We are Alliance Paradigm owners now for 3 years. It’s been a great fulltime rig for us! Big enough for us to be comfortable, but small enough to get in pretty much anywhere! Brinkley makes a beautiful rig, but they weren’t available when we bought ours. They all have issues that’s for sure! I haven’t known of any other company that has the customer service that Alliance does and that’s HUGE!!! Good luck on your decision!
True, as was Grand Design. I think rv manufacturing does well when many followers but when things go south they dissappear like cochroches and the company ended up with another company and customer service becomes like the rest. Alliance might follow suit down the road as with Brisket, I mean Brinkley overtime.
Great video by you two, first off, let me say that I don't own any of those three coaches. In fact, I don't even own a fifth wheel yet. But my wife and I are planning on purchasing a fifth wheel in a couple years. With that being said, if you're going to compare rigs then you should consider comparing similarly sized rigs. The Brinkley Z3100 and the Alliance Paradigm 310RL are both right around 35'. The East to West Ahara 365RL is 37', the two extra feet allows for a bigger bathroom. Which was the reason you gave for picking the Ahara. The East to West rig that you should be comparing with the other two rigs is the Ahara 325RL. If you did, then you would be comparing apples to apples to apples. Because the 325RL is right around 35'. Also, one thing you didn't mention is the thickness of the walls. After researching many fifth wheels, I learned that the Brinkley and the Ahara have walls that are 2" thick, whereas the Alliance has 4" thick walls. It might be why Alliance uses framed windows, because they have the room to do so. This to me is very important. Especially for those of you that are now or are planning to RV full time. But as I said, great video and I hope to run into you two in the future.
you are absolutely correct about the size. but in our defense, we did it because those are the only three brands that had 90% of what we were looking for in a rear living floor plan. Alliance has plans for a larger rear living but it will be a year or so. Our main must have was rear living, so we started there.
Good info. Our must haves were, access to fridge, bath room and bed room with the slides closed. Also shower size, washer dryer, 12 volt fridge, king bed, hardwood cabinets, double sinks, Independent suspension, 5th wheel with goose hitch, and place for a wine fridge:). It is amazing that there is a good floor plan for almost everyone.
You guys have done your research, and that is good. As someone else said, the Alliance Paradigm 310RL does come with a 320W Renogy solar panel, but no inverter in their base model. You can get a factory installed inverter, but my recommendation is don't have one installed at the factory. If you are full-timing, I would get your own inverter installed (something like a Victron). I would also say that you were not comparing apples and apples (and apples). Both the Brinkley 3100Z and the Alliance 310RL are 35' fifth wheels. The Ahara is a 37'4". If you wanted apples and apples, then I would look at the Alliance 340RL (which has a bigger bathroom and more storage) which is about 37"6"...or compare it to the Ahara 325RL (which has the smaller bathroom). Otherwise, your methods seem sound. No RV has ALL of what you want in it. It's all about trade-offs and what is most important (or what things add up to more important). Another thing to consider is options that you may want to add...things like full-body paint or independent suspension. If you were considering these, only choose models that offer these as upgrades.
Very valid points. We went with these 3 because there were at or below our budget. We did look at a 340, but ruled it out immediately due to no pantry. It only had a hall closet. Thanks for watching. We hope, if nothing else, I might help someone make a decision
One thing to consider on the alliance there is storage under the sleeper. We keep foam and the bedding for the couch. The fireplace is “ The bar” with several bottles. We were looking at the alliance;Brinkley and Artic fox . The height was on our list and alliance won that category if your tall.
Good to know. reread your post. Storage under the sofa? They all seemed fairly tall, but now that you mention it, I cant remember actually checking that.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled if it is the fold out the good news is there is storage the way it flips the bad news is you need a 2in piece of foam to make it level 1/2 of it is 2 inches lower .. I have that my sheets and mattress pad in a bag. There is actually quite a bit of room.
