Pole or air awning

[Conkydonk]

Hi, we are new to caravanning and the site and have just purchased a 2016 Swift Conqueror. We will be siting this on a seasonal pitch and are looking to attach an awning. We will likely take this down maybe 3 times in the season when we go abroad on holiday but plan to live in the van maybe 3-4 days a week.
Question is do we go for a pole or air awning?

Any advice / views much appreciated

 

[borderbilly]

chalk/cheese, black/white, each to there own, you will get various answers, Me, im a poled man.

 

[otherclive]

+1 for a pole awning on a seasonal.

 

[Beardy]

The main advantage of an inflatable awning is the ease of putting it up / taking it down. If you're not going to be doing this often you'd be better off with poles, especially as you won't be there every day to keep an eye on the pressure in the bladders.

 

[Buckman]

It takes a bit longer to erect an air awning. After owning an air awning, we are nor firmly in the poled awning camp. Whichever you choose, you still have to peg it down.

 

[GaryB]

We're on the other side of the argument and prefer air! Comments from me:

• Air awnings are significantly heavier as everything is on one assembly (ie there's no separate bag with the poles in).
• The awning bag is fairly large (see point above).
• Due to the weight it can be a challenge/awkward for one person to feed into the awning rail if they have any mobility issues.
• The air beams can leak/burst, but not as common as some would have you believe.
• We have had zero issues with pitching one on uneven ground as the flexibility of the awning means it bends/conforms to whatever shape is needed.

The advantage for us is that putting it up can be done by one person and in our experience is a bit quicker than a poled awning.

However, as you're on a seasonal pitch a heavy duty poled awning might be the better option.

 

[Buckman]

As Gary states, the air awning is a lot heavier than a poled awning plus the large awning bag. One of our issues was removing the air to compress it to fit into the awning bag. We used ours on about 5 occasions and took the hit and sold it.

Watch this and then decide.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGibcUJBWew

 

[JTQ]

Seasonal use awnings, almost my implication means left unattended need to be suited for this, many more normal touring type use ones are not ideal.
I have witnessed water pooling rip a touring duty Isabella full awning right in front of us. Site owner was anything but happy sorting it and all the wet stuff out, together with carrying the seats etc to his barn, as the rain continued.

Certain brands do seasonal specific awnings, Those I know of were steel poled making them very heavy therefore unattractive as a touring awning.

 

[GaryB]

As Gary states, the air awning is a lot heavier than a poled awning plus the large awning bag. One of our issues was removing the air to compress it to fit into the awning bag. We used ours on about 5 occasions and took the hit and sold it.

It's as if they supply a bag that JUST fits the awning when it leaves the factory in it's completely deflated state! As soon as it's got a tiny bit of air in it or it's not re-rolled as it left the factory it never fits back in the bag!

 

[noggin16460]

We have a Vango 330 air awning, the first thing I did was to take out the 4 panels, pump, pegs, and draught skirts, store them separately, which makes the awning in its bag more manageable and also easier to pull through the awning rail, then install panels when inflated lot easier

 

[Buckman]

We have a Vango 330 air awning, the first thing I did was to take out the 4 panels, pump, pegs, and draught skirts, store them separately, which makes the awning in its bag more manageable and also easier to pull through the awning rail, then install panels when inflated lot easier

Probably takes a lot longer to do that than a poled awning. We did try it with the air awning, but was too much of a hassle.

 

[Beachball]

We use to own a Outdoor Revolution Compactalite Pro 325 Carbon porch awning when we were seasonal so my vote would be a poled awning .

 

[Dustydog]

Walk around any seasonal and you will see an abundance of Isabella and a few other upmarket makes. Carbon x frames . 24/7 durable materials. No contest