What Are The Best Travel Trailers Under 5000 Lbs?

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Last Updated on November 28, 2024 by Paul Clayton

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What Are The Best Travel Trailers Under 5000 lbs?

Many travel trailers are available nowadays, and with that exceptionally wide range, it is pretty challenging to decide. We have researched new and used travel trailers to help you decide.

So why not use a shortcut and see what other people like?

Key Takeaways

- Jayco 2020 Hummingbird: This compact yet well-equipped model offers a variety of 7 floorplans and features 13,500 BTU AC, a 2-burner recessed cooktop, and solar charger prep.
- Winnebago Micro Minnie: This slightly heavier model has more space and 7 floorplans. Notable features include an LED TV, an 18,000 BTU furnace, and a 6-gallon DSI/gas/electric water heater. It offers significant upgrade potential.
- Starcraft Satellite: This is a simplified choice with fewer floorplans but still well-equipped. Features include a 2-burner range, convection microwave, and solar prep. It is suitable for those not planning significant upgrades.
- Coachmen Apex Nano Series: This series is known for its comfort, with nine floorplans and features like a stainless steel microwave and an outside shower. It offers a high cargo capacity and is ideal for those prioritizing comfort despite a higher price.
- Forest River SALEM FSX NORTHWEST: Budget-friendly with four floorplans, providing good interior space and upgradability. Primary features include a 2-burner cooktop and water heater, but it lacks some amenities like AC and furnace.

Summary

Given the many options, choosing the best travel trailer under 5000 lbs can be daunting. This guide simplifies decision-making by highlighting five standout travel trailer series, each with unique features and benefits.

The Jayco 2020 Hummingbird series stands out for its variety and compact, well-equipped models, making it a versatile option for various needs. The Winnebago Micro Minnie offers more space and potential for upgrades, with essential features like an 18,000 BTU furnace and LED TV. Starcraft Satellite simplifies the choice with fewer floorplans but sufficient basic amenities, which is ideal for those not planning extensive upgrades.

For those who prioritize comfort, the Coachmen Apex Nano Series offers spacious and well-equipped models at a higher price. Finally, the Forest River SALEM FSX NORTHWEST provides a budget-friendly option with ample interior space and potential for future upgrades, though it lacks some higher-end features.

Each series offers a unique combination of features and benefits, catering to different needs and preferences and ensuring a suitable travel trailer for everyone.

We know the struggle of looking through hundreds of models, so we’ve sorted things out. This allows us to present to you a list of our favorite travel trailers under 5000 lbs. We’ve picked five travel trailer series for today’s material.

If you aren’t looking for anything right now and want to geek out over some spectacular travel trailers, then maybe you’ll find something interesting. And believe us, the trailers we picked for our list have some remarkable things.

If you are about to buy a travel trailer, our little top may come in handy for you as well.

Without further ado, let’s have a look at what those compact travel trailers have to offer!

5 Outstanding Travel Trailers Under 5000 lbs

1. Jayco Hummingbird

Jayco Hummingbird is among the market’s smallest below-5000lb travel trailers. Regarding comfort, it isn’t the best model line on our list. Still, we included it in our top due to the variety it provides.

First, are 7 floorplans available for the Hummingbird travel trailer series UVW (Dry Weight), ranging from 2,000 lbs to 3,950 lbs.

Floorplan	10RK	16MRB	17RK	17FD	17RB	17BH	17MBS
UVW, lbs	1545	2780	2980	2845	2890	3015	2990
GVWR, lbs	2000	3550	3950	3750	3750	3950	3950
L x W	13’ x 80”	19’10” x 97”	19’10” x 97”	19’10” x 97”	19’10” x 97”	19’ x 97”	19’10” x 97”
Bed size	54 x 74	60 x 75	60 x 74	60 x 74	60 x 74	37 x 74	60 x 75
Bathroom	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dinette	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Height (interior)	53”	78”	78”	78”	78”	78″	78”

They all have pretty different layouts, starting from the simple and basic layout of the 10RK and ending with the pretty roomy layouts of the 17HB and 17MBS travel trailers.

And while the 1545lb 10RK can’t boast that much comfort compared to its bigger brothers, it could be a good option for those who don’t have a powerful towing vehicle. It is a very, very compact travel trailer.

Overall, to be fair, Jayco 2020 Hummingbird travel trailers can’t boast the most significant room on our list. But these trailers can compensate for this with other things.

