With so many folding campers available, it can be challenging to choose between them. I don’t know about you, but my must-have feature in a folding camper is a toilet. If you don’t know how to choose the best folding camper beyond that, I’ve written this guide for you.
The best folding camper with a toilet is the Pennine Sovereign. As part of this comparison, I was able to determine that the Sovereign would be the ideal folding camper for most people.
This guide is designed to help you choose between folding campers. All the folding campers discussed in this blog post have toilets, but we’re going to compare them on other aspects such as:
To start off, let’s have a look at which folding campers have toilets.
Which Folding Campers Have Toilets?
Most presume that most folding campers have a toilet, but surprisingly few come with a cassette toilet and toilet compartment. Here’s a list of folding campers that come with toilets:
- Fiesta – 2014 onwards
- Sovereign
- Pentium
- Pathfinder
- Conway Crusader
- Cardinal Clubman
- Trigano Randger 575 TC
- Raclet Tamaris
It is worth noting that not all Pennine Fiestas include a toilet cubicle. The Fiesta folding camper first came with a toilet in 2014. In every model since then, a toilet cubicle has been present. In a similar manner, some of the earlier Conway Cardinal folding campers didn’t come with toilets.
So now we know which folding campers come with toilets, let’s move onto the comparison section of this blog post.
Which Is The Best Folding Camper With A Toilet?
To determine which of the above folding campers is the best, I’ll compare them on numerous important aspects. To aid this comparison, I’ve come up with a little bit of a scoring system for the aspects where it is applicable. For each category a folding camper ‘wins’ an important category (for example, space or price), it will get five points. If it ‘wins’ a typically less important category, such as ease of storage, it will get 3 points.
So let’s get on with the comparison!
Space
The amount of space that you have in a folding camper is really important. Now, folding campers aren’t known for being particularly spacious. That’s why so many owners won’t use their unit without using the awning at the same time. But even so, some folding campers are inevitably larger than others. So which folding camper, of those including toilets, is the most spacious?
To determine which folding camper is the most spacious, I decided to take a look at the dimensions of each unit. In the table below, you’ll see the two most important dimensions of each folding camper: width and length.
Dimension Comparison
| Model | Length | Width |
|---|---|---|
| Pennine Fiesta | 400cm | 420cm |
| Pennine Sovereign | 545cm | 205cm |
| Pennine Pentium | 600cm | 210cm |
| Pennine Pathfinder | 600cm | 210cm |
| Conway Crusader | 550cm | 202cm |
| Conway Clubman | 550cm | 210cm |
| Trigano Randger 575 TC | 575cm | 210cm |
| Raclet Tamaris | 575cm | 210cm |
At first, you might get the impression that the Fiesta is the most spacious folding camper because of its length and width. However, the Fiesta beds are on the sides of the unit rather than either end, which is why it is so much wider. This is typical of 4-berth folding campers, but the Fiesta stands out as it is the only 4-berth unit that’s part of this comparison.
With that out of the way, the Pennine Pathfinder is easily the largest and most spacious folding camper available with a toilet. The Pennine Pentium is simply a rebranded Pathfinder, which is why the specifications are exactly the same.
Here’s the floor plan of the Pennine Pathfinder. As you can tell, it is relatively spacious. There is a large seating area as well as two large beds. The settees can be converted into a third double bed to make it 6-berth. In all honesty, no folding camper is particularly spacious for the number of people that can sleep in it. For example, a 6-berth folding camper such as a Pathfinder is more suitable as a spacious unit for 4 people. This is particularly noticeable if you aren’t going to be using the awning.
Pennine Pathfinder: 5 Points
The Pennine Pathfinder comes out on top in the space comparison. While the Pentium has the same dimensions, that’s only because it is a clone of the Pathfinder rebranded.
Kitchen
One of the things that set folding campers apart from tents and trailer tents is the fact they have a proper kitchen. Every single folding camper with a toilet has a kitchen of some sort, but some have better kitchens than others. Let’s take a look at the folding campers that have toilets and how their kitchens compare!
To determine which folding camper has the best kitchen, we will look at:
- The kitchen facilities
- Size of kitchen
For each of these, the best folding camper will be awarded a point.
The Kitchen Facilities
The kitchen facilities that you’ll find in folding campers are pretty standard. Most folding campers have a 2 or 3 burner hob (although the Trigano Randger 575 TC had 4 burners), grill, sink, and a 3 way fridge. But one folding camper has a few little extras that set the model apart from all the others.
The Pennine Pathfinder has the best kitchen facilities of any folding camper and it has done since the very first model in 1999. Why?
The Pennine Pathfinder has a spacious kitchen featuring a 3 burner hob, grill, sink, and a 3 way fridge. What sets the Pathfinder apart is the full oven that’s included as standard.
Although there are other folding camper models where an oven is available as an optional extra (for example, the Conway Crusader), the Pathfinder is the only folding camper to include one as standard. This one extra feature really sets the model apart from the others available, which is why the Pathfinder wins the point here.
Pennine Pathfinder: 5 Points
Size of Kitchen
As I said previously, there isn’t a whole lot of variety when it comes to kitchens in folding campers. They tend to be a similar size and contain similar appliances and so on. But let’s take a look at the folding campers with toilets and try and determine which of them has the largest kitchen.
Looking at all the folding campers with toilets, it seems there are no winners when it comes to the size of their kitchens. Earlier Fiestas, before the toilet compartment was introduced, had relatively spacious kitchens compared to other folding campers. However, the same cannot be said now that the toilet compartment takes up a big space where a worktop previously was.
