Small Drive-Away Awning suggestions

Yes, we happened to go into the Warrington store by chance. Worth checking if they are still open / still doing 30% off / have it in stock before going though!
The drive away kit is as you describe, I bought it from Amazon here
BTW, the king poles shown in my photo for the front canopy extension didn't come with it either :rolleyes: Available from GoOutdoors also.

FYI, if you have any club memberships (Caravan Club, YHA etc.) you can get additional discounts at GoOutdoors - they don't always advertise the fact.
Follower your lead, good price! Again no drive away connection so will again source that. Thanks for knowledge!
 
Hello all,

What’s the current wisdom on small drive away awnings?

Lots of folks seem to cite outdoor revolution as a brand.

Currently have a decathlon air tube thing but requires throwing guys over van and interferes with solar panels, so looking at cleaner solution. This also takes up a helleva space in van.

Looking of course for the ideal, pack small, budget friendly, connect yo side of van via a rail bridge presumably?
Have a fiama f45s, would it be better to consider sides/ front? of course that isn’t drive away?!

Thanks in advance for any wise noise.
Had an Outdoor Revolution from Glossop Caravans, complete POS. The quality was appalling, nothing fitted & it leaked like a sieve. Took it back to Glossop, they said I was putting it up incorrectly, "here's my van, here's the awning, knock yourselves out" said I. An hour later, they admitted defeat & gave us a refund. Then we bought a Doreema, great bit of kit, but we soon realised that drive away awnings weren't for us, so that went too. Unless, (and this is purely my opinion based on experience, nothing more) you need the space and it has to be attached to the van, forget drive aways, they are a PITA. If you must have the extra space, buy a cheap pop up tent/shelter. We have a sun canopy that suits our needs perfectly.
Like I said, just my 2 penneth.
 
Had an Outdoor Revolution from Glossop Caravans, complete POS. The quality was appalling, nothing fitted & it leaked like a sieve. Took it back to Glossop, they said I was putting it up incorrectly, "here's my van, here's the awning, knock yourselves out" said I. An hour later, they admitted defeat & gave us a refund. Then we bought a Doreema, great bit of kit, but we soon realised that drive away awnings weren't for us, so that went too. Unless, (and this is purely my opinion based on experience, nothing more) you need the space and it has to be attached to the van, forget drive aways, they are a PITA. If you must have the extra space, buy a cheap pop up tent/shelter. We have a sun canopy that suits our needs perfectly.
Like I said, just my 2 penneth.
I must say I agree with a lot of what you say Salty, our Kampa Touring Air is a superb drive away awning, which we have never driven away from. A pain to put up, especially on my own, a faff to take down, but the space once up is just about worth it for a 3 nighter. If you do need to get out and about, a separate tent is great for storing the overflow gear, bikes, bags etc. @Bav had it right at Bala last weekend with a very fashionable separate tent, do you have a picture of that matey? Ideal piece of kit.
 
I must say I agree with a lot of what you say Salty, our Kampa Touring Air is a superb drive away awning, which we have never driven away from. A pain to put up, especially on my own, a faff to take down, but the space once up is just about worth it for a 3 nighter. If you do need to get out and about, a separate tent is great for storing the overflow gear, bikes, bags etc. @Bav had it right at Bala last weekend with a very fashionable separate tent, do you have a picture of that matey? Ideal piece of kit.
Ours is just a Vango Tailgate Airhub awning. It can can attached to the van either on the side or on the tailgate, but we use it as a standalone storage/dressing/junk/dumping space, as can be seen here...

20230523_090150.jpg
 
Ours is just a Vango Tailgate Airhub awning. It can can attached to the van either on the side or on the tailgate, but we use it as a standalone storage/dressing/junk/dumping space, as can be seen here...

View attachment 243677
I like the way you bought the EHU lead to match the poptop ;)

We have a outdoor revolution awning, after owning a poled olpro (really bad quality and ridiculously large up but surprisingly small packed), an airbeam PC vango (too good quality and silly design, trip hazards, annoying zips, doors, lack of doors etc, not that big pitched but ridiculously big and heavy packed), we find the poled OR just right, it’s the smallest of the lot both up and down and although not great quality it doesn’t leak and the design is really adaptable
IMG_4936.jpeg
It has a tunnel that opens fully up to the awning so really like having an additionally metre of space, all three sides come off so it’s like a gazebo and has a zip on pod for extra accommodation. Oh and it’s about a quarter of the price of the vango
 
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I like the way you bought the EHU lead to match the poptop ;)

We have a outdoor revolution awning, after owning a poled olpro (really bad quality and ridiculously large up but surprisingly small packed) an airbeam PC vango (too good quality and silly design, trip hazards, annoying zips, doors, lack of doors etc, not that big pitched but ridiculously big and heavy packed), we find the poled OR just right, it’s the smallest of the lot both up and down and although not great quality it doesn’t leak and the design is really adaptable
View attachment 248431
It has a tunnel that opens fully up to the awning so really like having an additionally metre of space, all three sides come off so it’s like a gazebo and has a zip on pod for extra accommodation. Oh and it’s about a quarter of the price of the vango
What's the minimum duration of stay that you'd use that awning for?
 
