OPUS LITE 8 MONTH REVIEW, TALKING ABOUT WARRANTY WORK, + PRO'S AND CONS

THIS IS A 8 MONTH REVIEW ON OUR OPUS LITE, DISCUSSING THE WARRANTY WORK THAT HAS BEEN REQUIRED , THE PROBLEMS WE HAVE FACED, AND THE THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT OUR OPUS LITE

[@stuartmaeshiro2254]

Thank you so much for the info. What a great and honest video. I'm going to apply what you've learned and apply it to my OP2. Keep up the great work. Thanks again!!!

[@Millsy67]

Good video Ryan. Definitely understand your pain on the issues and great to see that the company is stepping up and looking after you with warranty. Will have to get the SC FF Gen2 out on a trip with you after our Dirk Hartog trip

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Sounds good millsy you can tell me all about dirk Hartog will be doing it next year definitely a bucket list trip

[@user-wg8ts3eq3k]

Thank you Ryan for this review. I will reference the issues you have raised when/if I contact an Opus dealer. I see that water and dust is a common theme on other reviews.

[@stuartmaeshiro2254]

Thank you so much for the video. I've just put a deposit down on an OP2. Your video did not deter me but gave me talking points to speak to the seller. Take care and safe travels!

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Nice Stuart thankyou for the comment From what I have seen the op2 and 4 dont seem to have the same problems I have had , the only one I'd say that seems to be a common issue is the suspension sagging

[@shaynejurriaans4601]

gday mate, a really great run down of pros and cons, well done. i am and have been set on an opus 4 for quite some time and you have now given me some great advise and knowledge although a different camper its a huge heads up, P.S, you must be a better guy than me, warranty or not i would be livid lol. Happy and safe travels, thanks heaps

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

honestly the anger was taken out on them haha so once they sorted it out I was calm haha

[@camsin1973]

Really good review mate 👍

[@ailo4x4]

My MDC Highside Cruizer will leak a little water in under the front top seal if driving in heavy rain. The guy I bought it from had a PVC pip cut in half (like a roof gutter) on the inside that would drain away anything that leaked into a small bottle by the door. I'm going to make a poly canvas cover for the front corner of the living area box to cover that seam that can be used if i need to drive in heavy rain. It might be an idea for you too. The seal is fine for dust. Happy trails!

[@claudiocastro5351]

Thank you for your honesty! I’ll be definitely making sure the rectify a lot of your concerns on my Light! Which I still haven’t got, it’s been almost a year since my deposit. 🤬

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Wow your still waiting !! Holy crap

[@claudiocastro5351]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery tell me about

[@rowdyrodcumming]

Great to hear such an honest review. I’m planning on buying a camper and the Opus lite is currently a top contender as I have a subie outback with max towing capacity of 1800kg. Only thing I’m concerned about at the moment is the bed size as I’m 6 foot tall. Hoping to check one out at a showroom this weekend.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Thanks rowdy I'm 6ft3 and width wise there is plenty of room , length wise sometimes my feet hang of the end and other times they don't but it doesn't faze me to much as I sometimes like to tuck my feet inbetween the footrest and mattress on your queen bed so it feels similar We have a 2" gel infused mattress topper which I cut to shape and stitched back up with the help of my mother I law which made our nights sleep much more pleasant The mattress dimensions are 1520mm wide by 1840mm long And you loose a tiny bit of width down the bottum due to the air beams being there . So down the bottum is 1070mm wide for around 180-200mm and then opens back up to 1520mm wide I hope this helps I'm bad at explaining stuff in writing sometimes haha

[@noahs8002]

Should keep Cub Campers in mind too as an option.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

@@noahs8002 yep definetly love cub campers anything Australian made I'm for

[@rubymouse6904]

Very helpful. This isn't available in the UK yet but maybe they will have ironed out the niggles once it does get here.

[@ZoranAUS]

Fark! looking this trailer at my top spot, but bloody hell i wonder if they're corrected all issues since.

[@LiniousRHoliday]

Thanks for being honest

[@johnmaurer3670]

Excellent video! Yep, I would be smokin mad after paying all that money to have such shoddy workmanship? One of the reasons I went with the 4Runner instead of the Rover, I’m not a patient man like you!

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Haha I was looking at a late model hilux stuff before buying the landy , hard to find a tidy one over here

[@andypopeye5073]

Thanks for the info as we have just been told our New Lite delivery is now 3 weeks away. I will be checking everything you have mentioned mate. I will also be making their life hell if after spending $28K there are issues like this. Cheers

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Exciting times ! 3 weeks is going to feel forever away

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Also only spent 26.5k with opus the rest is what I have done to the trailer so no labour costs involved

[@garretlewis4103]

Looking at these. Thanks for the video. Water intrusion is the worse! It is a shame you pay a lot of money for something and there are a bunch of issues. Opus is not the only builder who does this. (Charge a bunch of money and have build quality problems.)

