Honest RV review: Forest River Rockwood Mini Lite 2507s travel trailer
Today’s RV review is of the 2023 Rockwood Mini Lite 2507S travel trailer. This is identical to the Flagstaff Micro Lite 25BDS. Essentially this is a couples’ camper with a great living space thanks to creative use of space including the Murphy bed. I know I just lost a bunch of you on this but bear with me.
Murphy bed advantages/disadvantages
There are a lot of people who eschew Murphy bed RVs when shopping. I think this can be a mistake. The advantages of a Murphy bed include the fact that the majority of time that you’re using your camper is in the day time and having a Murphy bed means you maximize the space in your RV when you’re awake to enjoy it.
However I suspect that a lot of dislike of Murphy beds comes from the fact that they’re often difficult to operate, have splits down the middle or are smaller than traditional beds.
None of that is true in Rockwood and Flagstaff products. They have the best Murphy bed designs in the industry. Period.
This camper features a true queen-sized bed instead of a shortie bed. The platform mechanism allows the bed to be all one piece. Simply unlatch the bed, fold the couch (which can be done with one hand) and pull the bed down. It also locks in the down position.
While some campers might say it’s difficult to make a Murphy bed, know that we’ve been using our RV Superbag for years which makes making any bed easier. We bought it for our first Rockwood, which had a Murphy bed, and have been using it ever since even though the present Rockwood 2205s does not have a Murphy bed.
Living space in the Rockwood 2507S
When the Murphy bed is up there is a couch there that is more than just a couch. This one features two kick-up foot rests so it’s almost theater seat like in function. Almost, the backrests don’t move.
There are also choices of the seating configuration in the slide room which include a U-shaped dinette, theater seats or a couch with a hide-away bed. The model I saw featured the U-shaped dinette and Rockwood does a great job with this. I love that the table is not mounted on those knee-knocker poles. Instead, it’s free-standing so you can also use it at the couch at the front if you prefer.
The dinette also features drawers on either side and there’s storage under the bench along the wall which you can access from outside as well. Another plus on Rockwood products - the dinette frame is built of welded aluminum rather than wood and this is true of most structural components in this brand.
Build quality of the Rockwood 2507S
In fact when people speak ill about Forest River they clearly demonstrate that they aren’t speaking from fact. Forest River (and Thor) encourage their various brands to compete both with internal brands at Forest River as well as outside brands. Then they evaluate performance and Rockwood continually wins awards for their quality. This is one of the reasons I own one myself.
Check out the factory tour video of the Rockwood/Flagstaff GeoPro/ePro plant
I’ve seen how they pressure test every single unit to check for leaks. The walls of these has an aluminum structure with Azdel wall materials both inside and out. Rockwood also vacuum laminates their walls in house - a more expensive but superior process.
The chassis uses Dexter torsion axle suspensions and the tires are Goodyear Endurance and also feature tire pressure monitoring systems. Honestly there are a lot of quality features that are unusual in this business.
When I complain about RVs with small ovens and cheap vent fans and so many other obvious corners cut it’s because I know companies like Rockwood exist that do things differently.
More features in the Rockwood 2507S
There are also features built into these that I feel offer more value. For example the ovens are the larger 22” inch oven. I like that they use the larger high-performance vent fans in the bathroom and you can opt for a second one of these over the bed, which we did in our own trailer.
For 2023 there’s a new control panel that I like quite a bit. This unit can Bluetooth connect to your phone so you have full access to the RV from inside and out. I’ve used this feature to open the slide when I’m very close to things outside and can open the slide and keep an eye on it.
The illumination on this panel also shuts off when it doesn’t detect motion so you don’t have a series of bright LEDs all night long.
The app enables you to open the awning and turn on various lights and see holding tank levels. The only thing you can’t do is adjust the climate control, unfortunately. That would be cool. Or hot. Your choice. Just not from the app.
For 2023 all of these come with the larger 15,000 BTU Coleman Mack air conditioner which is quieter than some.
They’ve also eliminated the carpeting in the slide this year and replaced it with a marine-grade flooring. I’ve already experienced that this is an easy material to keep clean or at least to clean. I also like that the furnace vents are in the cabinets rather than cut into the floor.
