Whether you have a motorhome, travel trailer or 5th wheel, leveling your RV is a routine part of setting up camp. But even rigs with hydraulic jacks like ours can have leveling challenges to contend with… until now. Enter the LevelMatePRO!
We recently discovered that we’d been using 20th century equipment to address a common RVing task, when 21st century technology was available. Now that we’ve updated our gear, we look at leveling in a whole new way. It’s actually fun… even cool!
Besides comfort factors, like not sleeping at an angle or having water pool up at the far end of the shower, most RV refrigerators have to be kept close to level to operate properly. While being 100% level isn’t the single most important factor in selecting a campsite, you might not feel that way when you run into the bathroom door in the middle of the night because it swung open.
We love to discover, and share, great RV products that make our lives better, and the LevelMatePRO is one of the most clever and innovative RVing devices we’ve ever seen. The fact that it interfaces with our iPhone and iPad (other smartphones and tablets work fine, too) really appeals to our geekiest tendencies. It really is downright cool, allowing us to look at leveling in a whole new way. We actually have fun leveling now, almost like it’s a game!
Check out the video to see how it works. But regardless of what type of RV you have, here’s a note of caution, just so you can’t say we didn’t warn you… When you see it, you’ll want one, too. ;-)
Recent & Related Videos:
- How to Level an RV Without Jacks, Plus a New Giveaway!
- Leveling Travel Trailers & 5th Wheels — First Time, Every Time
- The Best RV Leveling Blocks (Jack Pads)
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66 comments
Love your videos. I learn so much on how to make a complicated task an easy one.I replied once before about the width measurement but I have one more question, I hope. I have a 2013 Newmar Dutch Star and my level indicator is the same as yours, the bathroom door, however, I have to have the slide outs out to be able to see whether or not my rig is level. I can’t open the forward bathroom door all the way to let it move.Does it make a difference whether the slide outs are in or out. I usually level with the slide outs in and then extend them.
Hi Bill! We also level before extending the slides, but your case is yet another example of the benefit of a LevelMatePRO. We’d suggest that you level your rig normally (slides in) and then extend the slides. Now use your bathroom door to fine tune the level. Adjusting the level a bit with the slides out shouldn’t be any problem…. we have actually extended the slides before beginning leveling many times. Once your bathroom door is perfect, re-set the level on the LevelMatePRO (I recall it’s the “Set Level” function, which tells it that your current position is exactly level – generally used for first-time set-up). Once that’s done, you should be able to simply use the LMP to level with your slides in, without needing the bathroom door any more. Extending the slides might change your level slightly, but not likely enough to make the door swing. Hope this helps. Please let us know how you make out!
If the battery life is such a issue why don’t they provide a charger, like every other electronic gadget?
The new models have a small on/off switch, and battery life is no issue.
We’re newbies with a new motorhome and I don’t think the auto level brings it to completely level. Hope it’s not a stupid question but can we use the manual buttons to level after we used the “auto” level without screwing something up? I haven’t done a “reset” on the auto level yet as I wanted to check the new rig out first to see how well it worked. I am attempting to purchase the Level Mate Pro now. I am eternally grateful to you guys and the Wynns for all your excellent information. I’m addicted to your videos, so detailed and articulate. Keep your experiences coming. You keep your rig so pristine it makes lots of us want to join you on your journeys in camping.
Again, congratulations on your new motorhome, Joe, and thanks for your kind words. Once the auto-leveling has finished and thinks the RV is level, you can absolutely turn the system back on and fine-tune without harming anything. A good rule of thumb is to fine-tune side-to-side first (if needed) and then finish by fine tuning front-to-rear, just like the automatic system probably already does (if it’s anything like ours at least).
Here’s a quick inside tip for you about the LevelmatePRO. We just got word from the manufacturer that the first shipment just arrived to replace all the inventory we sold them out of when this video came out. They’re being readied for shipment and they should have them back in stock at Amazon soon. But there is such a huge list of people who have signed up on their website to be notified, we’d suggest that you do that too if you haven’t already ( http://command-electronics.com ). You can also be sure that you’re subscribed to our blog posts ( https://www.thervgeeks.com/subscribe if you’re not already signed up), as we’ll be making an announcement about this very soon as well. We don’t know how long the supply will last, so when the announcement comes out, we’d grab one right away, as we’re aware that at least several hundred people are on the waiting list, and not sure how many are coming in this first batch.
