Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 15/4/2021
We had the Air Ace and got rid of it after only several nights. With windows unzip them and let them hang.
Sad new....Got rid after only a couple of nights!
May I ask why?
Quote: Originally posted by kevin-t on 15/4/2021
Sad new....Got rid after only a couple of nights!
May I ask why?
Issues with quality. Water pooling on roof no matter what you did. The weight of the water wil stretch the awning material. Very heavy to drag through awning rail. Not any quicker toe rect than a conventional awning. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGibcUJBWew
Quote: Originally posted by kevin-t on 15/4/2021
Sad new....Got rid after only a couple of nights!
May I ask why?
Issues with quality. Water pooling on roof no matter what you did. The weight of the water wil stretch the awning material. Very heavy to drag through awning rail. Not any quicker toe rect than a conventional awning. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGibcUJBWew
Great Video, that's the reason why i also have a poled awning, I have the kampa ace pro 400 which is a brilliant awning.
They failed to mention the air tubes that go bang
WOW...so negative! Sounds like I may have bought a Lemon!!! time will tell.
Sounds like the old saying my farther used to say to me. A Fool and his money soon parted.....
Will get its first use at Scarborough first week in June.
Will update my findings after our trip....
It stands to reason air versions will be heavier to drag through the rails, as you are essentially dragging the whole awning - poles as well, at the same time. A friends buckled sideways under the pressure of water on the roof, every time it rained heavily. He still uses it, but you couldn't give me one for free. Metal poles every time, for us!
Must say the couple of times we used ours it was really good, reasonably quick to put up, it's the pegging out that takes so long. Yes, they are heavy, but if you thread in from the front rail low down with 2 of you it's not so bad - we tie a piece of string to eyelet on the leading edge to help pulling through.
At least with air tubes there's no chance of damaging the side of van with poles (except the 2 uprights to hold it close to the van)
We'd keep ours but when you only go for a couple of days at a time, its too big a job to put up - prefer the sun canopy for summer use and our little 1.5 meter porch one for winter.
Just a quick update from my first use folks.....Just had a week at scalby manor site at Scarborough.
Watched loads of you tube vids and thought the dog lead was best option fro pulling it along the awning rail. So bought one off E.. blag for around £6/7 .
Firstly it is a lot heavier than I thought it would be, however no great shakes. Wife fed it Ito the rail, whilst I pulled gently withe the dog lead. Very easily I must say.
100 pumps on the air pump, again, no great shakes, steady away. up in no time. pegging out no different to other awnings.
First erection, pegged out, all done and dusted around 45 mins total....NO ARGUMENTS...
Looks the part, feels bigger than it is. Had a few comments saying it looks nice.
It's got more zips, to fit extra's than you can imagine on closer inspection.
Mad hot days, cool nights first three days, small amount of condensation, nowt to shout home about tho. Happy chappie.
Had one hell of a storm third day, pool developed on the roof, not too big however still pooled!! flicked it off naturally then, OK
Rest of the week Hot days and warm nights. NO condensation.
Deacamping was a total breeze, around 45 mins steady away. Again NO ARGUMENTS..
All in all am I happy YES... Would I buy again YES...Is it as good as the poled Dorema NO...Never had any condensation in the dorema, or pooling. However argued each and every time it was erected or dismantled.
AIR is the way forward for me, however Kampa material, not so sure about!!!! (On the air ace anyway).
Off to Cornwall in a couple of weeks for two week stint will give another update after.
I am still trying to figure why people have so much difficulty with poled awnings as they are simple to erect if you read the instructions first. Easy to unpack and easier to pack away as no trying to squeeze out air as the awning is now double in size.
Quote: Originally posted by iank01 on 13/6/2021
I am still trying to figure why people have so much difficulty with poled awnings as they are simple to erect if you read the instructions first. Easy to unpack and easier to pack away as no trying to squeeze out air as the awning is now double in size.
Each to there own I suppose! However at 63 years old camping since the age of around 14/15 moving from small tents to the huge 7/8 man tents. Then moving onto caravanning around ten years ago. Using poled awnings of various sizes. I found this air awning was a breeze to erect. By far the easiest thing I've ever erected. As to the squeezing air out I just rolled it up No probs, as per the instructions.
As I said Each to there own.
I am not trying to sell it, approve it, or disrespect it. Just giving my honest opinion on it.
I've got a Kampa Rally Air Pro 330, and think it's great, been using it for 3 years now.
I'm a pensioner, I have no difficulty erecting it on my own (with aid of a home made version of Kampa's pulley device), I don't get where people complain about lifting the weight into the rail, you're only lifting a little bit of the flysheet to the rail at any time, not the entire thing! I've also got a smaller more lightweight fabric poled awning, it's no easier! With multiple deflation vents it's easy to get the air out and pack up, the oversize stuff bag with compression straps make getting it back in easy and then it compacts down to original as purchased pack size.
My Kampa has stood up to days of continuous torrential rain, and gale force winds (that it really should not have been up in!). There is a little bit of puddling in the roof by the central airbeam, but it's pretty much self draining in the slightest breeze, and even if it doesn't drain it's not big enough puddle to be a problem.
Two lots of friends ditched their poled awnings when they saw how easy my Kampa air was to erect and pack away, they are both still very happy with their purchase after a couple of years use.
I certainly wouldn't trade my air beams for poles on a larger sized awning. Happy Kampa airbeam user, so very much with you Kevin-t, again, just my view.
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Topic: Kampa air ace 300