Entertainment value in the Rockwood 2507S
Another choice Rockwood has made is to outfit these with a 12 volt television that also incorporates a Bluetooth speaker and FM radio. The TV is situated over the kitchen so you can easily see it from the U-shaped dinette or whatever seating choice you make.
It also swivels out so you can see it from the couch at the front of this unit.
Surprising storage in the Rockwood 2507S
On either side of the U-shaped dinette are drawers, as mentioned. There’s also a pantry in the slide which has removable shelves and can double as hanging storage. Choice is good.
Outside there are storage spots on either side where some trailers have the pass-through storage. The Murphy bed and drop frame mean this has to be moved back a bit. There is pass-through storage which goes under the couch in front and is accessible on either side of this trailer as well as by lifting the couch. Neat.
There is also a tall, vertical storage bay on the outside in the slide room as well as a second compartment that goes under the dinette.
Outside kitchen in the Rockwood 2507S
While on the outside it’s good to note that there is a decent kitchen outside that consists of a proper, plumbed sink with hot and cold water (not all outside kitchen sinks are fully plumbed).
There is also a two-burner stove top but you get a flat-top griddle as well. Finally, there’s a large bar-sized fridge outside and, bonus, you can operate this from the inverter and battery/vehicle charging system while driving down the road.
To me one of the silly things about these little fridges on almost all RVs is that you can’t operate them unless you have full hook-ups, but that means that your beer won’t be cold until well after you’re at the campsite and that’s just not right.
Boondocking and travel access in the Rockwood 2507S
Speaking of the inverter, this trailer does come with an inverter which operates many of the household outlets inside. If you have a large enough battery you can use your own power to operate the outside bar-sized fridge as well as whatever you have plugged into the outlets on either side of the bed.
There is one 200-watt solar panel on the roof with a second one optional. Honestly a single panel is barely going to cover the consumption of the 12 volt fridge so, if boondocking is your thing, I would absolutely opt for the second panel.
There is also a side solar port and I have found portable solar panels like the GoPower! Duralight 100 solar suitcase are a great addition to fixed solar panels.
Power has become less of a challenge for those of us who like off-grid camping - it’s now water that is becoming the limiting factor. To that end this camper comes with what’s a called a ShowerMiser system. Essentially it allows you to redirect water back into your fresh tank in the shower while you’re waiting for the water to get hot. A sheath over the pipe changes color when the water’s hot which results in remarkable water savings.
What’s the difference between Rockwood and Flagstaff?
One of the things to know is that many RV brands have more than one version of the same product. For example, Rockwood’s Mini Lite line is identical to the Flagstaff Micro Lite line. The reason for this is that RV dealerships are guaranteed specific geographic territories. But there are cases where it makes sense to have more than one dealership in an area representing a given brand so there are these identical sister brands.
For example the dealership I worked at became a Flagstaff dealer because there was a very popular Rockwood dealer within 85 miles, but it did make sense to be able to represent this brand due to the geography of our region. Unfortunately that competing dealer would say that Rockwood was a superior brand when, really, the products were identical except for the stickers.
This is also true of Forest River’s Salem and Wildwood brands, or Thor Vegas or Axis. There are a lot of brands like this.
My thoughts
As you can tell the combination of features and build quality of these make me like them very much. But no product is perfect.
For example, there’s a Murphy bed, as mentioned, but also a windshield. This is silly. I love the 12 volt TV which is on a mount that allows you to remove it and take it outside, but there is no provision to power the TV outside. Also silly.
Lastly, for 2023 Rockwood changed the cabinets above the dinette to doors that are hinged at the top but the springs in the hinges don’t hold them up. My solution in my own trailer was to just re-install the doors so they swing down. Yes, I shared this with Rockwood.
But the number of thoughtful features and the build quality of these make the Rockwood one of my favorite travel trailer lines. Even if you find yourself opposed to a Murphy bed, if this trailer otherwise works for you, I would encourage you to take a second look. Having had the Murphy bed in our first Rockwood (we’ve had three!) I can tell you it’s a pretty good solution and they’ve only improved on it since we had ours.
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