In particular, the Hummingbird series’s base package is also something we love about it. Even the most basic package includes plenty of items in it. The most notable among those are:

13,500 BTU AC unit.
Folding 2’ x 4’ picnic table.
2-burner recessed cooktop.
1A USB port.
110V/USB tower.
Solar charger prep.

These are among the hummingbird’s basic features. There are also plenty of others, but these are the ones that we think are the most notable.

Interestingly, Hummingbird also comes with the mandatory Jayco customer value package, which includes several other goodies. Among things like stabilizer jacks, electric brakes, Goodyear tires, and aluminum rims, the customer value package includes the following items:

Outside shower.
6-gallon gas/electric DSI water heater.
18,000 BTU furnace.
3 cu. ft. 2-way refrigerator.
Convection microwave.

So yeah, you see why we like the Jayco Hummingbird travel trailer series, right? They come so equipped right out of the dealership despite their size! And you could get them even more equipped by getting the extras offered by Jayco.

Another package is also available for Hummingbird travel trailers, which includes a 24” LED TV and 15” off-road mud tires.

Another thing that we like in Hummingbird travel trailers is their design. While you can’t expect to get something spectacular at this price point, we do have to admit that these trailers look rather sleek. This isn’t necessary in RVs, but that’s just another thing we like about this series.

The manufacturer of this series itself should also be noted. Jayco has been on the market for years, and they certainly know what they are doing with trailers. Their RVs may be a bit overpriced compared to the models of the lesser-known players on the market, but that’s the price of consistent quality.

2. Winnebago Micro Minnie

Winnebago Micro Minnie travel trailer series is more oriented towards heavier models. The trailers in this series don’t go as light as in the Jayco Hummingbird series. They are noticeably bigger and roomier.

There are 7 floor plans to choose from, and the UVW (Dry Weight) ranges from 3,010 lbs to 4,260 lbs.

The Winnebago Micro Minnie series has 10 floorplan variations, but they are all very similar. The main difference between them is their size. However, as you’d expect from this material, all of these trailers have less than 5,000 pounds dry weights.

What we like more about the Micro Minnie series than the Jayco Hummingbird series is upgradeability. Except for 1700BH, all the models have 7,000 pounds of gross vehicle weight capacity (GVWR). This means these trailers have plenty of extra capacity, allowing the owners to add plenty of extra gear in the future.

In addition, a Hummingbird travel trailer would be good if you upgrade your towing vehicle slightly. Otherwise, if your vehicle isn’t going to support over 5,000 pounds, getting an RV from this line doesn’t make sense.

The Micro Minnie travel trailers are also pretty remarkable in terms of equipment. Among the essential items they come with are:

Carbon monoxide detector.
LP gas detector.
Smoke alarm.
LED TV.
Single-door gas/electric refrigerator.
3-burner range with oven (not available on 1700BH; it has a drop-in 2-burner cooktop instead).
Stainless steel sink.
Spare tire.
Outside shower.
18,000 BTU furnace.
Solar charger prep.
6-gallon DSI/gas/electric water heater.

Because they are entirely in stock, Winnebago Micro Minnie travel trailers are exceptionally equipped. Another thing we like about this series is that it comes with almost everything one may need.

In terms of design, the Micro Minnie series may look less sleek than the Jayco Hummingbird, which may matter for some people. But Winnebago is no less trustworthy manufacturer than Jayco because they have also been on the market for a long time.

3. Starcraft Super Lite

The Starcraft Satellite travel trailer series is similar to the Winnebago Micro Minnie series. This is one of the reasons we included this series in the list of our favorite travel trailers under 5000 lbs.

But before proceeding further, let’s examine the specs of Satellite trailers’ floorplans. The UVW (Dry Weight) ranges from 3,081 lbs to 3,515 lbs.

Certainly, this series can’t boast as much versatility and width of choice as Jayco Hummingbird and Winnebago Micro Minnie. For some people, the narrower choice may be a downside.

But from a particular perspective, fewer options can sometimes be much better. Satellite won’t require you to dive too deep into the specs. Everything is pretty evident; some people will like this approach much more.

You may also have noticed that Satellite series travel trailers have a lower GVWR of 3790 and 3950 pounds. This is nowhere near the 7000 pounds that most Micro Minnie trailers had.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Some people don’t plan to change their vehicles, and if you are such a person, then the GVWR of these travel trailers should be good enough for you.

