GIC Black Series Patron

AUX wired on trailer plug – When looking at the trailer plug, what is the black AUX pin wired too? As the cable runs through the chassis I can't trace it properly. I need to run a alternator trigger for the DC-DC charger and was hoping to tap into something pre-existing.

grate camper and good price – i have owned a few campers in my past and thay all have faults (ozy built or chines built ) i got my black series patron 4 years ago changed wheel bearings and suspension bushes the canvas A1 and strong been to the kimberlys arhnem land and up the cape threw alot of rough tracks and never had a problem, i towing it with 2011 hilux (idrive ) no problem Show details

Couldn’t be happier – Purchased for 2 adults and two children (6 and 12) and it was amazing, the positives and value far out weigh any negatives .Troy at the Brisbane office was great to deal with.

Extremely bad after payment received service – Have just purchased the Patron from black series. The service was fantastic up until they received our payment. Couldn’t get anyone to call us back or reply to email asking for an eta and to which depot it would be delivered. At some point we found out the transport company and called them to see if they knew where our camper was. Turns out they… Read more

had it and were able to tell us where to collect it from. To this date we still haven’t heard back from Black series with a date. When the trailer arrived it was dinted on the top and is missing the keys to open the steps and water tank. I let them know how terrible there service is via messenger on Facebook with promises of someone in management to give me a call. Still nothing and they’re only now just sending out the keys so we won’t be able to use our $20000 camper for the Easter weekend. Fuming

great design poor quality – great design, good size for family. terrible quality in small details such as the couch hinges, the kitchen sink plug, the gas bottle rubbers etc , plus after finally receiving the trailer weeks after eta and numerous phone calls and complaints it arrived with dints and scratches. The easy to set up advertising and instructions takes at least two… Read more

people with plenty of time on there hands, it was easier to buy a 6x3 porta shade to erect on the front for shade and shelter. would not recommend for short stays however did hold up in four wheel drive terrains, have only had 1x gas shock blow out. also doesn't come with a.c inlet, need to now pay to have installed.

Great Camper for all the family – Purchased January 2017 and used on different occasions by us (pretend Grey Nomads (2) and Son (2 + 3). Now travelled over 10000klms but not heavy offroad to date. Camper is easy to tow (Nissan Patrol 4.2lt diesel) easy to put up and down. Just returned from Queensland when we had 480mls of rain and 30/35knot winds in 5 days. Camper stood up to… Read more ·  1

the conditions very well. No water inside the Camper but of course everything got damp as you would expect. Dried out quickly as soon as the weather improved. We have had two minor problems, easily fixed and off little concern. During the course of our travels we have had the opportunity to check out various makes and models of other campers and saw nothing to make us disappointed with our purchase.

After sales service is very poor – Purchased a Patron in July, set up van when we got home. The door latch on the main door into the van dose not lock. Rang our salesman several times. Also the Sydney store to get a replacement latch posted to us as we are 6 hour drive from Sydney. Black series were going to send a replacement latch and here we are 3 months later no latch and not returning phone calls. Going away next week. NOT A VERY HAPPY CAMPER!!

Excellent product great value for the money – Happy with our purchase of our black series patron, looked at every camper on the market and couldn't beet the price and all the extras that were included. Had excellent aftersales experience with the minor problems we've had.

The perfect Camper for the larger family – We purchased the Patron after looking at a lot of campers. We had previously owned a GIC and were extremely happy. As with a lot of others, we read the reviews and had reservations, but as we had owned a GIC previously we decided to go with them again. Im so glad I did as the camper is awesome!. Set up is easy and a simple 1 person job. The… Read more

boat rack, spare tyres and forward fold all happen very easily with the gas struts.

Pick up in Sydney was seamless and the guys were very helpful. They done a informative walk around and I was happy with the way the pick up was handled. The number of campers these guys are selling is mind boggling and the number of people picking up campers while I was there was just amazing.

The good:

- Easy Set Up

- Heaps of room

- Tows Well

- Internal Lights are good and light Switches well positioned

- Plenty of storage

- The kitchen is very good

- The water pump has excellent flow

- More than enough poles and spreader bars

- Tyres seem quite good

- Touch up paint for draw bar and camper supplied

The not so good:

- I had a Waeco 60L fridge and it didn't fit in the Fridge slide as it was too high. I purchased a 95l Waeco and whilst it fits perfectly, once the tent is erected the lid wont open. It required a small a small modification to get this to work.

- The setup instructions are very bad. Even the the pole guide on the website is hard to follow and doesn't seem to be correct. Why there is no you tube clip from GIC is beyond me. The other similar brands have them.

