Im looking for a small, lightweight driveway awning for weekends away and short trips. The Kela series look great but are outside my current budget as I already own a decent large tent for longer trips. I saw the Faros on vango's website but can't (so far) find anyone with any practical experience of it. Any info greatly appreciated. Ta.
Well, I took my new Faros away for a week on the Pembrokeshire coast in August. There's lots I liked about it but I think it would be best as a fair weather awning.
Things I loved about it:
small when packed and lightweight
for a small awning it actually has a lot of internal space
great for narrower pitches as it's longer than it's wide
it's very light and airy
almost straight sides allow you to stand &/or put things close to the sides
the tunnel has 2 zipped doors for easy access
the internal storm straps help keep the structure in bad weather
being pole & sleeve it can be easily dried at home if space is limited
the clip in groundsheet: you can leave it out on warm/dry grass or gravel
Things I didn't like or we had a problem with:
the brass eyelets at the top (on one side) ripped out of position by about 2 cm (seemed to me to be too high so couldn't take the tension of the guy ropes)
there was a kink/miss tooth connection in the main door zip (top left) and the zip undid itself by about 18 cm - then the zip wouldn't self heal when the tab was run over it (infact the zip just jammed at that point)
one of the bottom pitching elastics, where you peg, separated at the join
not a fault, but the sides could do with more bottom pegging points, not just either side of the doors
I felt really diappointed as without the faults it would have been the perfect awning for us. If Vango did this size/design at a higher quality and made it more robust I would be happy to pay a lot more for it.
I bought it from the club shop and as usual the customer service was exceptional. I sent a couple of pics with an email. They arranged a courier pick up and within a couple of days it had been collected and my money refunded.
