Slide awning experience?

[Ishler]

I'm planning to add slide awnings to the unit this year. I see there are two major contenders, A&E and Carefree of Colorado. I'm interested in any experience you have had with either unit(good and bad). What type are factory supplied? Thanks for any input.

Mike

[bsmeaton]

Mike,

The factory slide awnings are A&E. Carefree offers a few more approaches, but they are relatively the same. Carefree has a slide awning with a center parallel bar that raises in the full out position to keep water from collecting and to keep the awning from laying down on the roof when wet or covered in snow. They also make a slide awning that is independant of the slide so you can close it without retracting the slide in the event of wind. These also serve as window awngings as well.

Have fun shopping!

[Garin1]

Mike , my last unit had A&E slide awnings installed from the dealer. I don't have them on my new unit and really regret not getting them.

[campbud]

We have A&E slide toppers installed by Keystone. We are happy with ours.

[sailer]

I had carefree installed in the UP of Mich and they are great but if full of watewr run the slide in slow as the water has to dump off someplace
john

[sreigle]

Both brands are widely used in the patio awning arena as well as slide toppers and other products. I would not be too concerned about which made the ones I have. I'd be more interested in the features, etc. I've only had the A&E toppers (on three Montanas over 6 years) but to tell the truth I like the looks of the Carefree toppers better. Bottom line is I'd go with whichever gave me the best deal.

[montanared]

I have the factory installed A&E slide awnings. I use my Montana as a mobile business office every month of the year and after two years of heavy use, the A&E awnings still perform flawlessly.

[dieselguy]

I installed the Carefree ... easy to accomplish if you have 2 8' ladders and a good assistant. I have installed the A&E on a previous fiver. With the Carefree, I do like the looks of the mechanism better and (for me) the support brackets are a little easier to install than the A&E's I never had any failure with either brand. With both, the awning material will weather in around 5 years nearing the point of replacement. The top of the line models with the metal weather shield will help.

[carlson]

QUESTION?????
Carefree has a XL size window awning, that I am looking at to cover both windows on the big slide of the 3400RL.
What have others done for the two windows??
Thanks

[bsmeaton]

A&E has one also that fits both windows. It's just up to you as to which you like better. The A&E fabric will match your patio awning fabric. We put two window awnings on - a short arm for the sofa window and a long arm for the dining table.

[sreigle]

quote:Originally posted by carlson

QUESTION?????
Carefree has a XL size window awning, that I am looking at to cover both windows on the big slide of the 3400RL.
What have others done for the two windows??
Thanks

We would like to have had one awning to cover both windows but our dealer's A&E catalog did not show one long enough to do the job. That was last September so it may have changed by now. Our dealer did not have the Carefree catalog so we went with individual awnings over those two windows. They're quick and easy to deploy and un-deploy so that's not an issue.

Now that we have the individual awnings I'm not sure the single would have met our needs. Because one window is shorter than the other, with a single long awning, to adequately shade the longer window the shorter window's view would have to be totally blocked. To eliminate that blockage, the longer window would not be fully shaded. At least that's how it looks to me now that we have the separate awnings in place.