Just read your notice that they were sold out. Thank Goodness I ordered my early. And I did tell them that it was because of you guys that I ordered it.
So glad you ordered fast, Randy. We sold them out in no time!
Dumb question; could a phone with an accelerometer and app do nearly the same thing? We rent our RV when we’re not using it, so this would be great for us, but not our renters.
But if you could lay a phone on the counter by the fridge, say, and have it give you the same info, even if it’s not quite as accurate, that would be a great value add.
Phone apps will absolutely get you pretty level, but they won’t tell you exactly how high each wheel needs to be raised to do it (not really a factor if you have hydraulic jacks). We’re planning a demonstration later this year using the LevelMate on a rig without jacks. There is just something so perfectly precise about it. And if your renters don’t use it, at least you’ll still get to. ;-)
Thanks for sharing information on this great product. When you set this up, did you measure to your drive or tag axle?
Thanks Mark. Measure to the drive axle, even if you have a tag.
You have great information. I’ve learned so much from your videos. You are a gift to RVing.
Thanks so much, Elizabeth. Always nice to hear… you just made our day!
Hey guys! I wanted to reach out to you to thank you for giving such amazing value in all your videos. My girlfriend Kayla and I just started fulltiming this month, and we’ve learned SO much from your videos. I would be honored if we got to meet you one day. Keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re doing it right!! :)
Hey Bill! Congratulations to you and Kayla on going full-time! Thanks so much for the nice note. Maybe we’ll catch you on the road sometime.
Fantastic!! Just bought one…I’m sure this is fantastic for all RVer’s, but traveling solo with only dogs to help (they’re not great at inserting leveling blocks or driving on/off them to iterate height) will make this amazing! I am not the best estimator of the offset for each corner based solely on reading a circular bubble level, so this may be my new favorite RV toy. Thanks for the intro and review!
Excellent! Hope you like your LevelMate just as much as we do.
ROTFL! Tell you what… we’ll trade our LevelMatePRO for your solar & lithium set-up. NOW who beat whom? :) We’re tech johnny-come-latelies compared to you! Great to hear from you darlin’. Hope you & Chris are having a blast up there in New England.
Can’t wait for my LevelMate Pro to arrive! I just posted links to your video and your Amazon purchasing link, in the Fleetwood Mods & Upgrades thread in the Fleetwood Owner’s section of iRV2.
Craig
Thanks so much Gadget Man! (great screen name on iRV2). We hope you and your son love your LevelMates as much as we do.
Hi guys. Just posted a link to your video review on the Tiffin RV Net. Hope you guys are getting a commission…
Thanks again,
mike
Hi Mike! As with most of our favorite RV gear that we like enough to recommend to friends, we did include an Amazon affiliate link to the LevelMate. So we do get something when someone buys it that way, which helps fund our video productions. As always, we’ll be sure to link only to products that we use ourselves and really believe in, as we’re far more interested in providing worthwhile, credible information than the small amount we get for most sales. Thanks so much for thinking of us, and for supporting our videos!
Hi again Mike! Just saw your post on the Tiffin Network. Thanks so much. One note… the link you used actually won’t let Amazon know we sent the business their way. If you’re so inclined to edit it, the correct link is http://amzn.to/2E9Ieqj Thanks again for the support!
Wow. Glad I found this . We’ve been thinking of doing the same thing. The spot we have in FL for the winter always heats up the living room in the morning. Hope to have it installed before we go back. Thanks Again!
That looks easy once you get it all set up.
It’s actually easy to set up, too, especially when you know who to call for help. ;-) Seriously, you two could even do this one without us.
I ordered one today. Thanks so much for bringing the level meter to my attention. Love your blog.
Awesome Ken! Hope you like it as much as we do.
Has anyone installed manual window awnings on the passenger side of a 2015 Newmar Ventana? Ours did not come with them & we are unsure if they will fit & work with the full slide on that side. We have the 4037 & have been unable to get a straight answer. The catalogs don’t tell us what we need to know
Hi Gary! Not sure why there would be any difference installing a window awning on a slide-out (full-wall or otherwise), or on the side of the RV where there’s no slide. And not sure how the make or model would affect the job either. It’s the same job either way. Is there something special we’re missing that you’re dealing with on your rig? Check out the video (here) that we did on installing our window awning (on a slide-out) and let us know if there’s some other factor that you have going on that would affect the installation, and we’ll see if we can help figure it out.
