We've had our new 2019 Leisure Travel Van Unity FX for about a week now, traveling about 1,800 miles through four states and Jen, Bo and I have been slowly getting used to it and the extra room and comforts it provides.
The worst part was that we came down with horrendous colds the day we left Utah and the RVX show in Salt Lake City and were so miserable that it wasn't until we arrived in New Orleans, at the Bayou Segnette State Park just across the Mississippi from New Orleans, that we really started feeling good again. That's where we are today and I hesitate to even write this as there's so much we still have to learn about this new rig.
It was taken from Salt Lake City to Albuquerque, NM, where we signed the papers, wrote the – gulp! – check and officially purchased this unit at LaMesa RV there, the closest dealership to the show. New Mexico has a great snowbird registration law that lets out-of-staters purchase and register RVs there. You pay just 3% sales tax and renewals are much less than many other states. Since we are on the road and away from our Michigan sticks and bricks home half to 3/4 of the time, this saved us significant money had we registered it back there. So we'll have a nifty yellow New Mexico RV license plate.
The team at LaMesa went over the Leisure Travel Van Unity FX inside and out, cleaning, detailing adjusting and checking everything. They also gave a us a full walk-through, demonstrating all the different features and components. While there, I opted to replace the standard lead acid batteries with AGMs. I'm debating an upgrade to a 2K inverter and eventually adding some lithium batteries.
We like to boondock and we've done so three of the six nights we've spent in it so far and had no problems with running out of power. We do have 400 watts of solar and a surprisingly quiet 3.6KW Onan generator (which we have not yet needed to operate). But I suspect come later this year that a lithium addition may be needed for our extended off-grid plans. I've already consulted with the folks at Battle Born Batteries and I'll be writing and videoing more about that later.
We left Albuquerque Wednesday, arriving here in New Orleans Friday, where a gathering of about 40 of our friends from our RV Lifestyle Facebook Group is underway through tomorrow.
Here's what we like about this unit so far. This will be a brief list and over the next few weeks, we'll do more videos, photos and blog reports.
- The 2019 Sprinter Chassis. It drives so nice with the new seven speed instead of five speed engine. It's quieter than any of the five other Sprinter vans we've driven and the in-dash navigation and entertainment is incredibly improved. I'll do a full video on just that but this new Sprinter is all that we had been told it would be. A solid winner
- The Murphy Bed. This near king-sized bed is a breeze to take down and store away. The mattress is super comfy. We thought we would need a mattress topper but have now decided it is perfect the way it is. We like that both of us can walk all around the bed. No crawling over one partner to get out or in.
- Auto leveling. How did we get along without this before?
- The two lounge areas. When the Murphy Bed is put away, there's a front lounge that can be set up several ways, as a dinette area, as two comfy chairs, as a day bed or as our mobile production center for video editing or recording the podcast. In the back is an L-shaped sofa that we have used as a work area, a TV lounge or as another day bed. There are two TVs.
- The slide. The Murphy Bed area slides out a feet or so. It makes everything so much roomier.
- Other things. The deep galley sink. The spacious bathroom. The massive amounts of exterior and interior storage. The new 6.9 cubic foot Dometic refrigerator that opens from both sides. The ducted heat and air conditioning. The personal safe for secure storage of valuables. The Winegard ConnectT 2.0 wifi bootser and 4g cell phone antenna.
There is a lot more, but I don't want to get ahead of ourselves before we have had more experience with this unit. I promised a quick update and after a week, those are the highlights so far. More to come.
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