No Winner – 0 Points
Price
So far, the Pennine Pathfinder has picked up 10 points. No other folding camper has gained a point so far, but that could all change when we look at price.
It’s difficult to determine which of these folding campers is the cheapest because they were all available at different times. For example, the first Pennine Fiesta with a toilet was the 2014 model. By then, many of the folding campers we’ve mentioned here were no longer produced. To make the comparison fair, the Pennine Fiesta with toilet compartment will be excluded from this comparison. Additionally, The Pennine Pentium was excluded as it is a rebranded Pathfinder and I couldn’t find one available at the time of writing.
To get an idea of how much you’ll pay for one of these folding campers with a toilet compartment, I went away and looked at online marketplaces and spoke to several manufacturers to see what they would sell these models for. All prices given are for 2006 models, other than the Pennine Sovereign and Conway Cardinal Clubman (these models were not manufactured in 2006).
| Model | Year of Manufacture | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Pennine Sovereign | 2003 | £3,500 |
| Pennine Pathfinder | 2006 | £5,995 |
| Conway Crusader | 2006 | £4,995 |
| Conway Cardinal Clubman | 2002 | £3,500 |
| Raclet Tamaris | 2006 | £4,000 |
| Trigano Randger 575 TC | 2006 | £5,495 |
The Conway Cardinal Clubman and the Pennine Sovereign were the cheapest of the folding campers I found for sale. Both folding campers were in brilliant condition and included the awnings that came with the models when they were brand new.
Pennine Sovereign & Conway Cardinal Clubman: 5 Points
Weight
There are many reasons that the way of the folding camper you purchase may be important. For example, if you are restricted by your licence to tow no more than a certain weight. With that in mind, let’s have a look at these folding campers and find out which is the lightest of the lot.
| Model | Weight (Ex Works) | Weight (Max) |
|---|---|---|
| Pennine Fiesta | 620kg | 750kg |
| Pennine Sovereign | 660kg | 900kg |
| Pennine Pathfinder | 820kg | 1,000kg |
| Conway Crusader | 820kg | 1,000kg |
| Conway Cardinal Clubman | 840kg | 1,050kg |
| Raclet Tamaris | 748kg | 950kg |
| Trigano Randger 575 TC | 750kg | 950kg |
The Pennine Fiesta is the lightest folding camper that has a toilet. The Fiesta weighs 620kg ex works and a carry capacity of 130kg, bringing the max weight up to 750kg. Something to note here is the fact that a Fiesta is a 4-berth folding camper, whereas the rest of the folding campers with toilets are 6-berth.
The lightest of the 6-berth folding campers with a toilet is the Pennine Sovereign. The Sovereign weighs just 660kg ex works. It has a carry capacity of 240kg, bringing the maximum weight to 900kg. As one of the lightest 6-berth folding campers, it is ideal for people who are inexperienced towing. Furthermore, it’s perfect for those that don’t have the B+E categories on their licence that allows them to tow heavier trailers.
Pennine Fiesta & Pennine Sovereign: 3 Points
Ease of Storage
If you intend to store your folding camper at home, you’ll need to determine whether you have enough room to do so. That point brings us onto ease of storage, where I’ve looked at several factors that allow us to determine how easy it is to store these folding campers.
To determine how easy it is to store these folding campers, we need to consider three pieces of information:
- Height
- Width
- Length
It’s safe to assume that the longer a folding camper is, the harder it is to store. The same can be said for the height and width. The larger the number, the harder the folding camper is to store. So let’s take a look at these specs.
| Model | Length | Width | Height |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennine Fiesta | 400cm | 184cm | 130cm |
| Pennine Sovereign | 427cm | 207cm | 126cm |
| Pennine Pathfinder | 478cm | 212cm | 139cm |
| Conway Crusader | 478cm | 212cm | 139cm |
| Conway Cardinal Clubman | 470cm | 210cm | 125cm |
| Trigano Randger 575 TC | 460cm | 210cm | 130cm |
| Raclet Tamaris | 460cm | 210cm | 130cm |
Based on these specifications, the Pennine Fiesta is the easiest folding camper to store. As a 4-berth folding camper with a toilet compartment squeezed in next to the kitchen, it makes sense.
The easiest to store 6-berth folding camper is the Pennine Sovereign demonstrable by the fact it is the smallest in terms of both length and width.
According to Garage Doors Online, the average garage door width is 7 foot. This is roughly 213 centimetres, so the Sovereign is one of the few 6-berth folding campers that will comfortably get through the door of most single-car garages. With a length of only 427cm, including hitch, you can store it comfortably on most drives and in most garages.
Pennine Fiesta & Pennine Sovereign: 3 Points
Conclusion
So which folding camper with a toilet is the best? It’s hard to give a definitive answer, as the reps onse depends on your particular requirements. For example, if it is imperative that you have the best kitchen money can buy, the Pathfinder is the best for you. But if you need a small folding camper that will fit easily on your drive, perhaps the Fiesta or Sovereign would be the best option.
But in terms of this comparison, let’s tally up and see which folding camper comes out on top:
1st – Pennine Sovereign – 11 Points
2nd – Pennine Pathfinder – 10 Points
3rd – Pennine Fiesta – 6 Points
The surprise winner of this comparison is the Pennine Sovereign, which is perhaps best known for cramming the high-spec features of the Pathfinder into the body similar in size to the Pullman. The Sovereign was a hybrid folding camper and the formula appeared to work very well, despite the fact the model was only produced from 2001 to 2003.