Great video as always! Cannot tell you how helpful you have been over the past two years of my RV experience – and entertaining! Two questions 1) where were you in the first shot – that was outstanding! Second, I have an issue with my headlights that has yet to be solved. They are not nearly bright enough. I have had them cleaned (they are not that dull…), adjusted, and voltage checked (or so I am told). I am convinced that the only way to solve this is to add some type of auxiliary lights. Any experience/thoughts on this?
Thanks again!
Thanks Tom! That opening shot was in the Alabama Hills BLM, which is now one of our favorite dry-camping locations! It’s got more of that same absolutely stunning scenery with nice, widely-dispersed camping sites. If it had better cell reception, it would be perfect! ;) If you want to know more about it, our friends Nina & Paul have a great write-up all about the Alabama Hills here: http://wheelingit.us/2012/10/30/boondocking-site-review-alabama-hills-lone-pine-ca/
As for headlights, our motorhome has the same problem…. they pretty much suck. And they’re not fogged/dull/hazy either. We recently featured a solution that we’re going to be looking further into for our motorhome this winter, when Tyler from Tough Top Awnings replaced the headlights on his pickup truck with LEDs from M4 Products. Here’s that video, and here are the bulbs from M4. Again, we don’t have personal experience with them yet, but they looked like a huge improvement on Tyler’s truck and he seems to like them.
The only other solution we’ve ever heard about related to voltage at the headlights and required the installation of new wiring and relays, and we’d really like to avoid getting into that. If we go ahead and replace our RV’s headlights with M4 LEDs, you can bet we’ll do a video about it. :)
Hey Guys!
As always great video. I think I’ve tried just about every leveling technique out there and this seems heads above the rest. Will be ordering mine soon. Next question is a little off topic but I’m a gadget geek also and was wondering if the very beginning of your video was shot with a drone and if so did you guys do it. Just curious. I’ve got a few and love the hobby.
Safe Travels!
Thanks Randy! We did indeed shoot that drone footage ourselves, with our awesome 3D Robotics Solo Quadcopter. You can find it in our Favorite Gear listings here: https://www.thervgeeks.com/our-favorite-gear/3dr-solo-drone-quadcopter/ (it has come WAY down in price since us early adopters bought one pre-release last year). We use our GoPro Hero 4 Silver on it, but it works with a 3 or a 5 as well. If you want to see our favorite video that we’ve shot with it so far, here’s where to look: https://www.thervgeeks.com/trip-tips/trona-pinnacles/
Thanks for the reply. My hobby hasn’t quite graduated to that level yet but when it does I’ll be looking at something like the Solo or the Phantom 4. Love the desert video BTW.
Great find!
Question: When driving around for that parking lot demo I see the ‘error’ message showed when you exceeded a certain number of inches. Is that something you set, like the range of your jacks?
Request: I have also been buying some items from Amazon and have tried to link through your website like Don Tobin but have been having problems. Can you send me some information as well? Also, does Prime not work for items linked through your website or am I just looking at some non-Prime items?
We’re pretty sure the error message comes up when it’s beyond its maximum range, but we’ll check in with Command Electronics and correct that answer if we’re mistaken. Thank you so much for thinking of us… and helping to support our video productions by using our Amazon links. We always link to Prime products whenever they’re available, and the vast majority of our favorite gear listings are indeed Prime. But unfortunately, Prime does not always translate to shipping to Canada. :(
The “Error” that is displayed does indeed mean that the unit is calculating height requirements that are out of a reasonable range. In other words if your RV really was at those angles you would be in trouble! We though that displaying “Error” would be more appropriate than “Hang On!”. The reason for these out-of-range readings is that the unit uses accelerometers to measure the angle of the RV. In the video you will notice that both acceleration and deceleration will cause the “Error” to be displayed. The inertia of the RV is mimicking an extreme amount of gravity and causing the system to generate angle measurements that are out of the reasonable range. I hope this was a geeky enough answer!
Chuck Leonard
Command Electronics, LLC
That was indeed a sufficiently geeky answer, Chuck! Thanks for being so responsive here, as always.
Meant to say the Level Pro looks pretty handy. Thanks for your reviews and videos. Yours are the best on YouTube with the best info for me with a Class A Diesel like yours. Thanks!!
Thanks, Dan! Always good to hear that people are getting something out of what we’re doing!
