Northstar 600SS. Anyone with experience with this popup?

[Ann]

I'm looking for a light weight truck camper popup with an electrical lift since I'm not young and need the help. FWC doesn't seem to come with one. Palomino doesn't seem to be very well built. So, I started looking at Northstar 600SS. It needs to come in below 1400 lbs.
Any experience with this? I can't find a 2021 or 2022 anywhere in So Cal to look at. Any thoughts?

I'll call AWC to see if they can direct me to one of their's down in So Cal as well.

Thanks for your help

 

[corybrown50]

If you are handy, you could add a winch to anything with a cable system to lift the top. Manfred did an awesome job adding a 12v winch to his Jayco that I have been contemplating adding to my Jayco as well.....you can find it here.....

https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/8779-jayco-sportster-8ft-renovation/page-5

 

[OutToLunch]

You might look at the Caribou Lites which can be equipped with a manual lift, a crank lift or a motorized lift. They have an aluminum frame.

 

[michelle_east_county]

Hallmark Camper SuperLift is very low geared so you use a cordless drill to raise and lower top, or easily turn it with a camper jack crank for five minutes if drill batteries go dead. Some also have a built-in motor instead, but I guess they’re more hassle to override manually if camper battery is dead. Go down to Roof Lift Videos: http://www.hallmarkrv.com/videos/

 

[lqhikers]

Hi Ann.
I'm on my second Northstar 600ss.
Have had 4w camper on single cab 4x4 toyota in past great unit but as we gained in years the bed mattress
was our downfall and went looking for a different set up.
Then went with our first Northstar on Toyota 4x4 access cab was perfect full size queen mattress.
Should of kept it but got a bug for something different( custom Proven.)
Had a Provan Tiger 4x4 custom truck built but again limited in off road use (to high)
Tried van conversion (2016 ford transit conversion) but could not go the places off road
that we could in 4x4 Toyota with pop up.
So now we have a 2020 4x4 Toyota with Northstar 600ss camper and plan on keeping it this time!
Yes it is heavier than 4wcamper so as long as you realize this and drive /use with this in mind you should have no problem.
And of course you need to either up grade your rear springs or go with air bags, we used ride- right set for ours.
Ours has the manual lift system and is very user friendly no need for elect set up.
I am not sure but i think the new ones only come with electric lift.
We were able to find a nearly new one that was manual lift.
As far as quality of build it is the highest of any pop up that is on the market in my opinion.
We use ours on many 4x4 trails and and have had zero problems.
In my use i have found that making sure it is mounted securely is paramount for long life
i have built a frame that takes up any space between camper and truck bed so there is zero movement of camper.
Hope this gives you some input on your question
Les,lqhikers

 

[cowboyjack]

Have you looked at the “speaker stand mod” for using with the FWC? You use a stage speaker stand that has a crank handle on it to raise the roof on the FWC. Is a lifesaver for us!