What's the minimum duration of stay that you'd use that awning for?
That picture was from a 2 night stay a few weeks ago but have had it up for a night before (insert your own Kenneth Williams gif) and we didn’t actually go in it at all (I can’t remember why I didn’t use the canopy tbh), really easy to pitch

Yours looks quick to erect (see above, KW) too, would you pitch for a night or 2?
 
That picture was from a 2 night stay a few weeks ago but have had it up for a night before (insert your own Kenneth Williams gif) and we didn’t actually go in it at all (I can’t remember why I didn’t use the canopy tbh), really easy to pitch

Yours looks quick to erect (see above, KW) too, would you pitch for a night or 2?
The effort/reward ratio works for a 2-nighter. Not been on any 1-nighters yet, but I suspect we wouldn't bother for those - erection is quick/easy enough (even at my age ;)). but getting the air our isn't as easy, so packing away can be a faff.
 
Hello all,

What’s the current wisdom on small drive away awnings?

Lots of folks seem to cite outdoor revolution as a brand.

Currently have a decathlon air tube thing but requires throwing guys over van and interferes with solar panels, so looking at cleaner solution. This also takes up a helleva space in van.

Looking of course for the ideal, pack small, budget friendly, connect yo side of van via a rail bridge presumably?
Have a fiama f45s, would it be better to consider sides/ front? of course that isn’t drive away?!

Thanks in advance for any wise noise.
we have just bought the one room tent kind of thing from decathlon which was £139 and although it doesn't attach to the van it packs up small and is perfect for extra storage and to sit in when its bead weather .
 
we have just bought the one room tent kind of thing from decathlon which was £139 and although it doesn't attach to the van it packs up small and is perfect for extra storage and to sit in when its bead weather .
we had that for a few years , in the end the poles snapped , it was a good bit of kit , we now have Olpro version with better poles same thing though super easy to pop up and down and zero faff ataching to the van
 
What’s everyone’s thoughts on Vango? We’re looking at getting our first awning, there’s 2 of us and a toddler - we just want a little extra room for getting changed/storing bags/cooking under decent cover if it’s raining.

The smallest air vango seems to the Faros 3 Air Low. Anybody got one or have thoughts on it? I’ve got a multirail on the side of the van.

 
The Faros III Air Low looks virtually the same as our Vango Kilda (exclusive to GoOutdoors), but with an additional side opening, and sewn in ground sheet rather than clip in (which I think some sites aren't keen on). Size is identical, and we find it to be perfect for the kind of use you described. Forget about the claimed 8 minutes to put it up :rolleyes: but after a couple of goes it gets easier!

Defintiely worth shopping around a bit, I found it here with a good discount off Vango's price:

 
Also check out the for sale ads on here as you can pick something up second hand very cheaply sometimes. Took me 3 (very expensive) attempts to get an awning that was right for our needs!
 
Also should mention, don't forget to get a drive away kit as well, because strangely, drive away awnings don't include the bit that makes them drive away! :rolleyes: You'll probably also end up wanting some king poles, so you can prop open the front section. I bought a set for this purpose, then after using them only once, bought a Debus sun canopy (for those one-nighters when the air awning is too much trouble), and of course that did come with a set of poles, so now I have an obsolete set!
 
I have the Vango Faros 2 poled version. We using it when staying places for more than a couple of days for storage. Has worked well and stood up to very strong winds when other tents on site were collapsing / shredding. I would buy it again.

When we drive away and leave it, the side to the van is very flat (like most awnings I guess) so is susceptible if the wind happens to be hitting that side of it, but with the addition of some proper heavy duty pegs in the main guys its allways been there on our return.

We have a tailgate and it takes a bit of practice to get it positioned corectly so that the side door opens without catching it, but also far enough forward so it doesnt foul the tailgate closing.

The ends of the tunnel again take some practice pegging out so that they dont rub excessivly on van in strong winds (if van not clean the rubbing can damage paint if grit on it) but can be arranged though to avoid this, albeit with a gap

The passenger door cant be opened with it attached, but again that goes with terrority I think.

You could cook in it but be aware that it becomes your main entrance and exit, so if your cooking and a toddler (or dog in our case) wants to get in or out of van they have to negotiate the stove. I was always brought up to never cook inside a tent, so we only do it very rarely when raining with a cadac safari

My Kador figure of 8 jointing strip is only in 1m lengths, so the join goes right above the door and it drips into van when raining, try and get longer ones

Has a sewn in ground sheet which is what I prefer. On the last site we were on the tent next to us had the birds and squirels in their living area when they went out for the day as they had gaps around edges
 
The Faros III Air Low looks virtually the same as our Vango Kilda (exclusive to GoOutdoors), but with an additional side opening, and sewn in ground sheet rather than clip in (which I think some sites aren't keen on). Size is identical, and we find it to be perfect for the kind of use you described. Forget about the claimed 8 minutes to put it up :rolleyes: but after a couple of goes it gets easier!

Defintiely worth shopping around a bit, I found it here with a good discount off Vango's price:

Omg how is that so much cheaper :O
 
Yes, I cut a small bit off. You can just leave it hanging over the end, but I found it got trapped in the tailgate.
There's probably loads of 40cm off-cuts around - maybe we should all donate them to a community bin, then someone can piece every 6 or 7 of them together and sell them cheap ;)
 
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