Quick Pitch Awning Setup
The Quick Pitch awning, the WeatherShade, is one of the easiest to set up that we’ve tested to date. First up, it’s a matter of unzipping the bag and then undoing the velcro straps and letting the awning hang down.
*A minor update to this review: I found the velcro on these straps slightly short which meant they wouldn’t always hold. It was a simple fix; I chopped some of my old kayak tie down straps to length and used those instead. They have a metal cam buckle so you can crank them tight and they hold, which in turn makes it easier to do up the bag.
From here, walk the awning around the back of the vehicle. Run the end of this strap around your roof rack, clip it back on itself and tension the cam strap to get the awning nice and taught.
Finally, raise the leg, which adds the final tension to the fabric and aids with drainage in the wet.
Importantly, one person can easily pack away this awning too, and it goes easily back in the bag.
Quick Pitch Awning Specifications
The Quick Pitch awning has 5 legs, 4 are 2.4m, and 1 is 1.7m; this creates an enormous 15 square metres of shade.
The rear tailgate area is well covered. The leading edge of the awning has a zipper for accommodating walls which we are told are coming soon. Whether it’s one wall to block sun or wind or a full set to keep foul conditions or bugs at bay; walls are always a handy option.
While this is a legless design, it does come with one leg for windy conditions. Each arm also has a guy strap cleverly poked instead. So if the wind does get strong, it’s easy to add support by securing the outer edge.
The team at Quick Pitch undoubtedly build sturdy gear. The quality of the stainless hinge is reassuring, especially as this is an area that bears the brunt of the load.
The silver-coated canvas is effective. We had a full day of 40° plus under this at the recent Perth 4WD Show, and yes it was hot, but with the extra height underneath the awning and the reflection, it was surprisingly comfortable.
The storage bag is also well designed, high quality and utilises genuine YKK brand zippers and the stowed length is 2575mm.
Mounting
While free-standing awnings are hard to beat, they are only as strong as their weakest point, which in most cases is mounting.
Quick Pitch offers equally strong brackets to suit a range of popular touring platform roof racks. They also build custom brackets (where possible) to suit other racks like our crossbars.
Final Thoughts
At 28 kg the Quick Pitch awning is heavier than most 270-degree awnings that rely on legs. Still, we can see that this awning would be used considerably more often, making it worth those extra kilos. One thing I’d add though, is that a roof top tent, roof rack and awning like this it’s getting toward the limit of many roof racks and roof load ratings and in some cases it will be over. It’s worth adding up the weight of your setup including the roof rack and brackets and considering finding alternative spots to store any additional gear like your MAXTRAX high lift jack.