Appreciate your list of must haves and wants that are similar to ours. Keep in mind that the Brinkley is a mid-profile and the other two are full profile so this makes it difficult to draw direct comparisons. We have never seen an Ahara, we've seen some really bad Alliances so for us the quality of a Brinkley and size is good for us. The new Brinkley Z3100 will have 4 pt hydraulic auto leveling. We want one with a queen bed and night tables and totally agree that the Ahara have better window shades. We will never be full timers so we don't need a wider full profile rig. Happy Holidays.
Thank for watching and the addition information. We love the Brinkley. Do you know when they are starting the hydraulic jacks. We’ve looked at it 6 times and only seen the electric
Great information! Ed and I hope to upgrade eventually but need to get some bills paid off. I don’t think Ed will ever get anything but a Class C or Class A. He was a driver for UPS & FedEx for over 30 years and that’s what he’s comfortable with. We love Connie and Reed’s 5th wheel and we have some ideas because of the things they have, but you make a lot of great points and when we are ready to upgrade, we will take these ideas into consideration. - Sue Sweeten in AZ
We compared Brinkley and Alliance and went with Brinkley BUT we aren’t full time, we don’t want washer dryer and we wanted a north south bed with night stands. Our choice was the 2900 not the 3100. One thing you didn’t mention was brakes. We want disc brakes. Brinkley is putting those on all their models now. We also didn’t necessarily want the extra width. We are pretty minimalist types and we don’t like a lot of stuff around. We do like to eat, though. So the pantry was good in the 3100 but the 2909 loses the area on the floor of the pantry. The 2900 has better bathroom, deeper drawers in the bedroom and a door from the bath to the bedroom. I’m hoping I can figure out how to deal with those shades in the bedroom. In out motor home I put those wire frame windshield things that fold up tiny and put them behind the pleated shades. I may do it again if the holes bug me. I like it dark too. Our goal is to be able to fit most national parks.
outstanding. Love to hear when people put their list together and buy based on what they need/want vs a trend. Gland you guys found it in the Brinkley. maybe we will see you on the road one of these days.
We love our 2022 Ahara 365RL. When we were looking the Alliance was on the list, as well as the Grand Design 310GK. Very similar layouts. Because we don't full time (yet) the televator in the 2022 is nice. Once we move into the rig on a more permanent basis the storage space may become more important than the extra window.
We looked at the Grand Design 310GK a couple of years ago and then again this year at Hershey. The dark interior has not changed and was a deal breaker for us.
It is dark. Our biggest deal breaker was price, they almost doubled in cost from 2019 to 2022. The layout, color, and amenities did not change, just the price.
Knowing how bad a dealer’s service is backed up won’t necessarily help you decide. They could be up to date because they aren’t selling rv’s that need much service or they could be backed up waiting for parts under warranty. The biggest question I would have about service is how knowledgeable the service technicians are. That can make a world of difference. Or, they may have tech support to fix/repair on the road.
The build quality of the Brinkley is above the rest. They do not require constant caulking to seal every seam on the outside. They use a longer lasting sealant on the roof too. The inside is built like a home not shoddy RV quality. Your concern for the blackout shades doesn't take into account the blackout has reflective material to help shield from the sun. Also, your concern with the water heater is a unfounded. If you had low pressure from a park you would fill your fresh tank and use your pump. Nobody would use the hook up if it's dribbling out. They would fill the tank and use the pump. Tankless is the way to go for Hot water.