- Cant access to the batteries fro charging without opening the tent

- I dont like the detachable kitchen support leg. I would like to see something drop down from underneath.

- The way the Annex poles connect to the camper is not as good as I would like so I cable tie them on set up to keep them fixed. Its not a necessity but seems sturdier.

So far no major issues. I haven't been hardcore off road with it either though and probably dont intend too.

Take it from someone that owns one ( not just "I had a mate that had one and didnt like it" comment) Overall you will be happy with your purchase if my experience is anything to go by.

Patron 2016...Buyer beware. Average customer service, average warranty help. Need to bee mechanical – It took a long time to bring up the gumption to buy a Patron but i felt I could make it work. Many months of searching, viewing and combing over data on camper trailers left me looking at what camper trailer I could use as a base to fix/modify in to something safe and reliable. I had seen GIC shut down conversation about their products on… Read more

forums through threats of legal action on the administrators if they didn't remove negative posts. I rang GIC and discussed the delivery and warranty problems they had been having and was assured that was due to supply issues with the previous model / batch. I wasnt overly convinced so i resolved to only buy if they had something in stock.

When i visited the Melbourne showroom i noticed the matress in the Patron was just rubbish. Talking to the salesperson he said he knew of people that fitted a queen size mattress instead of the foam slab. I repeatedly asked if he was sure a queen mattress fitted and the camper could still close with the bigger mattress. Eventually he admitted he had never done it himself but it COULD be done. I later confirmed this by email.

FWIW the $4500 of extras is probably only about $1500 worth at real world pricing.

I rang sydney and checked they had stock and asked if i come and get one from Sydney myself could someone set it up with me and go over everything with me. I was told this was fine and i also confirmed this via email. I ended up paying a deposit in Melbourne and agreed to collecting myself from sydney.

Upon collecting in Sydney I was told rego was extra and had to go donit myself. $20k and you still have to go line up at one of the worst RMS locations in Australia. I had no choice but to comply and 2.5 hrs later I was back with rego papers in hand.

I was taken outside and told to get my car. I said i was told someone would help me set it up and go over everything with me. The guy refused my request so i simply just said "that's fine, i will just have my cheque back and be on my way". Another guy soon appeared and also refused my request and implied that i was lying about the agreement because no one would have agreed to it. I produced the email and they reluctantly opened it up but still refused to properly set it up.

After connecting to the car i was informed that a warranty requirement is to repack the wheel bearings immediately. My cheap camper was suddenly getting dearer by the minute.

Got it home, did the wheel bearing and purchased a queen mattress...which didnt fit. There is no way you can fit a standard queen size mattress. Ours was even thinner than a standard queen and still didnt fit. I tried to call melbourne a few times but my calls were never returned.

A few months later i made a comment on facebook about the queen matress dilema and in return was hounded by one of the gic managers who combed through all my facebook posts and commenting that i had no proof and implying i was making stuff up. This went on for days. I have NEVER been so aggressively and invasively treated by any company. I was goaded with "show me proof and i will sort it out". I eventually provided proof of the email and the guy deleted his facebook posts and now hides from me. No reimbursement has ever been forthcoming.

After a couple months of ownership i noticed all the gas strut ends were covered in Rust. I was sent new ends but i cant find anyone to fit them. GIC are unwilling to find a repairer for me.

A warranty claim for swing arm bracing / strengthening was approved but again i had to find my own repairer which no one was willing to do mostly due to the warranty / legal implications. I found someone but then GIC said i got ripped off and refused to pay the whole bill. I have since seen many quotes from others trying to get the exact same work done and i have not seen a single quote within several hundreds of dollars of what I paid.

The shocks died and had better ones put in. Upon claiming i was told that I would be reimbursed for 2hrs labour at $77 because "that's all it would cost in Sydney". Yes, seriously!

In a nutshell...

The bad:

1) lying salesperson has left us $700 out of pocket for a custom matress

2) the foam is not goid. Our kids hate sleeping on it

3) jockey wheel is rubbish. Not even high enough for the camper trailer - replaced at own cost with XO

4) annex roof poles connection to main tent is insanely poorly designed and cause a lot of time to be wasted getting them to stay connected

5) hitch is woeful. 2t rated and you can easily accidentally go over tgat due to wrong weights. Replaced with 3.5t rated McHitch.

6) the tare and gvm weights are wrong. All tents, poles and extras should be included in the tare. There is very little room to pack your own stuff if you want to stay legal. The boat rack is nullified by the incapacity to legally carry the weight.

7) wiring to fridge compartment is poor quality and will not power anything over 60litre fridge.

8) solar panel regulator died on first trip.

