My expectations may of been too high. Let me start off with saying that this awning does everything an awning should do. It is "easy" to set up, it blocks the sun and the rain. I did how ever have a few issues, if you consider them issues.
First of all, no where does it say that a universal mounting kit comes with the awning. So I went out and bought stuff to mount it only to find out I didn't need them. Right when i opened the box it came in, I was a little surprised to see how slender the awning was. To some this may sound good, but the engineer in me thinks about everting else being smaller, like the material, aluminum and the bolts. So when I mounted the awning and rolled it out for the first time. I was a little disappointed in the thickness of the cloth. I was expecting a Sunbrella like material that the ARB and Foxwing awnings have. This is much thinner. About as thick as a nice heavy flannel shirt but that is waterproofed. My next issue was with the horizonal pins that attach to the vertical legs. The holes were not drilled out big enough for the pins to install, then I drilled them out a little and noticed that the pins do not go all the way through the arms. This creates an awkward torque on the pin that I was not comfortable with. SO I drilled them out all the way and I am MUCH more comfortable with the stress on those pins.
All said and done it is a nice awning for the price. I mean, you get what you pay for. Its no 100$ awning but its no 400$ awing ether. Im curious to see how long it last. Im expecting a few years of light to moderate use before the material breaks down in the South Carolina sun here.
UPDATE (16 June, 2016): I moved the pin and the tie down, now the pin goes through the outer most wholes and the tie down loop goes through the hole that I drilled. It is much more secure now and looks proper. Still skeptical about the thickness of the awning, but, alot of you have said that the ARBs are the same thickness. Maybe the ARB I came across on a friends vehicle was redone at some point. We shall see. Also I the narrower awning would fit much better on the X than my 8' wide one, but I went for the wider one for practically over looks being that I rather have more coverage.
First of all, no where does it say that a universal mounting kit comes with the awning. So I went out and bought stuff to mount it only to find out I didn't need them. Right when i opened the box it came in, I was a little surprised to see how slender the awning was. To some this may sound good, but the engineer in me thinks about everting else being smaller, like the material, aluminum and the bolts. So when I mounted the awning and rolled it out for the first time. I was a little disappointed in the thickness of the cloth. I was expecting a Sunbrella like material that the ARB and Foxwing awnings have. This is much thinner. About as thick as a nice heavy flannel shirt but that is waterproofed. My next issue was with the horizonal pins that attach to the vertical legs. The holes were not drilled out big enough for the pins to install, then I drilled them out a little and noticed that the pins do not go all the way through the arms. This creates an awkward torque on the pin that I was not comfortable with. SO I drilled them out all the way and I am MUCH more comfortable with the stress on those pins.
All said and done it is a nice awning for the price. I mean, you get what you pay for. Its no 100$ awning but its no 400$ awing ether. Im curious to see how long it last. Im expecting a few years of light to moderate use before the material breaks down in the South Carolina sun here.
UPDATE (16 June, 2016): I moved the pin and the tie down, now the pin goes through the outer most wholes and the tie down loop goes through the hole that I drilled. It is much more secure now and looks proper. Still skeptical about the thickness of the awning, but, alot of you have said that the ARBs are the same thickness. Maybe the ARB I came across on a friends vehicle was redone at some point. We shall see. Also I the narrower awning would fit much better on the X than my 8' wide one, but I went for the wider one for practically over looks being that I rather have more coverage.