@@dank8017 I can see wanting electric if you full time rv. But for us vacation users it doesn't matter. I will take the endless hot water over saving some propane that will take me 2 years to deplete.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled that I am not sure if they updated it to 6 point verse 4 point. This is there updated brochure www.brinkleyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/Docs/Literature/24/Winter-23/2024-Brinkley-RV-Brochure-11.28.2023.pdf
All three AC units will do a dump and have ceiling vents. the difference is it has 3 zones of vents, they are not all tied together. In the living room, there are 2 AC units, each has its own 4 ceiling vents. The bedroom AC has 4 ceiling vents and then 2 more in the bathroom. All tree are coleman mach 15q (quite) units. With all three on at the same time it will cool the rig from 90 degrees to 65 in about 8 minutes. We have not been in any hotter weather yet. As far as sound, I'm partially deaf, so I dont hear them at all. With my hearing aides in, i rarely notice them. Coleman says at full blast they are under 40 db. I wold agree with that. They seem to be at least half the noise of the dometic.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled thanks that’s a great description I thought it only had dumping like my old 2008 rv. With venting in ceiling and 40dp I’m happy and the Alara is now my top choice.thx again
Full disclosure, we have an Alliance 310RL. Correction for your standard solar requirement -- the Alliance 310RL comes with a 320W solar panel. BTW, agreed with the regular water heater -- we have not run out of hot water with back to back showers with our 12 gallon. Good luck with your decision!
Thank you for the clarification. The one we looked at did not appear to have any solar, which I thought was odd. The sales person did not know either. I could not find a charge controller either. All we could see was the Onan generator screen and remote start. I wonder if it was left off this unit, or we just missed it. Thank you for watching and the updated information.
I was going to "axe" you a question, but you answered it. For myself, I would choose the Ahara. Beyond the things you mentioned, there are several things, such as the floor plan and layout of the RV, that appeal to me. Not to mention the Lickey, Lockies come standard. 👍👍
I have looked at all three. They all use PEX 100%. Some do slip through and you may find small piece of vinyl tubing here or there. They all use brass fittings and solid lock rings. I would put them as equal in the plumbing department. Keep in mind people put these videos together for views not necessarily objectivity. My rule of thumb is, if you dont show pictures to back it up, its an opinion. I would even say, dont take our word for it, go check one on a lot for yourself. Our brand new 100% PEX Ahara had one run of about 4 inches that was vinyl, they replaced it with PEX under warranty. So it does happen.
Sooooo do you need more fireballs or is the blood pressure ok🤣 Also, I know which one you pick and I can’t wait to see it!!! Miss you guys, hopefully we will be seeing you SOON! ❤️
I think we are fine, I seemed to piss Maria off pretty good with rushing her to go look at the 310 a second time. Got a margarita in her, and she calmed down. Good thing too, cause homie dont play dat. Hope to see yall soon.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled All the new ones have them now. Also, they have fancy tables that turn into desk for working on a pc. They also have Hydraulic slides.
Why angry? Picking a new RV is hard work but shouldn't make you angry. We should have kept looking. I love our camper that we have now, but boy, do we need more storage, lol.
@OurRoadLessTraveled OH, I'm sorry. But yes, it's definitely a good excuse for sure. "Lol." Yall have a very tough choice ahead of you with the 3 - 5th wheels. They are all great choices.
We are Alliance Paradigm owners now for 3 years. It’s been a great fulltime rig for us! Big enough for us to be comfortable, but small enough to get in pretty much anywhere! Brinkley makes a beautiful rig, but they weren’t available when we bought ours. They all have issues that’s for sure! I haven’t known of any other company that has the customer service that Alliance does and that’s HUGE!!! Good luck on your decision!
Btw, we ordered ours with disc brakes and day/night shades which are an absolute for us!! I totally get you about the pinholes in the shades!
The alliance for sure has great customer service. Matter of fact, the entire organisation is full of great people.
True, as was Grand Design. I think rv manufacturing does well when many followers but when things go south they dissappear like cochroches and the company ended up with another company and customer service becomes like the rest. Alliance might follow suit down the road as with Brisket, I mean Brinkley overtime.
