Official Foxwing review

[Nullifier]

Well I finally join the ranks of awning owners. A new Foxwing awning was delivered by Oztent U.S.A.. I spoke with Randy who is nice guy, and has a lot of camping experience. He dropped my Foxwing in the mail to me a day or so later, and this is what I got.

Peeling back the packaging revealed a lot of quality components. To say the least I was impressed right off the bat. I tend to look at most products with a close but no cigar award mentality. Since I wasn't ready to hand one out at this point like I usually am, we were off to a good start. Separating the components out made me discover quickly that who ever designed this unit was really into the details. I new right away that I was looking at only 5 minutes of assembly to get the Foxwing ready for the rack install.

The standard mounting bracket is a really robust injection molded piece. The base of the bracket is roughly 10mm thick, with the main vertical support 5 mm thick. This is substantially thicker then any Yakima or Thule tower and it is supporting minimal weight. The standard unit fits crossbars like Trac-rack, Thule Xsporter or Rhino Rack. Randy asked me what type of rack I was mounting it to, then I was informed Oztent U.S.A. offered an optional kit to fit standard Yakima or Thule crossbars. If you are mounting it to these racks make sure to get that kit.

Now mounting the main bracket to the awning is simple. Just peel back one end of the canvas cover and drop the 4 square head bolts into the awning tracks. Then put the brackets on the bolts and tighten with a 14mm socket. Leave them loose enough to slide the brackets, and you are now ready to put the Foxwing on the roof rack!

With the awning sitting on the rack, I left the rear door of my Suburban open to see how far back the awning could go. I then installed it to the Yakima crossbars with the supplied adapter kit. A u-bolt through a beefy injection plastic bracket was all it took to put the Foxwing on the roof. Once tightened with a 10mm socket I was ready to tighten down the main brackets. It was so easy a caveman could do it. Total install time for me was 15 minutes.

Here you can see the Foxwing awning mounted to the rack on my Suburban, and yes I just made it in the garage with 2” of clearance. So a stock truck can make it into a standard 84” tall garage no problem.

Here are some additional stats on the foxwing based on my actual measurements.

O.A.L.: 8' 2.5"
Hieght: 6 7/8"
depth : 3.5"

Weight of awning and mountig hardware per digital postage scale: 35.25 lbs
Weight of the total unit including pole bag and stake out kit: 42.2 lbs
Most owners will be in the 35 lb catagory with what will be going on the roof.

Now before some of you say that is heavy, keep in mind the Foxwing is like haveing 3 traditional awning on your rig.

So far I have only had enough time to get it mounted. I am planning tomorrow to go out and get it deployed. We will try and interface our OZTENT RV-4 with it to see how versatile the Foxwing really is. I just want to say thanks to Randy at Oztent USA for making this an easy transaction! So far I am really happy with what I have seen from it.

 

[Brian McVickers]

Great post. We look forward to seeing some pictures of it deployed!

I have seen these in person and had the chance to open and close it while poking around and all the seams, clips, buckles and straps, impressive all around.

Regards,
Brian

 

[1leglance]

I had a chance to play with these in germany and they are really well built.
But I was warned that it is a 2 person job if there is any wind as it will flip over the rig and be ruined....any that is per the company.

Amazing amount of shade though.

 

[Rexsname]

I wonder how difficult it would be to fit one one a truck with a Flip-Pac :drool:




REX

 

[Nullifier]

I wonder how difficult it would be to fit one one a truck with a Flip-Pac :drool:




REX

If it were me I would cut a few strips of Star board (cuttng board material) to use as a spacer between the awning and the shell. Then drill right through the side of the flip pack and bolt it on.

 

[Nullifier]

Well today I had a few hours to take my daughter over to Davis Island. We went and set up the foxwng. Then we sat around for an hour and a half watching the planes land at the local airstrip, the sail boats at anchor in the harbour, and the pelicans dive bombing for fish off the sea wall. Sitting in the shade under the Foxwing was great.

Here is my Oztent on one side.

And the foxwing on the other.

Once the cover is unzipped you can see the awning itself neatly stowed.

With the 2 retaining straps undone the main part of the canopy unrolls.

Here is a close up of the hinge which you can see is nicely done.

At the front of the awning here is where the supports come to rest and are secured in the closed position.

And here is a pic of where the awning supports

Unfortunetly it was to windy to take pictures while deploying. Especially since my helper was not tall enough to help me.

However here it is finally deployed.

Despite the winds being about 12mph I dod not deploy the additional lines.I did not feel it needed it however if my vehicle was facing the other way I probably would have.

 

[Nullifier]

Logo in the awning

Close up of the pole interfacing with the awning support. Note the strap which gives the canopy some body. This makes adding on the accesories for the awning easier

View from the rear of the rig.

What is behind the awning when it's deployed.

So after having it up I have to say this is a really well made system. It is quick and easy to put up. Since today was overcast I did not deploy the side panel however I can tell you that having one side panel would be really trick. This would allowsyou to maximize shade when the sun is low. I am planning on going camping this weeked and I will try to put my oztent front panel on the foxwing. I think I can pull double duty out of that piece.

There is a lot of versatility Witht he Foxwing. Either being deployed, and a sleeping system being set up under it, or for more traditional use to hang out in camp, tailgating or other activities. I'm looking forward to putting it through it's paces this winter.

But for now Jordan says bye.

 

[teebes]

Great looking setup! Quite a bit of extra shade you'll have there.

I'm curious; how long does it take to setup and pack back up?

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

nice!
that is a huge amount of shade. I like how it turns your truck into an instant basecamp.

 

[Nullifier]

Great looking setup! Quite a bit of extra shade you'll have there.

I'm curious; how long does it take to setup and pack back up?

Well it was my first delpoyment but straight forward. I woud say 5 minutes to set up. About the same to packaway. However if you needed to delpoy the extra lines for high wind then a few more minutes.

Next time out I will not have my daughter so I will deploy the OZTENT as well and hook the 2 together.

 

[TRDPARTS4U]

Nice write up Brian.


Jacque

 

[Snagger]

I had close look at these at the Newark Land Rover show. They're very good, but will suffer in high winds. The other problems are that they make the use of an aft-entry RTT impossible (for those who have them) and are very wide - great if you have the space, but if you're on a smaller pitch with obstructions, you won't be able to fold it out; it's all or nothing. That's not likely to be a problem in the US, but in Europe it probably will be.

As much as I like this, I'll be going for a Fiamma F25 when I can afford it, just because of how quick it is, the fact that it doesn't need guy ropes and the fact that you can choose how far to extend it. It would be nice to have an awnig that went around the back, though (no RTT for me).

 

[nwoods]

I got to play with a FoxWing at the SEMA show today. Very impressive. I liked the add-on extender/wall piece also. It fits on any of the three sides. Very smart. Seemed pretty durable/well built. I think it would be pretty wind resistant when staked down. Very easy to deploy and restow. Takes longer to zip up the shell then it does to fold it all down.

I just wish they had a slightly smaller (1.8 or 2 meter) version instead of the 2.5 meter.

 

[rctr03]

that is very cool!

 

[Nullifier]

Nice write up Brian.


Jacque

Thanks Amigo long time no see. Hopefully one day we will get to your neck of the woods to hay hi again. We'll have to go for a beer and burger at that little dive by the dealership again. I forgot the name.

I might make expo this spring, if so I'll stop in. But with a 3 trips planned for Jan, Feb and march not sure If I can swing April yet, we will see.