TVs

[Charlie W]

Anyone ever noticed you spend over $100,000 on a brand new Montana and your TVs are remanufactured by Best buy? You would think you would get at least a new TV.

[Montana Man]

That's just mind boggling. Others here have reported this as well. For the chump change a fairly decent tv costs then put in a refurb?

[1retired06]

Having had 4 Montana fivers, the last two were not the same quality as the first two. Our current one is the worst. To keep the price points down Keystone has reduced quality, as have most of the other builders.

[mlh]

Just gives you a nice warm feeling.
Lynwood

[Bourbon County]

It's pretty simple math; there were >500,000 RVs sold in 2021, Keystone has a 12.6% market share, or about 63,000 units. This is a wild guess, but if they save $50 per TV that adds up to >3.1 million $ in savings. I haven't done a lot of looking lately, but it seems any RV sold now any bigger than a single axle TT has more than 1 TV, my Monty has 3.

I didn't realize that even Best Buy would try to rebuild the off brand TVs that come in an RV. If I had known that, I would have taken them the 2 originals I replaced with Samsungs.

I will have to give kudos to the RV industry for their TV mounts, they are very heavy duty.

[Mikendebbie]

Originally Posted by Bourbon County

I will have to give kudos to the RV industry for their TV mounts, they are very heavy duty.

I agree! The mount works great and fit my new Samsung.

[mlh]

Originally Posted by Bourbon County

It's pretty simple math; there were >500,000 RVs sold in 2021, Keystone has a 12.6% market share, or about 63,000 units. This is a wild guess, but if they save $50 per TV that adds up to >3.1 million $ in savings. I haven't done a lot of looking lately, but it seems any RV sold now any bigger than a single axle TT has more than 1 TV, my Monty has 3.

I didn't realize that even Best Buy would try to rebuild the off brand TVs that come in an RV. If I had known that, I would have taken them the 2 originals I replaced with Samsungs.

I will have to give kudos to the RV industry for their TV mounts, they are very heavy duty.

3.1 M savings on 3 3/4 B in sales. Pretty low % at $60,000 each manufacturer cost.
Lynwood

[hookseter]

I had another brand in my Monty. Finally went and bought an LG. Now I'm good 👍.

[Ricos Ride]

Remanufactured is equal to or even better than an off the shelf new. Manufacturers QC check is done on random samples. A remanufactured one is thoroughly checked before it goes out the door.

[mootana]

Hello to all the comments on the TV subject.

1.Montana has never used refurbished TV in any new unit. The “ refurbish” sticker, provides a phone number if you would chose to refurbish the TV rather than send to the landfill. This was a feature on any Insignia / Best Buy brand.

2. We have considered not installing any TV. We surveyed the attendees of the National Rally on this subject. Reason being, not everyone wants the same level of TV. The owners that do not stream and do not watch much TV, would be upset to pay for an expensive TV that never gets used. At this point it’s very similar to our mattress conversations, does everyone like the same mattress. If they all had the same likes and needs there would be one mattress company.(majority voted for no factory installed bedroom TV, by a landslide)

3. As the cost of technology decreases for TVs, we will consider upgrading the TV that every customer pays for.

We will continue to listen and try to satisfy the majority.

Thank you to the members that provide constructive conversations to this group.

[VagabondLove]

Originally Posted by Charlie W

Anyone ever noticed you spend over $100,000 on a brand new Montana and your TVs are remanufactured by Best buy? You would think you would get at least a new TV.

Bahahahahaaaahaaaa thats a good one. Thank you for my Sunday entertainment. It's all I have, since my Montana TVs aren't working right now...

[snowmanfx4]

Originally Posted by mootana

Hello to all the comments on the TV subject.

1.Montana has never used refurbished TV in any new unit. The “ refurbish” sticker, provides a phone number if you would chose to refurbish the TV rather than send to the landfill. This was a feature on any Insignia / Best Buy brand.