Great video by you two, first off, let me say that I don't own any of those three coaches. In fact, I don't even own a fifth wheel yet. But my wife and I are planning on purchasing a fifth wheel in a couple years. With that being said, if you're going to compare rigs then you should consider comparing similarly sized rigs. The Brinkley Z3100 and the Alliance Paradigm 310RL are both right around 35'. The East to West Ahara 365RL is 37', the two extra feet allows for a bigger bathroom. Which was the reason you gave for picking the Ahara. The East to West rig that you should be comparing with the other two rigs is the Ahara 325RL. If you did, then you would be comparing apples to apples to apples. Because the 325RL is right around 35'. Also, one thing you didn't mention is the thickness of the walls. After researching many fifth wheels, I learned that the Brinkley and the Ahara have walls that are 2" thick, whereas the Alliance has 4" thick walls. It might be why Alliance uses framed windows, because they have the room to do so. This to me is very important. Especially for those of you that are now or are planning to RV full time. But as I said, great video and I hope to run into you two in the future.
you are absolutely correct about the size. but in our defense, we did it because those are the only three brands that had 90% of what we were looking for in a rear living floor plan. Alliance has plans for a larger rear living but it will be a year or so. Our main must have was rear living, so we started there.
Good info. Our must haves were, access to fridge, bath room and bed room with the slides closed. Also shower size, washer dryer, 12 volt fridge, king bed, hardwood cabinets, double sinks, Independent suspension, 5th wheel with goose hitch, and place for a wine fridge:). It is amazing that there is a good floor plan for almost everyone.
Yes, there is a floor plan for everyone, it just may take a while to find it.
Dual pain windows to keep the heat out cold out.in the winter.
agree, but the nano ceramic tint from 3M does a great job of keeping the heat out
You guys have done your research, and that is good.
As someone else said, the Alliance Paradigm 310RL does come with a 320W Renogy solar panel, but no inverter in their base model. You can get a factory installed inverter, but my recommendation is don't have one installed at the factory. If you are full-timing, I would get your own inverter installed (something like a Victron).
I would also say that you were not comparing apples and apples (and apples). Both the Brinkley 3100Z and the Alliance 310RL are 35' fifth wheels. The Ahara is a 37'4". If you wanted apples and apples, then I would look at the Alliance 340RL (which has a bigger bathroom and more storage) which is about 37"6"...or compare it to the Ahara 325RL (which has the smaller bathroom).
Otherwise, your methods seem sound. No RV has ALL of what you want in it. It's all about trade-offs and what is most important (or what things add up to more important).
Another thing to consider is options that you may want to add...things like full-body paint or independent suspension. If you were considering these, only choose models that offer these as upgrades.
Very valid points. We went with these 3 because there were at or below our budget. We did look at a 340, but ruled it out immediately due to no pantry. It only had a hall closet. Thanks for watching. We hope, if nothing else, I might help someone make a decision
One thing to consider on the alliance there is storage under the sleeper. We keep foam and the bedding for the couch. The fireplace is “ The bar” with several bottles. We were looking at the alliance;Brinkley and Artic fox . The height was on our list and alliance won that category if your tall.
Good to know. reread your post. Storage under the sofa? They all seemed fairly tall, but now that you mention it, I cant remember actually checking that.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled if it is the fold out the good news is there is storage the way it flips the bad news is you need a 2in piece of foam to make it level 1/2 of it is 2 inches lower .. I have that my sheets and mattress pad in a bag. There is actually quite a bit of room.
@@martimcgaughey249 that is so interesting. And neither salesman showed us that when we looked. Would love to see that space!
Appreciate your list of must haves and wants that are similar to ours. Keep in mind that the Brinkley is a mid-profile and the other two are full profile so this makes it difficult to draw direct comparisons. We have never seen an Ahara, we've seen some really bad Alliances so for us the quality of a Brinkley and size is good for us. The new Brinkley Z3100 will have 4 pt hydraulic auto leveling. We want one with a queen bed and night tables and totally agree that the Ahara have better window shades. We will never be full timers so we don't need a wider full profile rig. Happy Holidays.
