Barker Tote-Along vs Camco Rhino Tote Tank Waste Tote Review (RV Living Full Time)4K

have you considered getting a portable waist tote for your rv we're gonna put the barker four wheel tote along and direct head head competition with the camco rhino smart tote we're gonna compare all the features and benefits of both so you can figure out which one you should get this is a follow-up to our previous video on how we use our 32 gallon barker total long rv portable waste tote to extend our stays at state parks in this video i'll compare the features and benefits of the barker total long to the rhino tote tank and why we ended up choosing the barker after using the camco rhino tote tank for about six months i will score each unit on 30 different criteria then total the scores at the end now you may be surprised who wins thanks for coming back but if you're new to our channel welcome i am larry and my wife alice and i went full time in this rv almost a year ago so we could live a more adventurous life now we used the camco rhino tote tank for about six months and then i used the barker total long for about six months so i have a lot of experience with both at different types of campgrounds now how we use them is exactly the same i will leave a link right up here to our previous blue boy video so please check it out if you want to know how you and why you need to use a portable waist tote i spent three days testing these head to head filling transfer dumping filling transfer dumping back and forth back and forth while we were staying at micros gold head branch state park here in florida i really wanted to see how they performed being towed behind the truck at different speeds with a full load my rv neighbors must have thought what the heck is this guy doing now we just scored on 30 different criteria for each criteria the winner gets a one and the loser gets a zero and each criteria has a weight from zero to five depending on how important i thought that feature was zero for features that are both for same and five for a very important feature then i multiply the score weight to the scores to get a final score for each i will keep a running score on the screen as we go now first both of these units are made in the usa and they both have a two year warranty now the customer service i actually called both of their customer services and asked them a bunch of questions about both of them and i will have to say i'm going to give the score for customer service to barker because they just were a little bit more helpful in answering my questions about the unit so score that for the barker now as far as availability the barker total lung is i could really only find online i couldn't find it at any local stores but the rhino tow tank is available at lots of local stores i picked mine up a camper's in and ocala it was right there ready for me to pick up off the shelf which was really convenient i had to buy this from camping world and have it delivered and it took a couple of weeks now both of these are made from a blow molded polyethylene a very similar construction but i'm going to have to give overall construction to the barker because if it's a construction with all of its metal components and the way that they're tied to the unit now quickly go through sizes and prices and it's kind of a tie on these one but because they both offer four sizes the camco rental comes at a 15 a 21 a 28 and a 36 gallon size ranging from 83 dollars to 175 the barker comes in at 16 25 32 and 42 gallon size ranging in price from uh 204 to 336 both of those are prices on amazon now as far as weight go the barkers are actually just a couple pounds more for each size comparing the sizes and that's because of the pneumatic wheels and just the heavier construction so as far as lifting and moving them around um they're a little heavier so i'm gonna have to give it to the chemical rhino for being a little bit lighter weight now a couple of features here they both have the same three-quarter inch uh vent cap right here they both have the same same exact vent cap so it's similar in both no no winds there they both have a three-inch fill port at each end very similar fill ports and they both have ball bearings in the wheel so on those three things they're really tied the one thing i really like about the tote tank here is that it has these strap notches so that when you are strapping it up to uh you up your rv or your bike rack or whatever it is you're tying it to these strap notches really help keep the straps lined up when you're tying it down so i give the strap notches to the toe tent because the barker doesn't have any strap notches now they both have these three inch gate valves right here which is really convenient for dumping the barker has the gate valve on all four of their four wheel sizes but the rhino tote tank only has it under 28 and 38 uh 30 28 and 38 gallon sizes that the other sizes you have to tilt the tank up and don't have a gate valve the other weird thing is that the uh the barker has the tote tank uh gate valve on this side which makes sense you're pulling up to the dump station it'll be on the same side of the driver's side this is on the opposite side so actually the way i come into depending on how you come into your um your dump station it's on the opposite side so it's weird they're both on different sides but i'm gonna have to give that score to the barker total long because it has the gate valve on all four sizes now as far as wheels go you can see here that these uh the barker tote along has got these steel wheels and the rhino tote tank just has this plastic plastic stuff right here it's really flimsy looking um you definitely got to say that you the wind is here for the barker tote along really really strong uh wheels in addition to that and that's so it's a barker gets the score on on the wheels as far as the tire goes barker wins again got these awesome um tires these are 10 inch pneumatic tires so you know on the wheel and and tires the bark are totally long wins on both now another feature on the wheels that the barker has are zerk fittings for greasing the bearings which you'll see right here those are the zerk fittings right there and it really it's really good for keeping those axles and bearings greased these plastic wheels on the renault toe tank don't have anything like that so i give that score to the barker total long now as far as tow bars go the barker has this tow bar that hooks up to your truck right here and up to your hitch ball and it basically has this really convenient