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Yep unfortunately I think if I want quality built I'll have to build my own again There a great camper that just require more attention to detail when being built

[@darylgibbons2666]

Great honest review

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Thanks mate, u treating yourself to a opus Christmas present are ya 😉🤔🤣

[@andrewford80]

Cool video. I think you're absolutely justified in being pissed off with the dust and water getting in. I'd have been raging. Hope it's all sorted now. Im also totally with you on eating all the snacks and chocolate early on. You never know whats gonna happen. Yolo.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Ended up sorting the leaks out myself , and got the trailer to a good standard and then sold it so we could pay for a driveway and patio Sounds like we would be eating all the good food by day 2 hahah

[@greasemonkey9329]

Good Honest video mate. Look Ill be quite honest with you, love the concept and the ease of set up, good looking trailer, doesn't get much better. However that is where it ends. For the 30Kish you've shelled out, you've brought a lot of inherited Quality control problems: Sub standard looms, batteries, rack mounts, gas struts, water and dust proofing, jockey wheel and in some cases sub standard welding, which is all indicative of Chinese manufactured trailers. You probably should have kicked the can a bit more and brought Australian made Cub. Probably just as quick to put up with far less headaches. Never the less all the best with your trailer and the Landy , hope they both behave themselves. Happy Camping :-)

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Morning all these issues are sorted now the fact they were issues to begin with is definetly a joke but now it's running sweet we love the trailer haha 😅🤣 In regards to speed of setup in relation to a normal forward fold with an annex nothing comes close Around 10 minutes to unfold and inflate including the annex and another 5 minutes to slap in 5 pegs and pull out the kitchen Without an annex a normal forward fold I would say is just as quick that once you have to start setting up poles and zipping on the annex is where we save a heap of time unfortunately going to sell it soon as the new house we bought needs some coin spent on it and we have just finished spending all our savings haha 😄 thanks for your comment

[@greasemonkey9329]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery glad to hear that it’s all sorted. It’s a pity your thinking about selling with not a lot of use. But hope you get sorted with the house. 😀🍺🍺

[@benjaminhardy2128]

Mate, love the OP Lite videos. Very informative and helped with my decision to purchase one. I saw in one of your videos that some owners have retrofitted rear recovery points. Do you have any details about this or have you done this yourself? Ben.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Hey Ben I don't have to much info on it as what they had done was make the gu patrol front recovery points fit to the rear but it was fitted to a really weak point in my opinion and wouldn't recommend it I was going to make a brace that linked both sides of the chassis together with a central recovery point on it but decided I didn't think it was going to be strong enough

[@benjaminhardy2128]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery Thanks, mate. Was thinking the same. Someone from Opus responded to say if I do install any recovery points to make sure it was attached to the A-frame. Not sure if I'll do it or not. Probably won't. Will see after I take delivery tomorrow and climb under it and see for myself. If I figure something out, I'll let you know.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

@@benjaminhardy2128 I've sold my opus now unfortunately as we bought a old fixer upper house and needed the cash The chassis on the lite was only right angle down the back and definetly not what I would call strong enough for a recovery with the vehicle attatched But could probly use it for just recovery the trail if the recovery point was designed right Enjoy your opus mate hopefully they have sorted all the little issues out now

[@Corey-pd3mi]

Nice of you to remain positive about them. It’s good that they fixed it but water and dust ingress is fundamental to the intent of these things. Suspension, not good. Roof rack, not good. Batteries, not good. Insulation of fridge compartment, not good. No rear recovery point, wtf. They are for off road. Sounds like it’s both poor design and poor build quality. I’ve been considering one, I like the concept of the things, the concern holding me back has been durability 🤷‍♂️

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

I think unfortunately every make of trailer seem to be dropping quality to pump out quantity here in Australia at the moment everyone I no is having dramas with there new trailers / caravans it's a bad time to buy new that's for sure haha

[@andypopeye5073]

Have you decided on the best spot for rear recovery points? I notice many people say the metal channel holding the spare wheel frame is too thin to mount a recovery point. Meaning the mount needs to go on the A Frame.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

I havnt really found somewhere that I trust yet to be honest

[@davidanderson9043]

Very good review. I can understand your disappointment in buying something new and not what you expected. Just interested on your thoughts on the fridge?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

The fridge worked well and we could fit heaps of food in on average it used around 3.5amps an hour if pre cooled on 240volt Is cooling from scratch it average 5.5amps an hour for the first 2hours or so and then drop down It is a noisey fridge but done what was intended, we also ran one side fridge and the other freezer and it lasted kerry and myself around 7 days before need more food