2. We have considered not installing any TV. We surveyed the attendees of the National Rally on this subject. Reason being, not everyone wants the same level of TV. The owners that do not stream and do not watch much TV, would be upset to pay for an expensive TV that never gets used. At this point it’s very similar to our mattress conversations, does everyone like the same mattress. If they all had the same likes and needs there would be one mattress company.(majority voted for no factory installed bedroom TV, by a landslide)

3. As the cost of technology decreases for TVs, we will consider upgrading the TV that every customer pays for.

We will continue to listen and try to satisfy the majority.

Thank you to the members that provide constructive conversations to this group.

So the price will come down if there isn't a TV or mattress I the Montanas?

[mootana]

Originally Posted by snowmanfx4

So the price will come down if there isn't a TV or mattress I the Montanas?

That is a fair question.

Yes, they would be reduced by the TV and mattress. You're aware of what you can by a 50" TV and 7" foam mattress (no box spring) for. The amount would be relative to that.

However, in speaking with Montana owners at the rally, they do question the eye appeal of seeing a Montana on a dealer's lot with no living room TV and no mattress / bedspread. The unit would seem bare and missing items compared to other brands.

[mlh]

mootana
Thanks for the clarification.
Lynwood

[Cherokee]

Must have surveyed the attendees about discontinuing the Day/night shades and the Generator prep on legacy models. Millions of dollars saved there.

[Kris & Al]

Montana,
I remember the survey at the Rally. The exercise was not what Montana could eliminate and drop to their bottom line, but rather where we’d prefer Montana spend the money on the unit. I was OK with the exercise asking owners instead of the manufacturer quessing.

[Montana Man]

Originally Posted by mootana

That is a fair question.

Yes, they would be reduced by the TV and mattress. You're aware of what you can by a 50" TV and 7" foam mattress (no box spring) for. The amount would be relative to that.

However, in speaking with Montana owners at the rally, they do question the eye appeal of seeing a Montana on a dealer's lot with no living room TV and no mattress / bedspread. The unit would seem bare and missing items compared to other brands.

Many Montanas are ordered by the customer. It sure would be nice to have the option to get a quality tv and mattress. We've ordered two and the mattresses went straight to the dump and the tv's are just tolerated. Personally, I would build these units with the upgraded components. It would give a better impression of being a quality unit. The cost difference isn't significant and anyone concerned about price would probably be shopping a lower level trailer anyway.

[Rod Spohn]

I have wondered the same thing. Why not offer an upgrade on the TV. Even a cheap version of a smart TV would be better than the TV that comes in these units. We replaced both of the TVs in our 3811MS. Not a lot of cost but why should we have to spend anything like this on a new 5er? At least we where able to sell the factory bed on offer up when we upgraded. The TVs we just tossed in the dump, no one we offered them to had any use of them.
Quality / workmanship is sad for what it should be in these rigs. But we have enjoyed it just the same. Next thing we need to tackle is the pealing veneer.

[mootana]

Originally Posted by Cherokee

Must have surveyed the attendees about discontinuing the Day/night shades and the Generator prep on legacy models. Millions of dollars saved there.

In regards to the Generator prep, yes we did ask. The feedback we received was a large percentage of Legacy owners never intended to install a generator. So to install the prep it took away exterior storage and charged them for something they would not use. We took that money and installed the Winegard Router that works hand-in-hand with Global connect feature on the iN-Command system and increased the Furrion camera monitor from 5" to 7". While still allowing customers to select the generator prep if it was useful to them.

The Day/Night shades were deleted for a short time due to supply issues. Rather than layoff the plant and delay customers their units, we made the decision to build with night shades.

I hope this provides some clarity to your comment.

[RMcNeal]

Thanks for being part of this forum, Sam. It's great to know that Keystone is listening to customer questions and suggestions and your insights into the thought processes of building our units is very helpful as well.
Sincere thanks.