pin you put this in here and it attaches and it holds it and it's really convenient it comes off and you don't have to do any lifting now with the with the renault toe tank it comes with this bar to be able to hook it up to your truck over the ball but if it's full it is really hard to get this in first you have to like lift it up to get it in there and then it goes like this but you can see and then it lifts like this but you can see if it's full so it's really important when you're filling up to put the bar under first and then fill up so that when you go to lift it up you don't have to tuck it under there so i'm definitely gonna have to give the score to the barker total lung for having a better tow bar now the rhino tote tank has got this really convenient ladder hook here for attaching it to your ladder you throw a couple of straps around it and it's just built in you don't have to get any other accessories the barker total long doesn't have anything like that it's you have to find a really special way to be able to tote your uh barker along and it doesn't come with any special ladder hook so we're gonna have to give that point to the uh rhino tote tank okay now as far as lifting handles definitely going to have to give it again to the rhino tote tank it's got this really awesome strong handle for lifting it's really convenient when you're moving it and storing it when it's empty it's just has a nice handle to it the barker doesn't have any handle like this at all it is really awkward to move this thing around because there's no place to like grab onto it so definitely have to give that to the rhino tote tank okay the rhino toe tank also has this convenient sprayer nozzle so it's for rinsing you basically put it on here and it sprays the inside of your tank it's got like the sprayer nozzle in there and it's really convenient for cleaning out the inside of the tank it's a completely separate thing it has like a spraying mechanism for cleaning the barker total lung just has the vent cap just a regular vent cap so we have to give that a point to the rhino tote tank for having that extra feature as far as internal draining you could see from the bottom contours of these that they gave a lot of thought into how the internal draining works on this rhino tote tank so in practice when you are draining at the dump station with the barker you definitely have to do a lot more tilting forward and backward and from side to side to get that water to channel into the gate valve and they've just thought it a lot better on the renault tow tank just the internal construction and how it like makes everything flow to the exterior of the three inch gate valve so give that one to the rhino tote tank now as far as tank contouring for extra strength i think the rhino just did a better job of creating these deep contours in the construction to add strength to it they did a little bit of that in the uh barker toed along but it's just not nearly as well thought out and as well designed uh as it is in the rhino tote tank so give that to the rhino tote tank now the recommended speed for taking these behind a vehicle is five miles per hour but i really wanted to test these things to the max so i actually had owls driving the truck towing them with me in the back filming just to see how well they'd take the road and i was kind of listening to how well the wheels were on the road and whether they were rattling and stuff like that and i got to definitely give it to the barker total long these pneumatic wheels just took the road really really well these plastic wheels that are on the renault tote tank i was just waiting for them to melt off they never did and even though we drove it like 25 miles per hour with full tanks they both did pretty good but i definitely have to give it to the barker toad along with its pneumatic wheels for what i call tip over drains where you lift the unit up and you drain it from this valve right here the rhino tote tank was just a lot more stable it's just with this construction it's got this like little nose right here it's just designed to be able to sit really well and be really stable sitting all by itself on its end like this now the barker tote along can sit on its end like this but it is not nearly as stable it's like always just about to fall over and they just didn't design the end here to be able to do that very well plus the fact there's no handle at the top so it's really hard to lift it up to to to to drain like this plus the fact that this valve right here is not all the way at the bottom so you can't really do a good job draining what i would call tip draining like this so definitely give that to the renault tow tank that it can drain both ways both from this from the fill port and from the gate valve now storage accessories the rhino tow tank actually get a kit that comes with it for a bumper mount to be able to attach your rhino toe tank to a four inch bumper and that in combination with these strap notches that we talked about earlier really make it that they've actually thought of a way for you to help bring your rhino toe tate along with you the barker tote along they don't offer any accessories for doing that they have basically it's up for you to figure it yourself or to buy one of the accessories um that's actually made for the rhino or the thetford actually makes a mount that goes onto your ladder that's pretty good so i'm gonna have to give that score to the rhino toe tank because they actually thought of that when um putting out this product now the other thing that is really nice about having a four wheel unit is that when you're filling and you you need to like adjust the tank a little bit either move it closer or farther away from where you're filling it you just push it this thing once it gets weight in it there's no there's no pushing it because these little this ladder hook right here which it leans on just digs into the ground and there's no moving you've got to go in here you got to put the put the tow hook in here lift it up and move it back and forth now as far as included accessories um the barker really just comes with limited accessories and the stuff that they come with is actually pretty terrible but i'll go through them real quickly first of all the barker comes with this uh double fee female bayoneted ended hose right here and that's made so you can connect to here and then connect your rv and but it doesn't give you any way to visualize the fluid going into the tank it also comes with this fill hose which is really just you