So before we bought our Jay Feather Micro, we spent three years researching travel trailers. And for a big chunk of that time we really thought that we would end up getting a Geo Pro. We were specifically looking at bunkhouses so with the Jay Feather we got the 171BH, with the Geo Pros we were looking at both the 16BH and the 19BH.
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Now, in the beginning of our journey the Jay Feather Micro line did not exist. So that is why it was not on our radar to begin with. And then when it came out there are a few reasons why we decided to go with it over the Geo Pro. We’ll go over all of those reasons now.
Floor Plan
The first reason is the floor plan. In the Geo Pros, in the 19BH model there’s no sink in the bathroom. In the 2022 models they did start putting a corner sink in the shower which would have worked for us but we were looking in 2020 and 2021 and that wasn’t the case then. But also, even though there is the little corner sink now, there’s still no counter. It wouldn’t be very easy for the kids to brush their teeth there. So, that was the drawback for us in the 19BH floor plan.
And then in the 16BH floor plan there was a really nice bathroom but the bunks did not each have a window. We really wanted both of the kids to have a window in their bunk area. Additionally, the 16BH had a slide and no full-time bed.
The 171BH, the Jay Feather Micro bunkhouse, combined what we liked about the Geo Pro 16BH and the 19BH all into one model. It has a really nice bathroom with a sink. There is a window in each bunk. And it even has a full-time bed up front and there’s no slide on it.
Refrigerator
The next reason why we went with the Jay Feather Micro instead of the Geo Pro bunkhouse was because of the refrigerator. In the 2021 line was when the Geo Pros changed and only offered a 12 volt refrigerator. We really wanted to have a gas and electric refrigerator even though we like solar power and we do have a solar setup in our trailer. We didn’t want to rely on solar for our refrigerator.
We wanted to have the propane as an option because we like to camp in shade. We like to camp under trees and we were worried about relying on solar for something as important as our refrigerator. Plus, the trailers do have dual propane tanks and there aren’t that many things that really rely on the propane when you start taking all these little items off like the refrigerator. We thought it would be the best use of our resources if we can have propane for the fridge.
Outdoor Kitchen
The next is the outdoor kitchen. So as far as the outdoor kitchen was concerned, to us they both seemed pretty equal.
The Geo Pro had a shelf that you attach to the side of the trailer and then set a flat top griddle on top. The Jay Feather Micro has their “Jay Port” (I think it’s called). It’s like a tow hitch that you can put a little table on and then it has a Blackstone that goes on that.
Now that we have the Blackstone we absolutely love it and maybe if we looked at it today we wouldn’t say that those are equal. But, when we were doing our research that really seemed like about the same outdoor kitchen set up.
Inverter
The next was the inverter. So the Geo Pro actually came with a 1000 watt inverter. And we did really like that. The Jay Feather Micro did say that it was prepped for an inverter, it was inverter ready. And so we thought well that’s probably good enough. That seems pretty much the same.
It turns out now that we’ve done a big solar upgrade with lithium batteries and added an inverter, it turns out that probably neither of those options were really sufficient for what we were looking for in our current setup. The inverter pre-wire in the Jay Feather Micro turns out that it wasn’t set up to wire everything in the trailer and then we still would have had to upgrade the converter charger and all that so we went a completely different route.
And in the Geo Pro, even though it did come with a 1000 watt inverter, I’m not sure how many outlets that covers but 1000 watts wouldn’t be strong enough to power something like a microwave.
So, when we were doing the research we thought both of those were equally good. It turns out that neither of those options was actually all that helpful. So in either case, neither trailer really had an edge up in that area.
Weight
The next was the weight. We liked the weight of the Geo Pros more than the weight of the Micro. The Micro was heavier than the Geo Pros. The 16BH Geo Pro was also shorter and we really like that because we want to be able to camp in California State Parks and there are a lot of restrictions for how large of a trailer you can take to a California State Park.
So when we purchased the trailer we had a midsized truck and so weight was a really big concern for us. We did go with the Micro. It was heavier. We did have to upgrade our tow vehicle. There is a chance that that same situation would have happened with the Geo Pros too, I’m just not sure. But, we are happy with the setup that we have now.
I still do like that the Geo Pros are a little smaller and weigh a little bit less.
Azdel
Both the Geo Pros and the Jay Feather Micros do use Azdel on the sidewalls. So we liked that. We really did want our trailer to have Azdel but that would have been the case with either of these trailers.
Enclosed Underbelly
Another selling point for us on the Jay Feather Micro was it has an enclosed underbelly. So that just gives us a little bit more flexibility to camp when it’s a little bit colder out. We don’t plan to do anything really extreme but we did just like the idea that it has an enclosed underbelly.
Availability
And then lastly, the big reason why we went with the Jay Feather Micro versus the Geo Pro was availability. This was the trailer that we were able to get. This was at a dealership that wasn’t too far away from us and so this was the trailer that was going to get us going on the road quicker.
The Geo Pros still seemed like a good option. In the end, we did like the Jay Feather Micro more than the Geo Pro, but really it just came down to availability and what we were able to get.
Conclusion
We looked at several bunkhouses and for a long time the Geo Pro bunkhouses were at the top of our list. We never were really able to figure out if we wanted the 16BH or the 19BH more. There were things we liked about one floor plan more than the other and vice versa. So that was always kind of up in the air.
The 171BH, the Jay Feather Micro bunkhouse, really just took care of that decision for us. It had all of the things we loved about those two models wrapped into this one. So we are really happy with the Jay Feather Micro.
If you liked this comparison, please let me know in the comments. We did research trailers for about three years so there were a few other models that we were pretty interested in as well and I could do a few more comparisons if this was content you enjoyed. So let me know, thanks!