[@davidanderson9043]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery thanks. We looked at this brand (caravan though) opted for another brand with the same fridge, hence my question. Thanks again

[@llowielynbatara1089]

Really good video.I am in between deciding with this and the MDC Explorer or the AUSRV superlite. HEre in the US, this is like $1k more and does not come available with the roof rack even as an option which sucks. How is the inflatable beams holding? Realy worried with it getting punctured. Thanks.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Hey mate The air beams are solid as when pegged properly and hold the canvas super tight so no flapping It is a learning curve getting the pegging down correct but once you figure it out it's really solid we had 90km *50ish mph* winds one day and although it was coping a hiding the trailer held up to it really well

[@llowielynbatara1089]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery thanks great to hear. actually just came back from the dealer. They have an extra opus 2 rack that I can have and they will just cut and reposition the actual tray in the middle. It has exactly the same length and will fit the bracket it attached to on the body.

[@llowielynbatara1089]

Hello. Bought the lite and still havent placed the roof rqck for the op4 yet. Found a metal fabricator who will help me do some cutting and just need an idea how tall those 3 poly/rubber bump stops that the dealer put on there. Thanks.

[@kristinbrown7737]

Ryan, just wondering if the water leak problems are prone to ALL Opus Lite trailers or just some? We just saw one recently that had been outside. When the dealer brought it in and opened it up, it had a 1/2 inch of standing water plus all the cushions and bed were wet. I have looked all over the internet expecting lots of people to complain about this problem, but they aren't talking about it. We also had significant issues trying to zip the door shut. We don't even know how to fix that at all either..Any chance that some trailers don't have the same problem with the zipper and water?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Hey Kristin for us the trailer was getting wet only when driving in the rain , was coming through the door seals If yours is leaking whilst parked up in your driveway chances are is coming through where they sikaflex all the joins or through the pot rivets I had dramas in the past with tool boxes leaking through the pot rivets so I sealed them up straight away but I would start with going over all the joins looking for gaps in the sealer And also making sure that none of the tent or mattress get caught in the seal when being packed away Specially the front seal make sure you can see through to the other side when closing the lid otherwise the mattress can get caught in the seal

[@southerngentleman5321]

ooosshhh... not good the normal construction let down the airside.. many thanks bro

[@trentnnat]

I’m looking at these for the simplicity of setup and weight as it has to go where the 4wd can go same as you, it good to see your review of the good and the bad. I was considering doing basically everything you have done straight of the bat as well, battery upgrade, solar, and suspension (I always thought they sat too low, don’t care about drought skirt), I just hope opus and their dealer network are aware of these basic no doubt common problems and rectify them prior to deliver in the future. The swing out shower tent on the strut is a great idea 👍 well done I intended to do the same but just mount flat on the rack, but also extended the pressure water line to the rear storage area and have a permanent shower head and tap located on/next too the compartment door for quick and easy access. But otherwise it’s good to see you report these problems and give everyone a good chance at getting a better product in the long run 🤙

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Thabks mate appreciate it I think a few things are already addressed like they come factory now with the roof rack and lithium battery unsure about Wether the suspension is sorted The door leaking was a common problem but seems to be sorted in the later models Probly going to sell mine soon as we bought a new old house that we need the money for doing up the kitchen and laundry

[@trentnnat]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery ha ok was going to ask what's next (next better replacement camper)? Because even though it's "good" general people who are willing to fix it are also always looking for what's next and better 😅 but an actual house takes priority. Also looking at Hitch campers from the gold coast as a more pod style camper but no real living space per say and double the price. Anything else you would have considered for that sub 30k price range?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

@@trentnnat haha yeah the misso looses her mind at me haha Honestly mdc are good value for money but the setup is annoying The 1100-1500kg and quick setup is what I love about the opus Otherwise I'd go a jayco outback swan or dove that way there's less canvas Still not fully decided on Wether to sell or not as we still love the trailer but could really use that extra money on this new house haha

[@trentnnat]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery yeah we are on the same wavelength, I would go 1 of those for the exact same reasons and they are really light too, BUT the wife hates the idea of the internal kitchen, wants an external kitchen no matter what so it's a bit of a game stopper, I have found an older 1 called a Windsor Silhouette which looks great but again becomes too heavy, can't win 😅

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

@@trentnnat just invest in a drifta kitchen box , slide it in the jayco wheb it's packed up there heaps of room under the beds where they slide in Then when you get to camp setup the drift kitchen and boom all sorted The jayco Swan outback is only 940kg dry 🍻 only down fall is its wide lr but that's easy to work with

