Kingstar Camino 88 Takes 2024 Truck Camper of the Year Award

The new Kingstar Camino 88 (Adventure Series) has been chosen as the 2024 Truck Camper of the Year by Truck Camper Adventure. A four-season, hard-side truck camper, the Kingstar Camino 88 won the award over a highly competitive field of slide-in campers. The criteria used to select the winning camper include quality, design, and innovation. The Kingstar Camino 88 offers all of these things and more.

“Quality, intuitive design, along with cutting-edge components, has been our focus as a company,” said Marcus Niemela, CEO of Kingstar. “To be recognized by an industry leader such as Truck Camper Adventure, is truly an honor for Kingstar and its employees.”

Headquartered in Houghton, Michigan, Kingstar was founded in 2018 by Marcus and Cal Niemela, two brothers from the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan with a long history of entrepreneurial and design success. Known previously for building innovative horse trailers, Kingstar started production of the Camino 88 in early 2019.

One look at the Kingstar Camino 88 makes it obvious that this isn’t just another mass produced, cookie-cutter truck camper. Some of these innovations include underfloor storage, a low-amperage wall-mounted air conditioner, a stainless steel roof, R12 closed cell spray foam insulation, a wet-bath with Porta Pottie, and a Rack Rail system with a universal attachment point for the multiple accessories offered.

Kingstar offers five Camino 88 layouts, all of which include either an east-west or a north-south cabover bed: the Lounger, the Couch/Bunk Bed, the Dinette, the Open Range, and a new offering for 2024, the Command Center. The Camino 88 offers a generous floor length of 9 feet 2 inches and a center of gravity between 34-36 inches, and is best hauled on a one-ton, long-bed truck. The dry weight of the Open Range Camino 88 is 3,200 pounds.

Standard features for the Kingstar Camino 88 (Adventure Series), include a 32 gallon fresh water holding tank, a porta pottie, a Suburban 6-gallon water heater, two 20-pound propane tanks, one AGM battery, a Suburban furnace, a Vitrifrigo 3.2 cubic foot DC compressor refrigerator, and pullout tables.

Kingstar Camino 88 (Adventure Series) options include two 15-gallon side saddle (three season) fresh water holding tanks, a 20 gallon grey water holding tank, a 600 watt solar power system, Battle Born lithium batteries, a Victron 2,000 watt inverter, and an Airhead composting toilet.

“The evolution of the camper side of the business from 2019 to now, has been incredible,” Niemela said. “The overland, off-grid market has embraced our design and innovations and our customers and Truck Camper Adventure are to be credited for our company’s amazing growth.”

Starting at $39,960.00 for the Adventure Series Open Range model, the Kingstar Camino 88 is sold factory direct from Houghton, Michigan with about a four-month lead time.