Birder Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi All My sister & her husband are contemplating purchasing a Fiamma Wind-out Awning & also purchase the zipped sides to provide them with extra 'living' space when friends & family join them for their holiday. Question is: Are there any 'downsides' (pardon the pun) they should be aware of before purchasing. It is a large outlay of cash & they want to be sure their money will be well spent. My brother in law is no longer able to do much physical 'work' so how difficult are these 'rooms' to attach to the awning? Negative & constructive comments re these 'rooms' would be appreciated. Just as an aside do Omnister do similar ones? If so which is the better? Thanks in anticipation of your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi Birder 2 points to consider a) the weight of the Awning around 45kg depending on size. & weight of the Safari room. They take a big chunk out of your payload, so worth checking. b) The zip on Safari Room requires attaching at the point where the Awning is attached to the Motorhome, so quite high & can be a struggle again due to the weight. Regarding the diference between the Fiamma & Onmistor. Omnistor more expensive, but IMHO, slightly better quality. This was the subject of a thread earlier in the year & opinion was divided. Many favouring the Fiamma, which is the cheaper & more popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRANKP60 Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Hi ,we have a zip awning ,came with Motorhome ,its a night mare to fit ,only ever been able to fit it once by myself ,rest of time would say two fit people required and a pair of 3 tread steps .The one we have is a FIAMMA the side supports we have have a two inch metal spike on end, this fits into the workings of windout awning,but if you are not carefully it comes out as you try to fix to other end of the windout awning and we have a couple of marks onside of van where it hits as it slips out . We only used the awning when we are on site for at least a week ,takes on a good day at least 30 minutes to errect .Also the model we have is very heavy.Think there are model that fix to windout but not Zipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matrix Meanderer Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 We have a Fiamma awning and only ever use it as a sunshade - a job it does well. It's a good user friendly product. So if you treat it as such you will not be disappointed. Beware campsites that try to charge you for 'an awning' which is a con and indicates a grasping site owner. Really they should be renamed 'sunshades'. As for the add on room - I would leave well alone. They are a real pain to put up needing a very tall member of the family or long pole or stool as others have pointed out. They are heavy, bulky and IMO quite unneccesary. Awnings do work well with caravans which are much more static than Motorhomes but are a waste of space and cash for the touring motorhome. Just buy a good quality windbreak to go with the sunshade and that will do most people. One other point to remember. Recently there was a thread on this forum asking people which item they most regretted buying or rated as the worst MH accessory. Surprise surprise most people voted the add on room as something they should never have bought and use least! Also - if you look at the small ads in most MH magazines they contain a high number of safari rooms and the like - enough said. So I say buy a good windbreak and forget the add on 'tent'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I would actually go a bit further than Ian and say to not bother with a "windout canopy" of any sort. ...instead get a decent awning rail fitted..this would then enable the use of either a simple tarp-like canopy,like this : http://www.outdoor-revolution.com/accessories/easi-canopi.html .. or any simple,lightweight porch/driveaway awning... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I would echo the above, we have an omnistore only because it was on the van when we bought it. Personally I think it is a waste of time on a few counts. 1. If the wind gets up you need to roll it in otherwise you could end up in real trouble should it "take off" 2. Any time we've used it for shade invariably the shade falls well away form the van, yes I know we could be constantly moving the van to follow the movement of the Sun, but hardly practical. 3. The faff putting up a safari room, no not for me thanks, as above one of the most underused items and most frequently put up for sale when others reach the same conclusion. 4. I'm always terrified that something might go bang when winding it in, and I'm left with half of it hanging out, and stuck for moving on as a result, every time I look at the mechanism I think it defies logic, but that's probably just me ! Best solution for us with another van was a cheapo free standing gazebo from Tesco or the like which only cost a few quid, but even that was rarely used, we don't bother with one now with our PVC in part because of lack of space to store one, and if some shade is needed that can usually be easily achieved, either by a tree, or sitting the sunless side of the van. Given our experiences, If I was you I'd keep your money in your pocket, or get a cheapo gazebo. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Be aware also that these things are not very wind friendly. They need to be very firmly strapped down even in a breeze and if they do break free you can be left not only with a damaged awning that won't roll up but some serious damage to your motorhome / caravan caused by it flailing about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mirage Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I have had both Fiamma & now Omnistore but not the Safari Room. Prefer the Omnistore by far, easier to set up and stow. However if you are not going to hot climes with light winds I would think of something else. As previous posts have said these awnings are not suitable for much more than a breeze, it has to be a very sheltered place before I would go out for the day and just leave it out, pegged down or not! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Depending on which side the awning is mounted (UK or Euro habitation door), there is a tendency I found of collecting odd bits of tree between the m/home and awning mounting if too close to the shrubery ! Worse with a UK m/home, because one tends to forget its mounted on that side, the camber on the road makes you lean in. Reverse happens on the continent !! We have a drive away awning, which means we can leave stuff on the campsite. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birder Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 Thanks to everyone who has responded to my question re Fiamma Wind-Out Awnings. Now it's not Big Bro' who has given the advice but a selection of motorhomers who have tried/tested & sometimes 'given up' & bought a large umberella/gazebo to keep them in the shade. We may also have found ourselves another 'blogger' on this site as she was very impressed by the quick response & diversity of your replies. Thanks again = another satisfied customer :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotsbob Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 We have a Fiamma windout awning which is virtually a sunshade and it works well.Whilst we were away a couple of weeks ago, on one of the sites we stopped at was a Swift with a windout awning and fitted withside & front curtains. I spoke to the couple who owned the m/home and had a conducted tour of the "awning". It is of a mesh construction which actually does block the wind but still lets you see out, it is lighter than normal side/front cutrains and he said was bought form Windblocker Shades. The sides/front fitted into the channels on the awning lillypadleisure.com 08452305260 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machinehead Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 1footinthegrave - 2012-06-05 6:52 PM I would echo the above, we have an omnistore only because it was on the van when we bought it. Personally I think it is a waste of time on a few counts. 1. If the wind gets up you need to roll it in otherwise you could end up in real trouble should it "take off" 2. Any time we've used it for shade invariably the shade falls well away form the van, yes I know we could be constantly moving the van to follow the movement of the Sun, but hardly practical. 3. The faff putting up a safari room, no not for me thanks, as above one of the most underused items and most frequently put up for sale when others reach the same conclusion. 4. I'm always terrified that something might go bang when winding it in, and I'm left with half of it hanging out, and stuck for moving on as a result, every time I look at the mechanism I think it defies logic, but that's probably just me ! Best solution for us with another van was a cheapo free standing gazebo from Tesco or the like which only cost a few quid, but even that was rarely used, we don't bother with one now with our PVC in part because of lack of space to store one, and if some shade is needed that can usually be easily achieved, either by a tree, or sitting the sunless side of the van. Given our experiences, If I was you I'd keep your money in your pocket, or get a cheapo gazebo. ;-) I agree. If you really must, I would just go for something cheap and cheerful - like a Tesco gazeebo. I've had two vans with wind-out awnings and, in my opinion, they serve no real purpose other than to use up payload and take your money. I rarely used them. I haven't fitted one on the last two vans and never missed it. Many will disagree i'm sure. :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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