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Quote: Originally posted by Charlie M on 25/10/2015

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Purchased a Varkala 420 in February and I am currently a very unhappy customer. Fine for several trips( although heavy and awkward to erect along the awning rail) until experienced strongish winds (25 - 35 mph gusts) in September when all the four main airbeams immediately buckled alarmingly in towards the side of the caravan making it unusable and had to take it down. Exactly same problem this week, but this time a sudden gust flattened the awning to the extent that the roof came down so far that it struck a chair and tore the awning roof. Then discovered that a section of the awning stitching had torn away from the caravan awning rail. This made it extremely difficult to remove awning along the rail as it constantly jammed. Noteworthy that other more traditional awnings were not experiencing similar problems in what were certainly not extreme conditions. Have also found that even on quite level pitches the end airbeams bend and buckle. The performance of my Varkala does not match the claims made for it by Vango regarding its strength in windy conditions. This is an expensive piece of kit, but I question its quality, e.g. head came off mallet supplied at first use, rock pegs inadequate on typical Caravan Club hardstanding pitches, tiny print on erection instructions, etc etc. I understand there is a two-year guarantee and I will be interested to find out what Vango have to say about the very unsatisfactory performance of this awning. I used to be a Vango tent enthusiast but sadly disillusioned.

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