Depends on what type of camping and your expectations (&DW's) you intend to use the camper for. We've had a small pop-up (8ft box) for near 20 years now, but we came from a backpacking mentality, so know how to travel light and keeping things simple.
We purchased the pop-up when our boys were 2 and 4 and we wanted to travel and experience different places with them. It was also my retirement toy as it was purchased a few months after leaving the career job at age 50. We kept things simple, sleeping bags, food and cooler always in van, minimal outside setup, most cooking done outside or over a campfire, but if we had power hook-up, we also have a microwave, furnace, fridge. Through the years it has been on many multi-week adventures such as Alabama to Maine, to PA, to Black Hills of SD, to Buffalo River area in Arkansas, PA to Disneyworld, PA to Iowa, etc.
Once the boys got to school age, we tended not sit around a campground but explore, hike, take in history, etc. Rarely is the camper in one place for more than three nights. Some trips we just used it as a motel room, like the time we stayed in a VA county park and could drive 10 miles to a Metro station and explore Washington DC, or as a base camp at a soccer tournament.
Once the boys hit teen years, the camper got very little use, some years didn't even leave the driveway. But last fall, when the youngest went off to college, I put new tires on and my wife and I spent several weeks touring New England (including NH) with the pop-up. Generally ate out, depending what was locally available (after all, we're on vacation!). And just this past May, the college boys (both Eagle Scouts) joined us for a three week, 5000 mile trip exploring many national parks in CO, UT, WY. For campgrounds, we paid as little as $12.50 (senior pass) and as much as $70 for a night (but a hotel room would have been double).
Tow vehicle has always been a minivan.
