The guide is written by someone who sleeps in the product.

I'm Mark Abplanalp. I live in Post Falls, Idaho with my wife and our rescue dog Roxy, and I own a 2013 Sportsmobile Sprinter van that has carried us across the American West for years. Starry Van exists because buying a Class B was harder than it should have been: glossy brochures, contradictory spec sheets, and reviews written by people who had never spent a night in the vehicle.

Why Starry Van exists

A decade ago I started looking for a van with zero experience in the RV world. I didn't grow up camping, and I didn't have an unlimited budget. There were so many choices, and I had no idea where to start.

My first van was a Ford Transit that doubled as my work van. I built a platform bed, added a Rixen petrol heater, a 50 amp-hour lithium battery and a portable toilet, and called it good. It worked for a couple of years, but my wife and I wanted something that wasn't a work van, with more space.

What followed was two years of investigation, mostly because I was disappointed in what I found. I'd see a van I liked, then read the customer reviews and half of them were horrific. Cabinets stapled together. Water lines run on the outside of the van, which matters a great deal if you want to use it three or four seasons. Water capacity, power, on and on. Just so many options, and no straight answers.

In 2019 we pulled the trigger on a 2013 Mercedes Sprinter 170 EXT built by Sportsmobile. It had only 54,000 miles on it when we bought it, and it has been amazing ever since.

Starry Van exists to be an easy way to explore the options, whether that's a custom bespoke builder, a factory brand off the lot, or something in the middle, and whether you're buying new or used. Van life has brought my wife and me so much joy and so many amazing experiences. We don't live in our van. We're weekend warriors, and we're thrilled to share what we've learned: a comprehensive guide to help you through the van purchasing journey, the guide I wished existed when I started.

So this site runs on a rule I can be held to. Every specification published here is cross-checked and documented, and where a fact matters, it links to the manufacturer's own page so you can corroborate it yourself. When sources disagree, the manufacturer's figure is the one we publish, and the disagreement is recorded rather than hidden. When a model is discontinued, the page says so.

Start with the match quiz if you want a recommendation shaped by your budget and how you actually travel, or compare the current models side by side. The guides and reviews go deeper on the decisions in between.