Vista

I picked up a 10’x9’ Sunsetter Vista manual awning. Not many color choices were available. However, the sale price was the deciding factor. It took me most of a day to install, and I put up a wood plank to mount it to so it was secured to the wall better. The lateral arms extend with the crank, which was a lot more difficult to turn than expected. Hopefully, it gets easier with use. Sunsetter tells me it won’t. It also takes two people to adjust the pitch (using a manual pitch adjustment), and even then it’s not an easy task; not something I’ll be doing more than once. The fabric has a lot of sag when fully extended. I’m hoping it doesn’t get worse because it has already started to collect rain water. I was told by a representative at Sunsetter that the springs in the arms are from China which means they are definitely not the best in the industry.

I was in a local box store, and they had Sunsetter manual awnings on sale, so I bought one. The instructions weren’t the best, but the DVD helped some, then we watched some on-line videos. Installation took about 4 hours. We mounted as close to the soffit as we could, so the fabric is protected. The 10-foot awning extends 8 feet, which covers most of my patio. The awning extends easy enough with the crank, but it is a huge effort to close, so I recommend buying motorized. I haven’t tried to adjust the pitch yet, it seems to be fine so far, but the instructions aren’t clear. The lateral arms work well, although they are too thin as one already got damaged from a very light wind. As they say, you get what you pay for, but the shade is appreciated.

I picked up a manual SunSetter awning for my workshop shed. Just had to attach the brackets on a level line, and slide the awning into place. The crank is a bit stiff when closing, and the arms are noisy – some spray lube made them quieter though. The canvas fabric cover sagged in the first week, and I only use it for shade. I haven’t found any way to make it taut yet. I did adjust the pitch for more height. I had to watch some Youtube videos too since the instructions aren’t good. I wish I would have found better reviews online before making my Sunsetter purchase. I should have bought something of better quality.

I ordered a 16 x 10’2” Vista model by Sunsetter with acrylic fabric. The fabric has begun to fade after only being up for 3 months thus the 1 star quality rating. I am now concerned because the fabric Sunsetter offers is not a brand name like Sunbrella or Para that I have since determined have a 10-year warranty. The color choice was limited, but they had the color we wanted in stock. Sunsetter says fading of the fabric is not covered by their lousy 5 year prorated warranty! I went with the soffit bracket to give more headroom and to get more coverage on the deck. I would have preferred if the awning extended further though. It weighs more than 100 pounds, so installation was easier with an extra pair of hands. Have your helper available to support the front bar if you want to adjust the pitch….not something I’ll do again! The crank makes a squeaky noise, and it extends and retracts the awning with a lot of effort. Delivery works better where I live and saves a day of travel too.

I bought the 12’x10’ Vista from my local home box-store Costco – the service at Costco was terrible. The Sunsetter awning came with laminated vinyl fabric which is supposed to be waterproof but is not waterproof after being up during the rainy season. The green striped canopy goes with the cottage atmosphere; I just hope it doesn’t fade because it looks cheaply made. The aluminum frame is beige enamel which doesn’t look as good with our white window frames, but I guess we’ll get used to it and it won’t show that much dirt. The attached crank is much harder to turn than expected, and I’ve scraped my knuckles almost every time I’ve used it. I won’t have to worry about the kids playing with the crank until they get taller and stronger.

Our camper RV needed a new awning. I wanted something removable, easy to use, and inexpensive. We decided on a ten-foot manual SunSetter unit. Installing the 3 brackets was the difficult part. I made plates to go on the RV wall to take the strain of the awning. The awning is not lightweight and does not slide into the brackets easily. I use custom wingnuts instead of the supplied retaining bolts. The crank and arms are noisy when opening, and my wife has difficulty closing it. I tried some lube, but it didn’t do the job. The arms and frame don’t look strong, and I hope they’ll last since it’s only weekend use.

I live in a mobile home and was thinking of getting a carport but that costs more than ten grand, so decided to try an awning that was much cheaper. It really has not worked out very well. The sales rep said do not leave it open in winds higher than 10 mph, but here in Florida, that is a pretty common occurrence especially with storms which is the whole reason I wanted something to cover my car in the first place. One day it was about 15mph and one of the arms got bent. It does not work well when it goes in and out with a press of a remote control button. Unfortunately, a Sunsetter is all I could afford.