravan well to be honest it was not the Geist name I went for but the LMC name, had this van just been a new British van I would have just walked past and looked at the Hymer vans. I am fed up with
paying good money on a product that can not keep water out, in the past 24 months Swift have had my van more than I did so action was needed and now I have my money back.
A new better model was needed, the German build seemed to be the only way to go, do British caravan makers not think it odd that more and more caravaners are
buying German vans, get your act together or lose your customers. May I say to you all if you are paying 10, 12 or £15,000 for your van go get a £150 damp test meter and test it every 3 to 4 months and dont let them get away with it.
Well the Geist caravan - it looks good, it feels good and yes I like it very much. I would at this time recommend any one to buy one they are that good, I know I have put a lot of dislikes down but most are very minor and you will never find the perfect van because we are all so different in our needs but if you want the German
build with a British inside they cannot be beaten
My score is nine out of ten
