Lance 2285 vs Lance 1172

Lance · Travel Trailer

Lance 2285

$55,000

4.5★ (2,600)

Lance · Truck Camper

$55,000

4.4★ (1,600)

Quick take: The Lance 1172 is 7 ft shorter and easier to maneuver.

✓Lance's all-aluminum frame, Azdel composite walls, and laminated construction feel a full tier above Jayco or Forest River wood-framed trailers at this size
✓Dual-entry layout gives the master suite its own door, so you can slip into bed without walking through the living room — owners love it for couples
✓Real four-season chops: heated and enclosed fresh tank, block-foam insulation, and a 25,000 BTU furnace make shoulder-season and light-snow camping genuinely doable
✓At roughly 5,300 lbs dry with a 760 lb hitch weight, a properly equipped F-150 or Ram 1500 can tow it without white-knuckling — a true half-ton trailer
✓Fit and finish inside is consistently praised — solid cabinetry, real residential furniture, and a comfortable walk-around queen
✓Lance's warranty service and parts support get good marks compared to volume brands that ghost owners after the sale

✗Premium price stings: you pay roughly $55K for a layout that competitors sell for $35-40K, so you're clearly buying the Lance name and build
✗Leaks are the recurring complaint — owners report factory-defect shower fittings, roof vent leaks in the first hard rain, and skylight seepage
✗Some early-build window designs were prone to leaking — a known Lance gripe across the lineup
✗Single slide and modest floorplan mean it can feel tight on a long rainy day compared to a triple-slide trailer
✗Fresh and gray tanks are sized for weekending, not extended boondocking with two people who like long showers
✗No solar standard at this price point — you'll add panels aftermarket for any real off-grid use
✗Lance dealer network is thinner than Jayco or Forest River, so warranty work can mean a longer drive

✓The slide-out creates a genuinely residential living room — owners say it feels like a small travel trailer once you're parked and popped out
✓Dry bath with a separate enclosed shower is a rare luxury in the truck camper world — no soaking the toilet paper every time you rinse off
✓Goes anywhere a one-ton truck can go, with nothing to unhitch — owners love pulling into a trailhead or boondocking spot a trailer could never reach
✓Lance's aluminum-framed, laminated construction holds up better than most, and the brand's truck campers are widely regarded as the build-quality benchmark
✓Big interior windows and the slide make it one of the most livable, least claustrophobic campers in the segment for full-time couples

✗Payload is the dealbreaker — wet and loaded it pushes past 5,000 lbs, so owners say you realistically need a one-ton dually with 6,000+ lbs of payload, not just any 3500
✗Moisture and condensation complaints recur — some owners found wet carpet and mattress mold, saying Lance hasn't fully solved interior moisture management
✗Quality-control misses on delivery show up in reviews — at least one owner's unit was unusable on pickup and spent a month back at the dealer
✗Discontinued components bite later — owners report Dometic skylights and Atwood jacks that are no longer available, making repairs costly and slow
✗The high center of gravity plus the camper's weight demands airbags, upgraded suspension, and a careful driver in crosswinds and emergency braking
✗At $55K it's priced like a small travel trailer, but you still need a $70K+ dually under it to carry it legally