CAMC magazine. Maybe I'm alone in thinking this
This has probably been covered elsewhere, but having returned to caravanning after five years, and of course, rejoining the Club, it is disappointing to see the monthly magazine has not moved on one jot. Full of adverts which dominate the pages, and full of non interesting articles about food and insects, it seems to me it is about time it had a complete revamp. The Club will deny it, but it does seem their testing team needs a revamp too. When did they really give a proper critique of any car or caravan - maybe it's just me, but the curnt magazine deserves little more than a 10 minute flick through, then into the bin.
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Been discussed loads of time, generally with the same conclusion, the advertisements fund a the publication. I did notice this month there were only a couple of independent flyers enclosed. Buy any magazine on any subject and they are all full of adverts so the club is not doing anything unusual
Some people are interested in food and insects, you know the old adage of you can't please all the people all the time etc..
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niccho77 - no, it is not just you who is disappointed but any criticism of the Club and its products is soon removed from these forums.
I'll keep my own counsel to avoid the content being removed.
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K&M, I don’t know what causes you to think that as loads of threads on this forum are critical of the club one way or another. The comments that are removed are because they breach the guidelines or are off topic.
Yes, the magazine isn’t up to much but, as I pointed out recently, it’s simple to opt out of receiving it via the options in one’s profile.
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I would be interested to know what other caravan magazines you read that are not full of adverts? I suspect they are pretty rare on the ground. As has been pointed out those advertisements are there to pay for the production and distribution of the magazine. Now I suppose we could have no adverts but I suspect we would have to accept a higher membership fee to pay for it. I reckon that would be unacceptable to the majority?
David
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I do agree that as probably all magazines who do LV "tests?"if the write up is to critical then the Manufacturers will not supply vehicles for the magazine to be "advertised"
Over the years we have seen numerous LVs being tested on sites both "live in?"and just a day(couple of hours) tests ,the last one we saw was at FM and being nosy had a look before the testers arrived,noting several "design?" problems,so we spoke to the" testing team?"and they agreed with some of what we pointed out,but noted when reading the test in a magazine that the "problems" were glossed over,as we had mentioned that the LV was not user friendly and did not think it would be as popular as what the "revamp" was replacing,
We noted that the manufacturer has now introduced a new model which when we looked at it on a dealers forecourt it was the pre revamp under a new name
t Ps there is not an exterior socket for solar panels on any pegasus that i know of
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What does it matter if the magazine hasn't moved on for you? Is this the be all and end all of joining the club? Of starting caravaning again?
I personally would have thought that the state of the sites is of more importance to you? What would people rather have a better magazine or improvements on site?
The magazine pays it's own way I believe and I see it more of an add on than anything else. For me it doesn't really affect my club membership.
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+ 2, Corners. I really don’t care a fig about the magazine. I joined the club for the sites network, not for the publications.
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It's not really important at all in the grand scheme of things, but a more interesting, revamped magazine would be good. As a regular Club member, we use their Insurance Service for the van, their Mayday recovery service, and so far have booked some 70 nights this year on their excellent site complex. So, I am enthusiastic about the Club, but believe their magazine needs updating. Simples😄
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Ignoring the advert argument I happen to agree that it does need a revamp.
The testing is a farce, the localised report of a site is not needed and the packaging needs to be recyclable. I mostly just make sure my SD is updated vis-a-vis CLs, then flick through and recycle it. Keeps the Postie in a job.
I disagree with Moulesy (shock horror) about the RSPB magazine though. This was a ho hum mag a few years ago but in the last year is far more interesting.
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Some adverts are useful. For example there are adverts in some mags for wildlife tours and if you go on their websites they will give you an idea of what you can expect to see in areas of overseas nature reserves. I have on occasions followed their itineraries independently
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We have found lovely cottages from adverts in both RSPB and NT mags. Both are of a far higher quality than Club magazine. They all get filed under bathroom reading in our house, although we opted out of Club magazine months ago, and don’t miss it. I think it was only the CL updates pages, and the letters pages we read anyway. Not interested in tests or reviews.
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I have the MMM (The Motorhomer's Magazine) every month and it has just as many, if not more, adverts within its covers.
The letters pages are extensive, the Travel pages give a good insight into UK and European places people have visited, the reviews of sites at home and abroad are diverse, reviews of vehicles are almost as good as 'What Motorhome' and the Technical pages are usually very helpful.
Both of us read the Magazine from cover to cover.
As the OP mentioned nothing appears to have improved with the Club magazine in many years and I manage to skip through the pages in a few minutes and rarely find anything of interest - my wife gave up even opening the magazine a long time ago after finding little of note to inspire her.
How many of you think 'Oh, good, I've been looking forward to getting the Magazine' when it drops through the letterbox - and how many of you transfer it to the recycling bin within a matter of minutes ?
Still, it keeps a Printer or two in a job.
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The only magazine I buy by subscription is Motorhome Monthly. If one was being picky one could say they have a lot of advertising copy. Some of those adverts are quite informative, I ignore the rest. However the main reason I subscribe is because I find the general editorial content interesting so the adverts don't annoy me.
What worries me about those that say rather nonchalantly that they don't read the Club magazine, or throw it in the recycling bin unread or unsubscribe from it what happens if you miss an important announcement about Club policy or other important changes? It seems to me a bit like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face! There is lots in the magazine that is of not much interest to me but I always have a look through because unless I do how do I know it's of no interest to me?
David
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I though this month's edition was lack lustre, I tend to compare it with the C&CC mag which seems a bit more interesting and looks more attractive (I'm also glad to have opted for their rally supplement.) But generally I've lost interest in vanning magazines as there's only so much that can be said in them each month. Maybe there's too much out on the web now and it's a struggle to reach readers in new ways?
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I suspect only if you are signed up for email communications? It seems to me that if people complain about the magazine they might equally complain about getting too many emails from the Club. Is there a way of specifying only important announcements emails and who decides what is important? Seems to me spending five minutes scanning a magazine when it arrives would solve those problems.
David
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Is that so most of us won’t see it?😄
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I wouldn’t worry about any Club policy changes DK, any kind of change, little or big tends to send Disgusted of Doncaster or Overjoyed of Ottery typing merrily on forum at some point or other. I refer you back to losing a metre off dog tie up leads last year...........😱🤣🤣🤣🐾🐾🐾
Name change, Warden uniform change, Signage change, having to use cash in reception shops, allowing Motorhomes on sites, flying flags, welcoming tent campers, losing the mops, dog washes, bike washes, endless source of (often very amusing) debates and chats. 😁
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The magazine divides members and there is no right answer except that the adverts pay for it so they are necessary. I like the content as do many others but whatever you include some will like it and others will not, it is just a matter of different things suit different people.
I accept there is a lack of criticism though in the magazine tests but this applies to the others too. Possibly if there is harsh criticism then they would get no more to test.
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I agree with the original post and that the magazine is dull and needs an major overhaul. Accepted, it needs adverts to pay its way but it is the content which is staid, safe and boring. I do look through every month but gain no great satisfaction from it. As a bit of a 'petrol head' I find the car reviews particularly insipid and uninspiring.
As for the rest of the Club...we have the insurance for the van, use some sites, lots of Cls and the ferry/tunnel booking service and can't complain about any of it.
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But yes,I agree, I do actually look through the RSPB mag.
