I'll make this quick. Second time out with our Vango Bondi Low awning and the single pole system turned into a double pole system when the winds got up. Broke towards the centre in high gusts. In fact the whole front of the awning pretty much buckled in a head wind. Yes we could have turned the van around or went to a different more sheltered pitch, but then we are due to go home tomorrow. The sides don't sit snug to the van either. Dissapointed to say the least.
A decent enough budget awning in a wind sheltered spot but pitched anywhere else not really up to scratch. Lovely time on Benone Strand, NI though, so not all bad news.

Bondi on a 91 Pan Familia btw.

Thanks for the advice Colin. A replacement pole section will be the way forward. Having said that, I think we probably need to invest in a better awning. On that, can you advise on a good made to measure full awning for our 91 Pan Familia? I expect the price to go up fairly dramatically.

Update: Vango warranty does not cover broken poles caused by high winds. A replacement pole is not too expensive though.

As I own one of these awnings, your experience of the pole breaking in a high wind is worrying.
May I ask whether you had the two cross bracing straps at the front engaged, as these are intended to help in high winds. Having said that, I think this emphasises a design fault with the awning, which is that the roof ponds in heavy rain; my fix has been to erect an adjustable tent pole to push the fabric up next to the gutter on the roof centreline, but a far preferable arrangement would be provision for attaching a centre guy rope to the roof crown. This would taughten the roof, and also probably prevent the disaster that you experienced.
For the money, and bearing in mind that it is not intended to stay up on a site for long let alone to be attached to a very low Eriba, I am quite happy with mine. I do have a heavy purpose designed awning which is terrific, but too much effort to erect for a stay of a few nights.

Nick

I appreciate this doesn’t help you, but we have two Vango awnings, the Siesta low and the hex hub, both air beam and have both been subjected to some horrendous weather, the Siesta low in Wales where the beam bounced, down as far as the table top and recovered.
We really thought we would lose the Hex hub in Cornwall last year, so much so that we removed most of the furniture out, The bad weather destroyed some tents, our hub bounced and collapsed several times, we expected the worst, Our neighbours couldn’t believe it survived.
So I’m happy with the Vango airbeams.

hi Colin/Paula

Two bits to this response. First of all yesterday we took delivery of the SunnCamp Swift Vareo 260 (Low) which Colin mentions above and is the new awning version of the Canopy. We have only put it up on the drive so far and we were impressed how easy it went up and how spacious it is but it is very lightweight.

According to Colin his Canopy probably survived the high winds as it doesn't reach the ground and air can blow under it. This awning version has mud skirts to the floor all round and so may be more susceptible to acting like your Vango. We won't know until we try it for real on a site and we are not going away until mid August. However we were impressed with the value for money £160 but don't see it lasting forever.

One of our other awnings for our Troll is the Kampa Pop Air. If you have read earlier feeds from me about it I/we have a love hate relationship with it. It isn't the best piece of design in the world but I believe the newer ones are better. However we have used it on Walney Island (Cumbria) twice and both times it has survived very strong winds. The second time it was so rough that we ended up putting the pop top down in the middle of the night as the Troll was rocking so much. Next morning when we emerged we half expected it too have gone but it was still there, like a cocky young sheepdog. Around us lots of awnings had gone or ripped. I wonder if air poles flex better in the wind than traditional poles that can suddenly snap?

As I say it has its faults but it goes up fairly quickly and from our experience is robust. The weight holding the last bit of awning before it slides into the awning rail is a bit heavy.

Good luck in your search
MikeT

Quote: NickR wrote in post #4

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As I own one of these awnings, your experience of the pole breaking in a high wind is worrying.
May I ask whether you had the two cross bracing straps at the front engaged, as these are intended to help in high winds.

Nick

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Quote: Suzywong wrote in post #6

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I appreciate this doesn’t help you, but we have two Vango awnings, the Siesta low and the hex hub, both air beam and have both been subjected to some horrendous weather, the Siesta low in Wales where the beam bounced, down as far as the table top and recovered

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Yes if it had poles they would have definitely snapped. I have a video of the hex hub during the storm, but the forum is telling me it’s too big to post !

SOULBLUESMAN68:

Re: 'Two bits to this response. First of all yesterday we took delivery of the SunnCamp Swift Vareo 260 (Low)...'

That was our other budget candidate. Kinda wish we would have went with that. Never mind. Anyway, I m gonna see if I can pimp up the bondi by adding a roof strengthening system of some sort, followed by a side draught sealing system. In the meantime, Colin, has kindly pointed me in the direction of the Kampa air pro. They really look the job if a bit heavy. I think that's for next year though.

This sums up what I love about the Forum. Whatever the problem someone has had it before & come up with lots of interesting and sometimes quirky suggestions to resolve the issue - not that I always understand but that's not the point................................!
MikeT

Hi, We had side draft with our Siesta low, but put it down to the fact it was attached to the Omnistore, which brought it further away from Van. I attached rip stop panel down each side, we also have the limpet gadgets which keep the fabric close to the van.

We have since removed our Omnistore, but not tried the Siesta low since.

Sue

I think I've read something about the limpet things here somewhere. Not sure if they would work on a dimpled surface but I like the idea.

I'm loving the Bondi/Siesta criticisms & solutions here, keep them coming.

I received my Vango Elwood yesterday. The Elwood is in effect the Siesta in blue that is sold by Go Outdoors & - crucially for me - on sale at the moment. I had a very quick play with it last night & was very impressed at how quickly I had it up. My daughter timed me at just over 6mins to have 4 corner pegs in & the airbeam inflated straight out of the bag.

When I have a bit more time at the weekend I'll peg it out more thoroughly & see how it is for draughts & rustling fabric. We've got a dimpled body so limpets are out for us as well, but as has been mentioned on other threads Sunncamp produce an Inflatable Awning Seal Set which may help with draughts, but if it's getting that breezy in the awning I think we'll be retiring to the comfort of the 'van.

Edited to add that it's a great fit for the Puck L allowing me to open both the door & window unfettered.