Hey Guys,
Do you hook your power washer up to the coach water supply or just use it with water at site? Also if you do use the coach water supply would the larger 1800 psi washer using 1.5 gal work. Just curious why you went with the 1600 instead of the 1800 one.
Hey Dan,
We usually use the water connection at the site, so we don’t have to worry about running out of water from the tank. Although we HAVE connected our power washer to the coach water supply (and run the water pump and generator to power it) so we could do a quick wash once when we weren’t hooked up, but knew we would be refreshing our resources at a full hook-up site soon, anyway. So it does work. Since most on board water pumps supply at LEAST 1.5gpm, even the 1800 psi unit should work that way.
As for the size/power of the unit we have… as full timers, the physical size of anything we buy is usually the most important factor, so we went with the smallest unit we could find that had reasonable power. And since the primary use for it is to wash the RV, we don’t even WANT too much power, so we don’t risk damaging anything while washing. 1600psi has been perfect for us.
What a awesome idea you guys! I always go through the same fine tuning leveling procedure, using the door of my entertainment center. I am a gadget freak so this is right up my alley. I just ordered one, thanks!
Hope you enjoy it as much as we do, Craig!
We’re buying my first RV in 3 weeks, and this is likely to be the first (of many) toys I get for it!!
Do you guys have an ‘Amazon link’ that I can use that will get you a percentage if I buy through your ‘store’?? I want to help support your site, and I’m certain with the new RV, Amazon and CampingWorld will become our new best friends!!! ;)
Congratulations on your upcoming purchase! You must be so excited. Thank you so much for thinking of us… and helping to support our video productions. You can shop for our recommended products on Amazon by finding them in our Favorite Gear page and we’ll get credit for anything you buy.
Thanks guys, this will be a birthday present for the wife as her inner ear is so sensitive I get an earful when we are not leveled on all four corners or with the headboard just a little up (headup).
We bet she’ll be thrilled with it, Mike! It’s amazing how accurate (and fun!) this little device is! Although this really sounds like it’s a present for you! ;)
I like it! My wife watched the video and thought it was pretty cool. Maybe there will be something else in my stocking besides a lump of coal this year!
We’re rooting for you, Scott! Make sure you’re extra good until then. ;)
I really appreciate all of your tips and product reviews. As a matter of fact, I just ordered the LevelmatePro because of your review and look forward to using it. I don’t know how many times we’ve pulled into a campsite and gone back and forth trying to find the best position. This should make it a no brainer. Thanks for all of your advice. Always look forward to seeing what you have for us next .
Hey Cliff… hope you like your LevelMatePRO as much as we like ours! It always amazes us how WRONG our eyes can be when choosing a spot to park (especially when dry camping). We’ll swear a spot is close to level… and end up having to move because we CAN’T get level there! LOL! Having the LevelMatePRO makes it a snap… we can find the best spot without even getting out of our seats in the RV! :)
I echo the comment, “Don’t need it, but gotta have it!”
Pretty cool, and knowing the sticklers for detail you two are, it must be pretty precise.
The opening drone scene is awesome. Is that on the east side of Whitney, maybe around Lone Pine CA or Independence CA?
Always enjoy your videos.
We’ve been really amazed at how accurately the LevelMatePRO works… it’s been spot on EVERY time we use it.
That opening scene was, indeed, shot near Lone Pine… it’s in the Alabama Hills BLM, which is now one of our favorite dry-camping locations! It’s got more of that same absolutely stunning scenery with nice, widely-dispersed camping sites. If it had better cell reception, it would be perfect! ;) If you want to know more about it, our friends Nina & Paul have a great write-up all about the Alabama Hills here: http://wheelingit.us/2012/10/30/boondocking-site-review-alabama-hills-lone-pine-ca/
I don’t want it…I gotta have it!
Thank you for finding this
John
LOL! We’d feel the same way if we didn’t already have ours! ;)
I gotta get one of these! Never heard of it until now! Thanks, guys
Scott
Glad to help, Scott! We were really excited about the LevelMatePRO when we first heard about it… and now we’re even MORE so, now that we have it and use it. We love it… and bet you will, too.
You guys are great I’ve been following you for quite some time And I purchased a lot of your recommended items But I am from Ontario Canada And we do have a lot of problems getting the items you recommend A lot of the companies you recommend do not ship to Canada I just tried purchasing not levelling system And they do not ship to Canada either Can you recommend how we can get one Thanks Don
Hi Don… we just sent you a private email with some information. Please let us know if you didn’t receive it.