know you put on here and you screw on here for rinsing out your tank now the other thing it does come with it does come with caps but the caps that are here on the barker these are awful see how these rhino caps come with the little fin right here it's just so much easier on the hands to be able to turn so even the caps on the barker suck so as far as accessories um the rhino tote tank just blows it away i don't really use any of the accessories that come with my barker not even the caps i hate the caps let's go over some of the stuff in the brand so it has a very similar rinse hose that attaches onto your rinse port you can rinse it out really easily that's that's really good um but then it also comes with this 90 degree fitting which i actually use on my barker and what it does it's it's made to fit right over here it goes on here so when you're filling then you attach it to the hose it comes with this three foot hose and this is a super high quality hose just an awesome hose and then it this just uh bayonets onto your um filth connection here and then this end goes over to your rv and it's just like the perfect size for hooking up the rv and emptying your tank it's not too long and it's not too short so that is awesome now in addition to that and having awesome caps it also comes with a four in one so this is your four and one that you hook up to your sewer connection at your rv park and it has the two-piece unit to use so it'll fit in a four-inch bumper it comes with the two pieces this actually just comes in the kit because you have to have one of these when you go to the dump station because you just want to take your hose i don't know what barker's thinking i guess you you connect this up to your gate valve and then you kind of stick this into the dump station you know nobody's going to want to do this you have to have a way to connect your hose so it's a nice clean dump and that this comes with the rhino kits all this comes with the rhino kit which is awesome the barker does come with this little um bobber thing that attaches on here to help help gauge whether or not your tank is full it's actually really useless i've i tried it a couple times you really need this vent cap to be able to vent the air when your tank is filling so that was worthless so as far as accessories go just the rhino toke tank just blows it away as a matter of fact i use the sparker total loan but i use all my rhino tote tank accessories and i don't use any of the barker ones okay i left the most important thing for last and that is lifting now with the barker toe to long four-wheel unit the best part about it it has these four wheels with a steerable tow bar and you never have to do any lifting so when this thing's full of water no lifting when you have this one full and you've got to bring it from the rv get it over to the truck and then you've got to lift it onto the truck first of all you got to put the tow bar in here and so now with this thing full it'll have 200 pounds of water in this the 28 gallon size you've got to lift it up so you got to lift this up so that'll be almost 100 pounds of lifting right here you got a little bit of a lever angle here but it's almost 100 pounds of lifting so you've got to lift this full of water and you got to bring it over to your um uh truck and hook it up so you got to lift it up onto the tow bar like this with the barker towed along um you don't have to do any of that so there's zero lifting so that to me that gets the most uh the highest weight of score because that is just really really important to me and was the main reason why i got rid of the tote tank or stopped using it and got the bar her toed along because my back just not could handle uh lifting a hundred pounds of weight every time i went to go use it and that was the crusher for me so definitely that is the the highest score and a weight score and that goes to the barker total long and the major reason why i went with the barker okay so the final score 22 points for the rhino tote tank and 20 points for the barker tote along you know they're both great units but it really comes right down to it if you're okay you got a strong back the rhino toe tank is awesome it's really well built and it comes with awesome accessories but if you don't like to lift you can get the barker tote along and then grab the accessories from camco they're awesome i wish i could have the best parts of both in one unit if it is important to you not to do any heavy lifting then the choice is easy buy the barker four wheel tote along and purchase the accessories from camco separately if you have a strong back then save a bunch of money and buy the rhino toe tank however camco has come up with a version of the rhino with a steerable wheel making it a four wheel unit or you can purchase a separate wheel kit and added your rhino toke tank for about 75 bucks i personally would still get the barker because of its superior construction and the pneumatic wheels this is our second video about portable waste tanks to some people it is not an important decision but we use our portable waste tank often when staying at state parks to help extend our stay so it's important for us to get the one that best fit our needs do you have a barker total long or a rhino tote tank please leave a comment on what you like or don't like about yours if you have one of those new rhino four-wheel versions please leave a comment about your experience with that unit now if you found the information in this video valuable in your decision to purchase a blue boy please give the video a thumbs up if you like this kind of content we do lots of rv diy product reviews campground tours full-time rv living please consider subscribing to our channel by clicking this link below now i will leave a link to a playlist of similar content up here for you to check out next and remember downsizing does make sense

Channel: Downsizing Makes Cents

Views: 47,842

Rating: 4.9581995 out of 5

Keywords: Full Time RV Living, Downsizing Makes Cents, Downsizing Makes Sense, Grand Design Solitude 310GK, rv living, Barker Manufacturing, Tote-Along, Smart Tote, Camco Rhino, Portable Waste Tote, Blue Boy, How to, Compare, Test, 4 wheel, Pneumatic wheels, rubber tires, sewer hose, RV sewage, grey water, black water, rv lifestyle, rv life full time, full time rv life, full time rv living tour, dry camping tips and tricks, full time rving cost, rv life hacks, rv newbies youtube

Id: qNUaRX0vhmY

Length: 19min 17sec (1157 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 27 2020