Received Eezi-Awn 1000 2.5M Awning Today

[anjin007]

I received my new Eezi 1000 today and it appears to be very well built out of the bag. The latches are nice and sturdy although riveted to the aluminum case and not bolted. I haven't opened it up yet but I did discover a couple things I want to pass on if you are a neophyte like myself.

1. Equipt1 does not provide mounting brackets, they consider them "accessories" but will sell you a pair for $40.
2. Equipt1 stated the most common way their customers install them is to drill through the brand new aluminum awning case you just bought.
3. If you have a Front Runner rack, you will need to drill through that $1200 rack
4. It is not provided in the Eezi Awn instructions where they recommend drilling through the brand new shiny aluminum awning case you just bought either.
5. There are no instructions on how exactly you are supposed to remove the 96" L x 82" W to gain access to drill the case without wiping the new awning fabric all over the garage floor to include stepping on it in order to drill into the shiny aluminum case from the inside. (I'm assuming the awning is attached to the case on the inside).
4. You can buy the Eezi Awn mounting brackets ($40) + buy the Front Runner brackets ($35) and then you don't have to drill = $75


So, if you are considering an Eezi-Awn, please be aware of this technicality because it was not intuitive to me from reading either Front Runner's website or Equipt1's website. Hope someone can learn from my mistakes, thanks!

 

[MDA]

I have had an ARB and Eezi Awn on my Frontrunner. Each time, I had to get to get new brackets. I have to admit, it was a very clean install each time and worth every penny.

 

[anjin007]

I confirmed, the Front Runner brackets are designed to connect to the Eezi-Awn supplied brackets. I just ordered them and Equipt1 was very accommodating in getting a set to me. I set he Front Runner brackets next to the awning to eye just connecting it directly to the awning but several of the pre-drilled holes don't line up with the centerline of the awning. Sigh..no worries though. I should have the other brackets by next week.

 

[Happykamper]

Hmmmmmmmmmm

 

[TerraCrawler]

I confirmed, the Front Runner brackets are designed to connect to the Eezi-Awn supplied brackets. I just ordered them and Equipt1 was very accommodating in getting a set to me. I set he Front Runner brackets next to the awning to eye just connecting it directly to the awning but several of the pre-drilled holes don't line up with the centerline of the awning. Sigh..no worries though. I should have the other brackets by next week.

Prepare to be further disappointed.

I too purchased the Eezi-Awn 1000 2.5M. It was slightly damaged in shipment (broken closure), but Paul sent me the parts to fix it up.

I also was not aware you needed brackets, so I bought a pair from Equipt1. I also bought the Front Runner brackets. What you will find out is that the Front Runner brackets don't work with the Eezi-Awn brackets! In fact, the brackets in the Front Runner documentation which they show, are not Eezi-Awn brackets (according to Eezi-Awn, they never made a bracket that looked like that). This is perplexing, I know the Front Runner guys are A class, so there must have been a mix up somewhere. I in fact called Front Runner and sent them pictures and the reality is they just don't work together. The options you have are to drill either the Front Runner brackets or the Eezi-Awn brackets to try to make it work. Where to drill exactly is the question. The Front Runner bracket is steel, which may not be easy to drill, the Eezi-Awn bracket is aluminum. Although there is the option of just attaching the awning to the Front Runner bracket and not using the Eezi-Awn at all (by drilling the Awning case), I do not like this idea, as the awning has a very nice extrusion built into it that slides into the Eezi-Awn bracket. This allows quick adjustment of the awning and a very nice support mechanism. So yes, after buying a premium rack, premium awning, two sets of brackets, I still do not have something that just works. Tomorrow I will visit a fabricator and see if they can use a drill press on the brackets to get me something working

 

[TerraCrawler]

ARB awnings don't come with mounting brackets either. I believe this is standard/normal, because there are a million possible mounting setups. I have FrontRunner's awning brackets and they are great.

And I don't think you'll need anything other than FrontRunner's Eezi-Awn mounts. If your awning is anything like my ARB was, it'll have channels/grooves in the back that the brackets will slide into. That's pretty much as universal as these things can get (within the realm of practicality).