[@margymilne756]

Wow ... your a very patient man

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

There has been alot of swearing and carrying on behind the scenes but sometimes, you need to roll with the punches especially when they have been doing everything under warranty haha

[@margymilne756]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery we looked at them but kept going back to the blackseries dominator... we love it.. to be honest after seeing your video .. I'm glad we didn't get it... my hubby would not of been impressed at all... I showed him your video and he was like nope straight back and a refund lol... that's why I said you where a patient man lol

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

@@margymilne756 if I hadn't of already put 3k into modifying it I'd probly of asked the same , but as far as setting up is concerned it absolutely destroyed any other forward ford for speed of setup specially for people wanting to run there annex , I've just been pushing them hard for warranty ect to hopefully make them improve future lites so other people don't have this problem haha As far as I no the op2 and 4 are hassel free so hopefully the lite is soon aswell

[@VictorVlogsPDX]

Been looking at a Lite for awhile. Had no idea you could add the rack. Did you order it through the dealer or somewhere else? Is it direct bolt on or did it require any modifications?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Hey Vic it's a direct bolt on for the Australian market when I ordered it it was $1150 ontop For what I've seen I no it's not an option for the us unsure about anywhere else

[@lydiafehring670]

Ryan, if you had your time again with what you now know, would you still purchase the lite? Thanks

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

If we were to do it again we probly would have gone a 12ft hybrid caravan But as far as something that is light weight easy to set up and can be towed alot of places I think I would still pick the lite Unfortunately nowadays you have dramas from just about every manufacturer with quality control so I don't think things would be much different if I went a different brand of forward fold The air inflation is amazing and sort of balances out the thrustrations that we have had

[@lydiafehring670]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery thanks so much for your reply!

[@malanalan1]

Any issues with canvas? Is it easy to zip the door flap? Any issues with other zippers? Is the canvas well aligned?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Canvas has been fine and is good quality, if you don't peg the tent down at the end to square the whole tent up the door can be hard to zip but 9 times out of 10 is very easy No zips have broken, one of the door clips things that pops onto the door has pulled out but that's it so far

[@malanalan1]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery Lucky you. I can't zip the flap door in my OP2. The canvas is misaligned or too small for the frame, Will have to travel 650 km (LA to SF) to Northern California where Opus USA is located. I am really disappointed with quality of the tent/canvas. It is just horrible. Just about any zipper is a struggle.The trailer is unusable. If I knew what I know now I would have gone with OP4. OP2 and Lite have inherent design problem with canvas.The rear side of OP2 is just a disaster. There is almost nothing there for the canvas to hold onto. That low profile flange is unable to withstand canvas tension. The canvas just pops up.

[@KDT88]

when i talked to my dealer they said the rack was only rated at 200kg closed over not upright

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

makes sense, Thats why they make the rack so it can fold all the way over to the floor for people who want to run tinnies and stuff , definetly wouldn't want 200k sitting upright haha

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

well thats what i was told anyway that it folds all the way over for your tinnies and shit but unsure how you would go about lifting it back over

[@pjcd7016]

Is it true that these trailers are manufactured in China and assembled in Australia?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Morning mate yeah that's correct , unfortunately just like 90% of the trailers sold over here

[@kingchief4038]

The water and dust i would be fuming, i wonder if its a regular occurrence? How does it go with running the fridge on non powered sites, Given the solar panels are underneath when folded out?

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

I was raging but they clea Ed it right out and went over it , if you flick through my videos you will see I done a tilting solar panel on some gas struts to tilt the panel back out when the rack is lifted up , when it's tilted I get between 5-7amps depending on how strong the sun is This is enough to top the battery up but with me running one side fridge one side freezer on a 95ltr fridge it draws around 4amps an hour so I'm down normally to 50% -65% in the morning and with just that one panel will be back at around 85% in the arvo So for me I run a solar blanket aswell and combined I pump in 13amps which charges it insanely fast

[@kingchief4038]

@@OUTBACKDiscovery Thanks for taking the time to respond, ill be sure to see your other videos :)

[@scottlettrich]

Extremely jealous the OP Lite is offered with a luggage rack, not an option that Opus offers in America for the Lite

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

It's very handy considering the little storage space they have inside Does add alot of weight though

[@scottlettrich]

Bit of a long shot: any chance you’d be willing to take some measurements and photos or just a video walk around of the rack so us Yanks could get one fabbed up ourselves? Opus still isn’t offering one in the States😢

[@gadgetphilosophy8290]

Sounds like a nightmare.

[@OUTBACKDiscovery]

Definetly been a pain havnt had chance to test it again since my engine let go hahaha