Thank for watching and the addition information. We love the Brinkley. Do you know when they are starting the hydraulic jacks. We’ve looked at it 6 times and only seen the electric
I think all new units moving forward so I'm hoping by next Spring when we'll be acquiring one @@OurRoadLessTraveled
Great information! Ed and I hope to upgrade eventually but need to get some bills paid off. I don’t think Ed will ever get anything but a Class C or Class A. He was a driver for UPS & FedEx for over 30 years and that’s what he’s comfortable with. We love Connie and Reed’s 5th wheel and we have some ideas because of the things they have, but you make a lot of great points and when we are ready to upgrade, we will take these ideas into consideration. - Sue Sweeten in AZ
thnks Sue. look forward to seeing you guys on the road one day. nothing wrong with a class a or c.
We compared Brinkley and Alliance and went with Brinkley BUT we aren’t full time, we don’t want washer dryer and we wanted a north south bed with night stands. Our choice was the 2900 not the 3100. One thing you didn’t mention was brakes. We want disc brakes. Brinkley is putting those on all their models now. We also didn’t necessarily want the extra width. We are pretty minimalist types and we don’t like a lot of stuff around. We do like to eat, though. So the pantry was good in the 3100 but the 2909 loses the area on the floor of the pantry. The 2900 has better bathroom, deeper drawers in the bedroom and a door from the bath to the bedroom. I’m hoping I can figure out how to deal with those shades in the bedroom. In out motor home I put those wire frame windshield things that fold up tiny and put them behind the pleated shades. I may do it again if the holes bug me. I like it dark too. Our goal is to be able to fit most national parks.
outstanding. Love to hear when people put their list together and buy based on what they need/want vs a trend. Gland you guys found it in the Brinkley. maybe we will see you on the road one of these days.
We love our 2022 Ahara 365RL. When we were looking the Alliance was on the list, as well as the Grand Design 310GK. Very similar layouts. Because we don't full time (yet) the televator in the 2022 is nice. Once we move into the rig on a more permanent basis the storage space may become more important than the extra window.
We looked at the Grand Design 310GK a couple of years ago and then again this year at Hershey. The dark interior has not changed and was a deal breaker for us.
It is dark. Our biggest deal breaker was price, they almost doubled in cost from 2019 to 2022. The layout, color, and amenities did not change, just the price.
@@gregcampbell4187 oh yeah! That too! 😂
Knowing how bad a dealer’s service is backed up won’t necessarily help you decide. They could be up to date because they aren’t selling rv’s that need much service or they could be backed up waiting for parts under warranty. The biggest question I would have about service is how knowledgeable the service technicians are. That can make a world of difference. Or, they may have tech support to fix/repair on the road.
The build quality of the Brinkley is above the rest. They do not require constant caulking to seal every seam on the outside. They use a longer lasting sealant on the roof too. The inside is built like a home not shoddy RV quality. Your concern for the blackout shades doesn't take into account the blackout has reflective material to help shield from the sun. Also, your concern with the water heater is a unfounded. If you had low pressure from a park you would fill your fresh tank and use your pump. Nobody would use the hook up if it's dribbling out. They would fill the tank and use the pump. Tankless is the way to go for Hot water.
thank you for your comments and opinions. happy new year.
I would rather not have tankless as well as I see no real benefit. Tankless also means gas only and not electric.
@@dank8017 I can see wanting electric if you full time rv. But for us vacation users it doesn't matter. I will take the endless hot water over saving some propane that will take me 2 years to deplete.
The Brinkley does have hydraulic jacks depending on the serial number. I know the newer ones have them but the older ones don’t.
Thanks for the update I thought only the toy hauler had the. Do you know if it’s still 4 jacks or did they go with 6.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled that I am not sure if they updated it to 6 point verse 4 point.