While the floorplan variety of Starcraft Satellite series trailers isn’t that big, their option & feature list is comparable to those of the previous two travel trailer series. That is, Starcraft includes all the basic things that one would need to get started, including:

13,500 BTU AC unit.
Convection microwave.
Electric tongue jack.
DSI/gas/electric water heater.
Radial & nitrogen-filled tires.
2-burner range.
Solar prep.

Some of these items come with the mandatory Premium and Customer Convenience packages. There is also the extreme package with its off-road mud tires, extra ground clearance, and insulated underbelly. You could also order Starcraft to set up this thing following Canadian standards.

Ultimately, what we like the most in the Satellite series is that they don’t put the buyers before a difficult choice. With just a couple of options, they deliver the bare minimum. Besides, we feel that this travel trailer would be good for people who aren’t looking to upgrade their vehicles.

4. Coachmen Apex Nano Series

The Coachmen Apex Nano series is a clear winner in the comfort category. Despite their lightness and compactness, these travel trailers are the most comfortable on our list.

The 9-floor plans range from a UVW (Dry Weight) of 2,850 lbs to 3,928 lbs.

For some reason, Coachmen doesn’t provide the bed sizes for all the models in this series. However, they are all about the same size. If you look closely at the bed sizes, you’ll notice they are more significant than in the other trailer series on our list.

The larger options with 213RDS at the top are especially comfortable. They not only have all the essential appliances one would need, but they are also quite roomy. This is pretty mind-boggling, given the light weight of this series model.

These travel trailers also have good headroom. They can carry a cargo of 1000 to over 2000 pounds, which is plenty.

The features & options package included with this travel trailer series is also pretty abundant:

DSI water heater.
Stainless steel microwave.
2-burner cooktop.
Solar prep.
Outside shower.
Fire extinguisher.
Smoke alarm.
Carbon monoxide detector.

While the base package of the Coachmen Apex Nano travel trailers is pretty rich, certain items aren’t included.

For example, this travel trailer series offers options for a 13,500 BTU AC and a 20,000 BTU furnace. The base package was also included in most of the other trailer series on the list.

This was probably done to keep the price of the Apex Nano travel trailers down. They are already more expensive than all the other series on the list, but that’s just the price for the level of comfort this series delivers. So yeah, we can’t say that Apex Nano trailers are exactly budget-oriented.

But in the end, it could be worth it for people who value comfort above everything else.

5. Forest River SALEM FSX NORTHWEST

To close the list of our favorite travel trailers under 5000 lbs., we’ve chosen the Forest River Salem FSX Northwest trailer series. We like this trailer series because of its budget orientation, but it still boasts some good comfort.

The 4-floor plans range from UVW (Dry Weight) of 3,235 lbs to 3,574 lbs.

The two main things that catch the eye in this chart are the length of these trailers and their headroom in terms of cargo-carrying capacity. Each model has over 1000 pounds of additional capacity, more or less depending on which one you choose.

Because this travel trailer series has pretty long floorplans, they can all boast plenty of interior room. While Salem FSX travel trailers most likely won’t compare with Coachmen Apex Nano trailers, there are still some remarkable levels of comfort.

So, for the price, you get a lot of headroom for upgradability with this travel trailer series.

On the other hand, one would have to give up something to get so much comfort for such a low price, right? And that’s indeed the case.

Regarding packaging, Forest River Salem FSX travel trailers aren’t the most equipped on our list. This is probably where Forest River made some sacrifices to make this model cheaper.

Sure, you get plenty of useful features like a two-burner cooktop, microwave, and water heater, but nothing like AC or furnaces is included with this series. You could get some optional features like a 26” LED TV or a double-step main entry, but the choice is a bit more limited.

All this data comes from Forest River’s website, though, so remember that the package may vary from dealer to dealer. In addition, Forest River may not have included the full list of features in their trailers.

Nonetheless, we still like this travel trailer series very much. Otherwise, we wouldn’t include it in our list. It is designed for people needing cheaper travel trailers with fewer features.

In the future, buyers of a Forest River Salem FSX trailer can equip it with better things. After all, as we mentioned, this series offers plenty of interior room!

If you liked this article, you might also want to check out our other travel trailer recommendations here or learn more about RVs here.

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