Pods-a-plenty in Queensland

The appeal of the teardrop or ‘pod’ camper is self-evident: chic, compact, cheap and able to be towed by just about anything north of a bicycle.

Avan has its 625kg Weekender priced around $16,000 with off-road pack, and Jayco caused a serious flurry of interest when it showed off its cheerful but bare-to-the-bones 395kg on-road

J-Pod at this year’s Sydney Supershow, mooted to sell at around $8000 if it ever sees production.

Then there's the American-designed, Australian-built

Little Guy Rough Rider (around $13,000). Due to their popularity with hot rodders and home builders, we've also seen a few interesting variations like the all-timber

Room 48 camper.

Now Brisbane’s own Gidget has shown off one of the latest versions of its retro teardrop camper at the 2014 Queensland Caravan & Camping Show.

Developed over a two-year period and reportedly subjected to 45,000km of testing, the Gidget was originally launched last year, but has been substantially revised and the range of models dramatically re-priced for 2014, with savings of up to $10,000 on price and added equipment, depending on the model.

The Gidget’s point of difference to other teardrop campers is its patented slide-out, that converts the camper into a queen-size bedroom or lounge in 20 seconds, a fold-up table, a novel entertainment console with TV/DVD/Stereo that can also rotate to the outside when you want to watch a game or movie with family and friends, or listen to music, and a timber kitchen with soft-close drawers.

Significantly the revised model displayed at the Brisbane Show was capable of being towed behind small cars, trikes or even some motorcycles!

The range starts with the original ‘Bondi’, a 490kg camper with a ball weight of just 32kg whose price has plummeted from its original $23,700 ask to $16,950; the (now) $13,950 and 315kg ‘Bells Compact’, with the range headed by the roomiest Noosa Longline, which has an inbuilt solar panel, plus space for a toilet and hot water shower, that is now priced at $21,500 (down from $27,900).

Gidget says it has quite a following on Facebook, with more than 70,000 views of its video on YouTube (see below), plus expressions of interest from potential dealers in the USA, where it hopes to set up a separate manufacturing operation.

More funky than the Avan, roomier than the Little Guy and available now rather than unconfirmed in the case of the Jayco, they are obviously aiming at the young, or young at heart – and their wallets!