why not go for ventura awnings they are made by isabella and of the same good quality too .we have just bought the ventura one thats 3 mts wide with awning and carpet for a fraction of the cost of the isabella
------------- Sandringham 22nd mar - 30th mar
thorpe park 27th apr - 1st july
thorpe park 1st sept 2015- 1st nov 2015
clumber park 29th dec -4th jan
Isabella will always have superior quality over Ventura awnings. The materials they use is better, Ventura use fibreglass frame and Isabella use carbon fibre frames. They make sure there's a difference between the two makes.
If you want an Isabella full awning to work in all eventualities, I'd say go with a Capri or an Ambassador. I love the Commodore (have had one, in the past) and the Opus but the additional depth means more roof support poles and more volume and weight of canvas to manage (pulling it through the awning channel / getting it all dried out if you pack up wet etc) which makes them (for us) non-starters for weekends or short stays.
We've got the Ambassador at the moment and, on a small van, it's great. If you have a bigger van then the Capri might be better because the fabric is less heavy. As someone has already said, go for lightweight Carbon X frame to make handling easier. If buying used, then the fibreglass (IXL) frame is excellent too. To speed up pitching, consider fitting the new Isabella Isafix clamps if they aren't fitted as standard (you can fit them to older IXL, as well as Carbon X frames).
Again, even if you don't go for the super 3m deep awnings, you can make an Ambassador or Capri more versatile for longer stays by adding an annex on one end (tall annex is great for storage of outdoor stuff / cooking gear etc or the Future annex is a quick to pitch, one pole bedroom, complete with inner tent). You could even add a front sun canopy to extend your living space.
We've had lots of different awnings, over the years, and you cannot go wrong with an Isabella (once you have paid for it!). Resale values stay strong because of their reputation for quality, so if you can afford it (or can find a nice used one) then I'd say go for it!
We have the Ambassador with the CarbonX frame. It did cost an arm and a leg, but the quality is about as good as you can get. Even though Ventura are owned by Isabella, the Ventura's are not made in Denmark, but in an Eastern European factory and therein lies the difference. If you study the seams and the stitching and finish, you can see this. Venturas are a very good cheaper alternative though.
If you really enjoy a full awning, you can't go wrong with an Isabella Ambassador. However, we have grown increasingly in favour of making do with less weight and hassle and to be honest, we favour our smaller Isabella Magnum.
We've bought our Ambassador new 2007, but I still think you could count its total use in weeks - so not our best purchase in value for money. If I was buying again, I would go for 2nd hand (as I did with the Magnum). Let somebody else take the hit on the wallet and buy yourself an awning that it likely to have been used for a few weeks per year, but will last a lifetime. Also, if you buy 2nd hand, you can get most if not all of your money back if you later change your van and need to change the awning.
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Topic: Which Isabella full awning would you buy?