9) cant access internal area without opening whole trailer

10) boat rack rusted

11) rubber stoppers on boat rack rubbed paint off top of camper trailer - now rusting

12) gas struts rusted - gic wont replace

13) volt meter died after 4 months

14) a few tent studs have pulled out from canvas.

15) agressive approach to customers from GIC. They make you feel they are doing you a favor even talking to you. Don't ever express you are unhappy.

16) shocks are rubbish and probably arent doing much straight from showroom. The difference new shicks made was huge.

17) leg support for kutchen just doesnt work

18) dining table legs come undone

19) you will always be told "oh we fixed all those problems you've heard about...this is a NEW model"

20) probably not enough water storage

21) handbrake wasn't connected properly

22) wheel bearing are crap. Every other company checks and repacks the wheel bearings before handing it over.

23) ensuite is too small hard to work with. Easier to get a standalone ensuite.

The Good:

1) seems like a good chasis to build up from.

2) front storage boxes have held together ok

3) high clearance

4) tyres seem ok - although i changed them to All terrain tyres

5) met some great gic owners with similar / same issues that are happy to help

6) second to none on space.

7) kitchen bench and slide. Heaps of bench space was one of the big deciding points for us. (That, and the queen bed...which turned out to be untrue).

8) two spare wheels and tyres

Would i buy again? Not sure... probably not. The personal attacks on social media and the GIC attitude toward the customer is probably enough to keep me referring people. Sometimes price just isnt enough.

It's the camper that matters – Hi there, firstly I'd like to point out that I have't bought a camper YET and the score I've given was derived from a lot of research comparing companies and models. My wife and I are looking at the PATRON and at this stage will get one early 2017 - we drove out to Milperra Rd to have a look. The problem I found was not the camper but the sales… Read more

person, admittedly my wife and I are new to the whole camper trailer thing. The salesman was rude and defensive about the trailer from the beginning and constantly bagged out any and all competitors from the get go. I've been in the Army for 22 years and the main thing I've learnt when in the public eye "perception management is paramount ". This guy nearly turned us off from buying the camper, luckily he walked off and a new sales person wandered over and was a pleasure to talk to. I have 3 friends that are now all but commmited to getting a Patron also next year "2017". That first salesman almost cost your company an $80 000 sale, all because he couldn't look past the competition and let the trailer speak for itself. When I do finally commit I'm sure I'll have many more friends from the army that will be interested. I should have gotten the bad salesman's name, all I know is that he walks to work as he admitted because it was a hot day. One more point that all my friends and I have noticed is that a DVD on the set up of each camper would be a great enhancement of an already great product. Please forgive me if you already have a DVD - to that point we might have been misinformed.

Patron Good And Bad – Wanted to give 2.5 stars for OK but couldn't. Qualification-This review is based on fact, I am a mechanical engineer and experienced (tent) camper, I opted for the cheaper brand because of $$$ and I was able to see it in the shop before I bought it, the overall design suited us to. Would I buy it again? Well I would do a helluva lot more… Read more

looking around first. Some issues may be seen in other campers but this doesn't make them any less valid. I hope that this helps.

If you're a representative from GIC please do not contact me however feel free to post your spiel in response to the review.

Un-evaluated

- wheel and suspension no apparent brands so are presumably generic Chinese equipment which I can't comment on until I've ran it for a bit.

- rugged off-road use (only a few bumps and a couple of creeks)

- brakes handbrake works but haven't used electric brakes yet.

Good-

-Chassis construction,

-Kitchen design one of the best I've used and wife loves the running water, except for good spot to position leg, I'll probably weld a small bracket for it.

-pump and power and lighting systems,

-Storage.

-Easy to setup.

-Surprisingly easy to maneuver

-Probably $$ but I'll have to wait a couple of years to find out.

Bad-

I would like to note that for the first couple of outings I used a very light touch during erection and pack-up to try and avoid the issues that I encountered anyway.

-No instructions, a Chinese drawing of poles is all you get which doesn't account for everything so a bit of guesswork is the order of the day (I did see a time lapse video somewhere though). Makes it feel like a foreign unit so I don't believe that GIC don't do themselves any favors there.

-Tent quality, zips break (1 every trip so far with light usage), tent easily tears (on slide out section). Sloppy fit at rear. Difficult to get into good alignment (can be done though)

-Spare wheel carrier is excessively heavy and requires a 2 person lift, very unsafe as it can fall and injure the unawares, struts are undersized and poorly positioned to counter the leverage from the weight (the engineer in me speaking)

-Spring bolt latches were not setup in the factory resulting in them not latching out on first use. This resulted in them being torn out from the kitchen and pull out section when closing (ARHHHH). A slight tap on the spring retainer was all that was needed but only noticed after the fact.