Up front, I don’t get paid for any recommendations, and made purchases with my own money. My thoughts are bias free!
With the GU Patrol being replaced by a new Y62 Patrol, we needed a new awning. I say needed because an awning has become one of those camping necessities in my opinion. The freestanding models then upped the game substantially from the old roll out ones. On the GU I bought a Kings 270 freestanding awning on the basis that for a few weekenders here and there it would do the trick at a good price point. Although we only ended up using it on one week long trip away, I was pleasantly surprised at just how solid it was.
The Y62 Patrol has swing up rear door, rather than the barn doors found on the GU. It seemed to me, that a 270 awning would hit the top of the rear door on the Y62, so a getting 180 made more sense. The door itself provides shade at the rear. And given how well set up the Y62 is with quality components all over, it didn’t feel right to slap a Kings awning on the side (they have an image problem!). And so the search begun for a 180 awning that was solid, without breaking the bank. With Black Friday sales approaching, my mission begun to find a bargain.
The Cost of Convenience
An initial hurdle I ran into is that it seemed pretty clear that I’d need some specialised awning brackets to suit my Tracklander flat rack. This was going to add another $250 to the expense before I even picked an awning. Whilst that seems absurd for a couple of brackets, they do allow the awning to be mounted substantially lower than the standard ‘L’ brackets most awnings ship with. The Kinds 270 I had on the GU sat up quite high and honestly looked pretty awful. If I was less lazy, I’d probably have taken it off between trips. That is my plan with the Y62, but we’ll see how long that lasts!
That extra cost immediately made some of the more ‘premium’ options like Darche and Bushwakka get into a price range that I wasn’t comfortable with. We’re just talking about a bit of shade here. Further investigation found a few questionable reviews about the Darche sagging, which further put me off. The Bushwakka does look really nice though (and the RGB LEDs are fun touch). They also seem pretty strong on their commitment to true freestanding. I’d probably had bitten at a better sale.
The Contenders
I started looking at the middle ground. I checked out the Raxxar (new brand to Autobarn and affiliated stores), OpenRoad, Tuff Terrain, and the 30 Second Wing. All were in reasonable price points.
The OpenRoad Awning is new to market and reviews were hard to come by. However, it looked clean and the price was good. Between searching for reviews and writing this post, they seem to have partnered up with a bunch of youtubers. It’s hard to pick paid for comment vs honest reviews though. The OpenRoad awning offered about 2sqm less coverage than the others. That’s a decent chunk of shade missing compared to others, so I moved on.
We very nearly bought the Raxxar. I even went to Autobarn to check it out with intention to purchase. They didn’t have any boxes out on the floor, but a staff member had one mounted on their car. The Raxxar logo on the awning looked cheap and I started to have a gut feel this wasn’t the one. Staff couldn’t tell me if the integrated LEDs were dimmable or not. At that point I decided I needed to head home for further research.
The Tuff Terrain awning looks really nice, but I had some concern over its freestanding claims. It was a bit pricier than the others, but they were throwing a shower awning into the deal which might come in handy later. They call it “freestanding,” but the downloaded installation manual states poles must be pegged out at all times. I queried this on Facebook, and got a response about it not being “officially rated” and it would be fine freestanding with a bit of common sense to wind conditions. I think that is reasonable, but I then went to revisit the instructions, and found they’d removed the link. It was a red flag for me and I ruled this one out.
The 30 Second Wing Awning Decision
An awning I kept coming back to was the 30 Second Wing Awning. It doesn’t have LEDs like the other awnings, but its light weight and reviews are pretty solid. It’s easy enough to hang a couple of rechargeable LED’s up. Most importantly, there was a recurring theme of just how good the customer service is. Hopefully I wont need it – but its reassuring for a company that has been around a while and rates well in this area.
I scored a really good deal during the Black Friday sales, which sealed the deal. It was under $700 posted to my home.
The specs are solid: 8sqm coverage, 280gsm canvas, and it’s light at only 21.5kgs. Saving weight up top on the Y62 is always a win.
There was one thing that bothered me so far. The webpage clearly states that this awning is freestanding. It states freestanding up to 15 knots (28km/h), and then secure poles to keep it safe. But, like the Tuff Terrain, the instruction manual says poles must be down and secured at all times! Maybe this is common amongst freestanding awnings (I couldn’t find the Bushwakka manual though). They want to market as “freestanding” product, but also cover their arse if a gust of wind tears it off your roof rack. It does go back to common sense, and if I’m planning to set it up for any length of time, I’ll be pegging it down. Had I seen the manual earlier, I might have steered back to the Tuff Terrain for the free shower awning and LEDs. Maybe.
Installing the 30 Second Wing 180 Awning
Tracklander were very helpful in advising on the brackets I need, and once they arrived I got to work on installation. The installation manual they provided did not match the awning, however they have a YouTube clip that explains it fairly simply. Still, it would be nice to have accurate documentation. It is quite similar to the Kings in that you need to get it all lined up and then poke some holes in the cover to put the bolts through. A little daunting in ensuring the right spot to poke a hole, but it worked out fine. There is a little bit of movement in the cover, so it doesn’t have to be exact. The cover can move slightly to allow for a bolt hole that’s a little off.
One immediate issue I noticed is when lifting the rear door. To keep the awning taught and secure, it uses a strap that ties the corner of the awning back to the roof rack. When the Y62’s rear door opens, it touches that strap. In windy conditions, its probably going to rub on the paintwork so I need to think of a solution there. This made me think that maybe a 270 would be better, in that an arm goes out the back, and then the canvas will cover over the top of the rear door. On further inspection, it appears most models the arm goes back at 45 degrees though, so would almost certainly hit the door unless it was mounted quite high.
So far, I’ve thought about putting a peg in the ground 90 degrees back from the end of the awning. This seems a bit painful for what’s supposed to be freestanding. I’ve also tried a pool noodle between strap and car boot. That was more difficult to put in place than it sounds. Even once I managed to get it up there, it fell off when I closed the boot again.
The 30 Second Wing awning itself looks pretty solid though. I can’t say if its more or less solid than the Kings – I suspect in this price range they’re all coming from a similar Chinese factory anyway. Time will tell, and I’ll post a long term review once I’ve put it through it’s paces a few times.