This is there updated brochure
www.brinkleyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/Docs/Literature/24/Winter-23/2024-Brinkley-RV-Brochure-11.28.2023.pdf
How noisy is Alaras ac station since it only has dump settings? Or is it vented through the heater vents
All three AC units will do a dump and have ceiling vents. the difference is it has 3 zones of vents, they are not all tied together. In the living room, there are 2 AC units, each has its own 4 ceiling vents. The bedroom AC has 4 ceiling vents and then 2 more in the bathroom. All tree are coleman mach 15q (quite) units. With all three on at the same time it will cool the rig from 90 degrees to 65 in about 8 minutes. We have not been in any hotter weather yet. As far as sound, I'm partially deaf, so I dont hear them at all. With my hearing aides in, i rarely notice them. Coleman says at full blast they are under 40 db. I wold agree with that. They seem to be at least half the noise of the dometic.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled thanks that’s a great description I thought it only had dumping like my old 2008 rv. With venting in ceiling and 40dp I’m happy and the Alara is now my top choice.thx again
Full disclosure, we have an Alliance 310RL.
Correction for your standard solar requirement -- the Alliance 310RL comes with a 320W solar panel.
BTW, agreed with the regular water heater -- we have not run out of hot water with back to back showers with our 12 gallon.
Good luck with your decision!
Thank you for the clarification. The one we looked at did not appear to have any solar, which I thought was odd. The sales person did not know either. I could not find a charge controller either. All we could see was the Onan generator screen and remote start. I wonder if it was left off this unit, or we just missed it. Thank you for watching and the updated information.
I was going to "axe" you a question, but you answered it. For myself, I would choose the Ahara. Beyond the things you mentioned, there are several things, such as the floor plan and layout of the RV, that appeal to me. Not to mention the Lickey, Lockies come standard. 👍👍
😂😂😂 they all had plenty of Lickey Lockies!
Lol it really tough choosing a trailer
For us it was matching a quality company with what our power unit can handle
yeah, its different for everyone and you dont know what you dont know. its kind of like on the job training.
I just saw a video on a comparison ..by a rv..repair guy..he said that the plumbing on the brinkley,,was bad..alliance won that one..
I have looked at all three. They all use PEX 100%. Some do slip through and you may find small piece of vinyl tubing here or there. They all use brass fittings and solid lock rings. I would put them as equal in the plumbing department. Keep in mind people put these videos together for views not necessarily objectivity. My rule of thumb is, if you dont show pictures to back it up, its an opinion. I would even say, dont take our word for it, go check one on a lot for yourself. Our brand new 100% PEX Ahara had one run of about 4 inches that was vinyl, they replaced it with PEX under warranty. So it does happen.
There is no perfect rig. Lol🦄 You made a good list I hope you get most of your wants.
Thank you 🤗 and yes, you’re right, no perfect rig.
Sooooo do you need more fireballs or is the blood pressure ok🤣
Also, I know which one you pick and I can’t wait to see it!!!
Miss you guys, hopefully we will be seeing you SOON! ❤️
I think we are fine, I seemed to piss Maria off pretty good with rushing her to go look at the 310 a second time. Got a margarita in her, and she calmed down. Good thing too, cause homie dont play dat. Hope to see yall soon.
Good news, all Brinkley Model Z's have hydraulic jacks.
People keep saying this but all we see on lots are the electric.
@@OurRoadLessTraveled All the new ones have them now. Also, they have fancy tables that turn into desk for working on a pc. They also have Hydraulic slides.
Ahara have extra lift up counter on both ends of island.
yes, and we love them.
Why angry? Picking a new RV is hard work but shouldn't make you angry. We should have kept looking. I love our camper that we have now, but boy, do we need more storage, lol.
Well someone woke up angry and it seemed like a good excuse 😂😂😂
@OurRoadLessTraveled OH, I'm sorry. But yes, it's definitely a good excuse for sure.
"Lol."
Yall have a very tough choice ahead of you with the 3 - 5th wheels. They are all great choices.