Front Runner's Eezi-Awn brackets do not have the channels in them. I am not sure why. It would seem the best way is to just make the bracket so all you need is the bracket. The FR brackets are designed to connect to the Eezi-Awn brackets, which of course are not included with Eezi-Awn awnings, so you basically have to spend about $80 in brackets.........but even then, see my post, it will not work.

Here are some pics of both brackets. You can see the holes do not line up. You could at most get one hole to line up.

 

[Dozer Dan]

If you have a good long think about it it makes sense these things don't come with brackets. There are literally millions of different combinations to mount and awning and even when you buy brackets designed for a certain rack or awning you are still only getting a 'universal' fit. If you are in any way picky about how the awning is mounted you can't get off the shelf stuff unless you have a vehicle/rack/awning combo that is popular enough for there to be an off the shelf solution available.

Brackets will need to be fabricated to suit your needs. If you can't do it yourself have someone do it for you.
I hate to come across harsh but you are slating a brand and their product for no valid reason. You would have been in the same situation no matter the vendor or brand of awning you got.
If you had informed yourself better you would not have been disappointed with the product nor would you have had to come across as a snowflake here.

 

[rickc]

My strongest recommendation is to ask here, on this forum first. "This is what I want to do with this equipment, any advice much appreciated; please post pics". I'm sure that forum members have done just about everything with every piece of equipment. I agree that the major suppliers should do a better job of talking to each other and providing more comprehensive solutions to mounting their equipment to each other.

 

[coledudley]

The Eezi-Awn brackets just need something flat to mount to. I'd suggest buying those and figuring out a way to make it work with those if you don't want to drill through the rear of the awning. Most roof rack manufacturers have a generic awning mount with a flat surface. My roof rack is custom but I ended up using some flat bar and square tube to make mounts out of steel. Granted, custom fabrication is the opposite of convenience but it was only necessary because of the custom rack.

It's really a great awning so I'm hoping it works out for you!

 

[Happykamper]

Upersonal responsibility as a consumer ??? Ok here it comes !!! Lol

 

[anjin007]

Wow, lots of conversation on this one. First, my post was to inform others like myself a "newby" so that they can learn what to ask about prior to making a decision. I don't know what I don't know. I take the information from the vendor's websites at face value and assume noble intent. The information provided could be a little more specific to include posting the PDF mounting instructions (some vendors do this now).

Second, I would have loved to visit a vendors location if it wasn't 810 miles away. But I'm sure the commenter already realizes 99% of America doesn't live within a practical distance to the sole distributor of these awnings anyway.

Third, I don't think it's unreasonable for companies to communicate clearly, provide detailed instructions and set expectations up front. I'm not saying anyone didn't do this but that seems like common sense to me.

Lastly, I'm not exactly sure why some folks need to be ************* pricks when responding to this by personally attacking someone for writing a fairly innocuous post. But since you can't help yourself Dildo Dan, why don't you just go back to bog-jumping your way across the western part of England.

 

[rickc]

anjin007: you did the right thing posting your question here but please get a thicker skin; this is only the Internet; it's way too easy to get upset about nothing and insulting other posters doesn't help. Back on topic; it's way too easy for folk to say "just make your own brackets" but I've seen some really bad, dangerous stuff on people's trucks due to a DIY approach without any sense of engineering. You do not want your new awning disappearing down the highway in your rear-view mirror. Please post a picture of your roof rack or describe exactly what you have; this will make it much easier for others to help out.

Good luck.

 

[rickc]

Pictures always help. Here's what I did to attach my ARB awning to my bars; I have a Rhino Rack Pioneer platform similar to a Front Runner (assuming that that is what you have). I know our set-ups are different but the ARB bracket is a pretty good design; perhaps something similar would work for you.

 

[anjin007]

Thank you Rick and to others who provided constructive feedback. I appreciate it!

 

[Corey]

What about this?
https://bomberproducts.com/collections/bomber-products/products/awn-lock

I own his Shovelock for mounting my Krazy Beaver shovel to my Hi-Lift, it is great quality.