ARB Awning Room Input?

[AutoRotate]

Here are a few pictures of my screen room (no floor) and full room.

 

[cactusjk]

Anyone use the "deluxe" 4 sided room?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[aearles]

I just installed a 2500 and the deluxe room, it's really well thought out, flexible, and seems very nice but it packs down huge! I'm not sure whether it's going to make the cut because it takes up so much space and will be used so rarely (I think).

 

[hidesertwheelin]

Is the difference between the deluxe and the regular awning room the deluxe has a built in screen room that can be installed separately?

https://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=34937

https://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=15738

 

[aearles]

The two are not separate, the deluxe just has full double layer walls, one screen and the other weatherproof. You can roll up the weather proof layer to create a full screenroom, or just partial depending on which side you want covered/open. Each side perprindicular to the truck is just dual large half panels with two layers each instead of having windows that open. The wall opposite/parallel to the truck is a full single panel that can be extended out at an angle and guyed to create a wind break with a full screen layer underneath.

Hope that helps some, I have only set it up once and forgot to take pictures until it was all zipped up to put away. Next time I get it out I'll take some photos to share.

With the double layered walls, 8'x8' footprint, and heavy tarp floor, the packed size is pretty large. It's bigger than my synthetic double long sleeping bag packed. I'm not sure how packed size compares to the other room options.

 

[rickc]

Watch out when it gets wet! The big awnings collect water if you don't slope one end down; even then, they can collect water; enough to cause damage if you are not careful. Using the awning as a tent will otherwise work fine. I've seen pic/vid of guys using a mat/carpet of sorts to have a "clean" zone.

 

[Toyota_JP]

hey guys..... first off, apologies for reviving an old thread....

that said, I am looking to buy an OLD MODEL enclosed room. Just like the one that @AutoRotate has on his post a couple of post above this one. ARB redesigned they enclosed room and new design will not work for I am wanting to do with it.

If you have one that you are not using any longer and would like to sell, please send me a message.

Thanks

 

[WOODY2]

Bump

 

[drinkdrankdrunk]

So I have a 2000x2000 knockoff ebay awning and the ARB deluxe that I've slept in probably a dozen times or so. I'm torn on it.

I already had the awning and kinda wanted my camping setup attached to my vehicle for some reason. In hindsight I don't know why. Once we set up camp we don't really move much at all, but for some reason I still find the awning room to be a bit more trouble than it's worth. Since I already had the awning, the awning room was only another $170~, so not a huge investment, and if you already have the awning it's really not a bad purchase to use as a foul weather changing room or something. But if I could do it again I'd either go with an oztent or a camping swag.

My issue with the awning room is why even have it attached to the vehicle? It takes longer to set up than a regular tent, and you lose the ability to use the awning during the day. Also it doesn't pack up small. So usually in my trunk I have the awning room, a sleeping bag, a foam sleeping pad, and a self inflating pad. That's a lot of trunk space dedicated to one person's sleeping set up. This is why I'm planning on switching to a swag. Even though swags definitely don't pack up small, it'd probably be on my roof. Also it's nice to just open up the swag and throw a sleeping back in it, not have to have 2 different sleeping pads, plus a bag and the tent. Sure I could streamline this down and get a better sleeping pad but I think I'm just moving away from the awning room, and swags seem to cost about the same as expeds.

I'll still keep the awning room for when the ladyfriend comes camping, plus it's nice to be able to stand up in it to change and whatnot, but overall I think it's just more hassle than it's worth.

Personal advantages of the swag:

1. Get to use the awning during the day. I can just drag the swag to the other side of the car during the day and not have to bother with setup/tear down.
2. Can ditch both the sleeping pads and only carry the swag and a sleeping bag.
3. If we decided to leave camp for the day I only need to pack the awning. I don't mind leaving stuff behind to mark the site as occupied.
4. Quicker setup than the awning room and I'm assuming it packs up easier than trying to cram a 3-dimensional box into a bag. Last night I purchased some cam straps, hoping those may help with rolling up the room and getting it tight.
5. Swag will handle heavy wind and rain better than the awning room

I really wanted as oztent but they take up way more room than the awning room, and I'm still stuck with all the sleeping pads, so they don't really help my situation much. And even though they advertise them as 30 second tents, you still will need to secure them with guy wires in any sort of bad weather. Only knock against the swag is the size and having to strap something else to my roof rack.


To answer a couple of the question I saw in this thread

Yes you can use the cram method for the awning room, but it may take a try or two. As far as attaching the ARB wind breaks, I believe you can only use the ones that attach to the side, not the one that attaches to the side furthest from the vehicle. The awning room attached to a rail on the far side and I think the wind break attaches the same way. The side panel wind breaks just attach with velcro loops around the horizontal poles which you can still access with the awning room attached. I can't speak for all knockoff awnings, but my ARB room attached just fine to my $80 ebay awning.

 

[ETAV8R]

Really enjoyed using the room attachment on a recent trip. Making breakfast and lunch and lounging with a great view and the bugs outside made the experience even better.

 

[WidgeonmanGH]

I have the ARB 2500 Awning touring addition as well as the room. Used it last year in a week long elk hunt, and some smaller trips, and already spent a week in it this year. I absolutely love it.

1. It is easy to set up. Not sure what would be hard about it. I can have the whole thing up in a couple of minutes.
2. Getting back in the bag is not difficult either. Sometimes they make the bags too small, but not on this one. You just fold it to the right size roll it up and put it in.
3. Floor is awesome and tough.

We were going to do a small roof top tent but decided not to because we liked this so well. In addition, we don't have to unload the kayaks to set up camp. We will eventually get a 270 degree awning to accompany it. If you buy knock offs you usually get what you pay for.

If I had it to do again, I would do it again.

https://studio.youtube.com/video/Lzs8C47ehbA/edit

Good luck.

This is a picture from our elk hunt. It rained every single day. (South West WA)

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

One more opinion to the pile...

I've had ARB rooms, a full one with the floors and walls and one with the screens/open ground. The one with the open screens got stolen during a robbery, but the full room is excellent.

The full room was used for just shy of 30 days during our Alaska trip for sleeping and hanging out. Like another poster if I had to do it again, I would. We paired the room with an RTT; my bro in law and his wife used the room while my wife, Dog and I used the RTT. It's how 4 adults and a dog could live out of a JK for month -- without that space it would be hard.

It's currently unused because the channel that the awning mounts to had a burr that ripped the room a bit and we need to make the time to repair it, so be warned to check for this, but otherwise it has been excellent.