I've fallen in love with a Geist 485 and I need to know more about them. Damp? Other issues? Re-sale value?
It's a big change for us as we'll be moving from 4 berth to 2 and certain members of the family will no longer have beds so the change isn't entirely popular. However in a year or so there'll only be the two of us going away so I think we can make it work for us
Hi, we've been running a Geist 485 for 7 years. At every service the staff remark on it's solid build and lack of ingress. They are made by LMC, but sadly no longer imported, which will affect the re-sale value. However, I don't care as I will keep the 'van for a while yet and get full value from it. Spares are readily available. The long tow bar gives a very stable tow - but make sure you put in adequate nose weight as recommended by CC etc. Go for it - you won't regret it, BUT common sense dictates that you make all the normal checks before parting with any funds!
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Ah, but the Geist LV485 does have electric/gas heating. Ours is 7 years old, so it's nothing new and it was standard. 3 selectable wattage rates and linked to the fan assistor and room thermostat.
We have had two Geist caravans now and they are quite simply one of the best built vans that you can get. Our first Geist was unfortunately burnt completely by an arsonist but we managed to get another one that we really love with the insurance money, which is a Geist XK 550. This has underfloor heating as well as normal gas/electric heating. Some of these vans were built for the continental market and I believe they don't have an oven, etc, but the ones for the British market have full cooker and everything else you can think of. Personally (and our son is 15 so won't be coming with us forever) we think the four berth is better as you can have the comfort of the seating area and don't have to make up the bed every night (ours has a fixed good sized double bed) so that is the option we went for. You won't regret it - we love ours! They seem to hold their value quite well too. Let us know how you get on......
We're going for the two berth for the living space. I've got two teenagers over 6ft and a husband of 6ft 4. They take up a lot of room and we haven't found a fixed bed long enough yet. Also the two berth is light enough for most cars so we don't have too many restrictions for future car purchases.
Glad to hear that everyone's happy with their geists. I hope to be joining you.
I thought that the vans with the door on "our" side were really built for the australian market hence a lot had air con and no oven and only a 3 burner hob
The one we looked at looked like an hotel room and was very nice
We have a 2005 485 and absolutely love it. Full oven, hob, fridge, dual fuel water/space heating, lots of storage and tows well behind my 2 litre diesel Yeti.
There are some 485s out there that were built for the Aussie market; I believe the distributer went bust so they were sold in the UK. They have aircon, and are heavier than the ones manufactured for the British market.
German quality. Thoroughly recommended!
OK so I'm getting ahead of myself here but what awning do the LV485 owners have and are you happy with the fit?
I'm looking into getting our current awning altered as it's a 900 and the Geist seems to need a 925 but it would be nice to get an awning that would take an annexe