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isabella do not come cheap but they are good.spoken to a nice man he say steel poles are the strongest but about 10kg heavier £30 cheaper than ali and £50 less than carbon.all weather dorema awning has a shiney watery wax finish easy to clean i like the sound of that.

going to wales easter with the wii

It depends on several factors - how often you plan to use it - the odd weekend or up all the time ? Occasional use - Bradcot / NR / Dorema will all suffice , Constant use - Isabella / ventura / Inaca will last years. The size of the awning determines which poles are most suitable Steel / Carbon fibre for the bigger sizes alloy are only good for small to mid sized awnings . I had a steel set for my 1050cm Bradcot classic however they were that heavy i had to split them into 2 bags in order to carry them about . I have since upgraded to carbon fibre a good compromise between strength & weight . The alloy poles are lighter & cheaper but tend to bend quite easily i wouldn't trust them in higher winds and the dealer wouldn't recommend them for sizes over 850cm. I wont pay new isabella prices because i don't use an awning often enough to make it worthwhile however second hand ones come up from time to time at reasonable money .Also Ventura are made by isabella but cheaper so may be worth considering

Isabella are much over rated in my opinion.

Looking at them at the caravan show I didn't like them. I want strength, quick locking clamps and value for money. Isabella didn't have any of them. 2 of the demo poles were cracked, they had fiddly screw type clamps and they were over priced.

In answer to the original question: The best awning to buy is which ever awning suits your requirements. For some its a £1000 Isabella, for others its a 2nd hand Pyramid awning!

Chaz

We've had Isabella & Dorema awnings. IMO the Isabella was a better awning however, the Dorema was very good value for money & well put together but, didn't seem so heavy duty as the Isabella.

We're now looking for a new awning as we're waiting for a new van to arrive. We'll be going out this weekend looking at awnings to see which looks to be best.

Considering the price difference, Dorema may win the day with us again, it'll depend on what prices we're quoted.

BB

Quote: Originally posted by charlychuck on 21/3/2009

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try the dorema web site for your brand new awning they have some less than £400

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Did you decide on a Dorema in the end? We bought our last one direct from Dorema, I phoned them to make sure we got it right first time & the chap was very helpful.

I paid by card over the phone & everything was here 36 hours later & a perfect fit. We've only just ordered our van this morning for delivery in may so we've got time to get the awning sorted.

BB

i wouldnt swap my harrison awning for anything, won best awning in practical caravan mag 08

have steel poles on the big awning as its 1075 the carbon imho arnt strong enough for a big awning, that said have carbon on the porch awning and theyre great for that size

It would be a Dorema awning for us,  had no problems with it.

We have a dorema awning and it has been fine.  I must admit I like the look of the caravanstore zip by fiamma.

Brian

I've made one or two calls this afternoon & it looks like an Isabella with two annexes will cost me around £2,400. I don't think so! I'm not paying that for an awning, quality or not.

I'll be watching Ebay like a hawk & on the blower to Dorema over the coming weeks.

BB

Someone suggested a Bradcot to us today, I can't remember the model name now but it wasn't the classic. To be honest, we'd not even given them a thought, we've only had a used Isabella which we kept for 12 seasons & loved it & a new Dorema which I was daft enough to sell once I "thought" we'd given up caravanning & were going to become tent campers. A dart in the roof would of had it fitting our new caravan.

Our van won't be here until  mid may so we've got a bit of time to sort one out. Whatever we get will need two annexes so will need to be good.

BB