Honest review of the IBEX RV Suite RVS1 destination trailer
Today’s Honest RV review is of the forthcoming Forest River Ibex RV Suite RVS1. Word is that there are going to be multiple version of this line but this is the first I saw at RV Open House and it’s rather polarizing, to say the least.
I would imagine that followers of Forest River’s relatively new Ibex brand appreciate the way Ibex products enable more adventurous travel with the offerings being smaller and shod with more off-road tires and suspension. Last year’s new Beast Mode suspension option further reinforced that image with a very, very solid off-road suspension system courtesy of Lippert’s Curt brand as an option.
In fact RV family Jason and Abbey Epperson of RVMiles took their own Ibex with this suspension up to Alaska and found it to be quite capable. The brand also offers an “Off Grid” power package that features plenty of solar and lithium battery power, further reinforcing the Overlanding lifestyle.
All this is to invite you to forget all that with Ibex’s new line, the RV Suite. With three models promised you could almost call these park model trailers but with a twist. A big twist.
What is the Ibex RV Suite?
The Ibex RV Suite line is a completely different kind of offering from the brand. These high-content travel trailers are really more suited to be taken somewhere where they’re going to spend much of their time much like larger park model trailers. But these are smaller and more nimble. The model I saw, which is thus far the only one that’s been produced, is the RVS1 which measures 32’ 6” in length.
The shape of the trailer is much like the tiny houses that are in vogue at the moment and this doesn’t seem to be unintentional. While the Ibex line might be associated with off-grid living this is more of an on-grid offering.
For example, all the functions inside the trailer are electrical from cooking to heating. This trailer requires a 50 amp service and is not set-up to operate on solar or other off-grid systems. Yeah, yeah, it’s “solar prepped” but you’re going to need a lot of solar to compensate for this hungry beast. Better just plug it in.
Even the heating in this trailer is electric only with two small furnaces at each end, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. The dual air conditioners features heat strips as well which provides warmth but there is no propane furnace.
In fact, there is no propane whatsoever. Well, mostly. We’ll get to that in a moment.
IBEX RV Suite innovations
This inaugural model has some interesting innovations in it and really is well suited to taking on the role of a tiny house instead of being an RV.
The front of the trailer features a very spacious bathroom with two sinks and a large walk-in shower. There is a closet here which reveals a washer-dryer combo - something you’d really like if you were living in this, or offering it as a vacation home on your property in the mountains.
Something really unusual in the RV industry is that this model doesn’t have a slide room, again more common in a tiny house. So the main living space features your kitchen on one side and a lounge on the other.
IBEX RV Suite kitchen
That kitchen consists of a two-burner induction cook top with a convection microwave beneath it. A single-bowl stainless steel sink with restaurant-style faucet is for clean up and the refrigerator is a vintage-style residential model.
That was a surprise indeed as the rest of this interior has a very modern look with dark green cabinets and very clean, modern styling. That refrigerator is counter to this with it’s 1950s styling.
I was also surprised that it’s a residential model. Oh, and the description of this appliance is “ice box.” Seriously, ice box? I think society stopped using that nomenclature for our food chillers decades ago when we stopped using actual ice to chill the grub. I know I’m being picky but it might be assumed that this is a cooler rather than a refrigerator based on that description.
Not resting on innovation
Since we’re in the main living space and focusing on innovative things in this trailer, let’s look at that lounge. You might look at it and assume it’s just a couch but it’s so much more. Under the head is a cushion system that pops out and up so now you’ve got an “L” shaped seating arrangement. Another ottoman-style cushion awaits at the lower end of this thing and that, too, pops up so you can go from a single lounge to something that can accommodate a number of people.
This lounge also has the ability to sort of kick up the center cushion so that it becomes almost a fainting couch. You know, in case you get the vapors. Perhaps you ran out of ice for the ice box. But it’s a comfortable place to sit in this position.
With the right RV bedding this, too, can be a place for additional guests to sleep of course.
Another area that is very innovative is the bedroom, at the back of this rig.
By day there is a table that can flip up and offers a counter- or bar-height surface. Put the table down against the back wall and you’ll have a large open air - perhaps for holding dance parties. Oh, or how about karaoke in the campground?
When it’s time to kick the revelers out the entire side wall folds down and that’s your bed. So this back bedroom/living room/party palace offers multiple uses. I guess that makes it a multipurpose room.
Back porch
From this space there is a sliding glass door that takes-up the entire rear of the trailer and leads to a substantial metal back porch. That porch is surrounded by metal a railing with a gate on the camp side and steps down to adventure.
The prototype that I saw had tie-downs for up to 500 pounds of cargo but later information indicated that these were going away as IBEX was a afraid of the dumb things some people might do with this kind of thing.
There is also a barbecue grill and wooden table that can be mounted to the receiver hitch on the back of this trailer and that’s the one place you’ll find propane. The barbecue grill is powered by those one pound propane bottles that can’t be recycled, unfortunately.
More smarts
If you have one of those personal digital assistants that live in your phone you are probably already used to cursing that thing. Now there’s another one for you to say unkind things to as this has a new item from WFCO where you can ask for things by saying “Hey Power Pro.”
This trailer voice assistant can control lighting and report on tank levels - that sort of thing. At this point the people at Ibex told me they didn’t want it controlling the temperature in the rig but this is one of my favorite features with the voice assistant I’ve set-up in my house.
“Hey, Siri, change the temperature to 72 degrees.”
The lights go to 70% brightness.
“Hey Siri, turn the furnace up to 72 degrees.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t know who Fern is.”
The struggle is real. At this point you are cursing your personal assistant back three generations and just get up and change the dial on the furnace manually.
Hopefully WFCO has done a better job than Siri. I’m not holding my breath. At least this gadget is optional.
What I would change
There are a few things I would change if I were the person in charge. Which I’m not.
First of all, I’m seeing more and more new RVs with those light strips that span the width of the ceiling of the RV as opposed to the traditional puck lights. These have the benefit of being dimmable which I like. But the puck lights that have been common have the advantage of being able to be switched on and off individually which I like better. How about allowing us to dim the puck lights and then turn some of them on and off?
I am also not a fan of the two sinks arrangement in the bathroom for a number of reasons. One of those is that I’ve stopped getting into tooth brushing challenges with Peggy since the great dental incident of 2017. Okay, just kidding, but what do I need two bathroom sinks for? That’s just more RV plumbing to go wrong.
It’s also less counter space in a bathroom that barely has any.
Lastly, as a child I learned that heat rises so I don’t know why the two electric heaters in this rig are mounted almost at ceiling level. Would seem to make sense that they put them lower which would have the side benefit of warming up the floors a bit.
Conclusions
This is certainly an unusual offering from Ibex. Like an RV it does have holding tanks so you could use it as a travel trailer. In fact I asked about the window on the front of the unit and Ibex team members assured me that there will be a cover for taking this on the road. That’s a good thing.
Where I see this working well is with a property in the mountains or by a lake or something like that and then being a second home. When it’s time to close down for the season it could simply be towed back to storage or something and returned once the weather changes to more tolerable conditions.
In support of that this trailer has a tremendous number of windows so it would be particularly nice in a place with a beautiful view.
But remember it does require a 50 amp service which is something to consider if you’ve got a piece of land in a remote place. This wouldn’t be a rig I’d want to operate on solar unless you’ve got a field with a bunch of panels and plenty of battery storage.
