Air Awnings

I have never used an air awning but, talking to people who have, two issues seem to arise.  Provided your pitch is dead level and your van is a matching height they are fine. However on a sloping pitch they can collect water due to the lack of any height adjustment, as is available with metal poles.   Also, for tall folk the lower headroom can apparently be a nuisance.

I guess it depends on what awning, the worst pitch I have ever been on was in France when I had the first gen Kampa Air 390m the front of the van was on the floor and I has the ramps under the fully down legs at the back.

The awning did not look pretty, but it would not have collected water.

I upgraded to the Air Ace 400, for the extra width, but have loved both of them.

They have their pros and cons

I sometimes think the Air Ace is a little big for weekends, especially if it is wet with the heavier fabric and miss the lighter weight Air 390. (I think the Pro is the heavier fabric?)

We have a Kampa Fiesta air pro 420. It's in its fourth year now and is the best awning we've ever had, and we've had a few! It has been up in force 8s and torrential rain without problems. The joy of this one is the panels all come off completely, so we can just have a sun canopy if we want. Since it sits in Spanish sun for 6 weeks and French sun for another 6 every year, it's fading a bit now but when the time comes it will be replaced by another similar.

I have 3 friends who have bought(at no small cost)this type of awning over the last 3 years,all have now sold them and gone back to porch awnings.

main reasons were

1/ not good on uneven pitches.

2/ valves did not always keep air in.

3/ in high winds they moved around,ie the side to the wind bowed inwards.

4/some models have a "step"when going into the awning and made it easy to trip on.

but if you feel it suits your needs then have a look as there are plenty on the market.