Top 3 Reviews of Vista

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.

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 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.