SlimShady Awning

As usual a solid Yakima build. I have not had any of the problems others have mentioned. When traveling I have it zipped up in a cross-country ski bag, for extra protection. Easy to put up. I use Yakima RoundBars, and I have found that the longer round bars will accept more accessories. Whatever crossbars you purchase, get the one that are nearer the full width of your vehicle. Awning works as described BUT for those of us with pickup trucks with camper shells, or even SUVs or vans with rear tailgates, it would be much more useful if it could be mounted on the REAR of the vehicle to provide shade and added protection from rain and snow. Many of us sleep IN our vehicles and this could serve as a vestibule for the rear opening. Would also be helpful if there were optional curtains/walls that could provide a little more room and privacy (and shade!), but that is something I think I can fashion for myself.

The awning is on an F150 on the other side of a SKY RISE tent. It is on the outside of 78" round bars. It is 82" from the ground. It works well as a shade and light rain protection. It is not made to protect from blowing or heavy rains. It will accept the SKY RISE accessories such as the lights and sky hooks which use the tent channel. The SLIM SHADY has two channels for the accessories, one on the outer front and one next to the storage area adjacent to the vehicle. Very easy to install, deploy and redeploy.

We are 3 years in to using these with our T@G. We love the quick shade & rain protection. We always put these out... my reasoning for a non 5 star... is the locking mechanism, they began to fail immediately... all 8 have failed. Solution hose clamps. Now it’s easy again to put up. It’s expensive for the locking mechanism should have lasted longer. Bottom line, I’d buy again.

I've had this awning mounted to my E250 van for a while and have used it quite a few times. Overall I've been psyched on the performance. Pretty easy set up and tear down, and it's stood the test of time. In the beginning when I first got it, one of the poles that drop down from it and go to the ground broke. The internal plastic tightening/loosening mechanism broke after only the 2nd use. We were up in the back of South Mineral Creek near Silverton CO camping and it was raining pretty good. A little duct tape and we made it through no worries. When I called Yakima for a warranty they immediately shipped out a replacement part at no cost and it arrived in 2 days. What service!!! Since then I've used it many times and it's doing great. Cheers for a good product.

The reviews that say this awning is not compatible with the Skyrise tent are completely wrong. I use my awning along with my tent all the time. You simply have to mount the awning a few inches away from the tent so that there is room for the rain fly poles to mount to the tent. It is a complete non issue if you understand how to use Yakima rack systems at all. The awning is built well, works very simply, and can easily be set up with one person in just a couple of minutes (I usually camp solo, and set up everything myself with ease). The awning is great for providing some shade and for providing some protection from the rain (if you expect any awning to block all of the sun and all of the rain, then you should just stay inside). Personally, I love the awning and would highly recommend it to almost anyone - especially for the price (you will not find a comparable awning for the same price). It’s a great product, and it makes being outside more fun!! Get one!

We bought this to use on a week long trip to WV, coupled with the Yakima SkyRise tent. I'm sure glad we picked this up, as it rained the entire week we were there. The awning did a great job of providing cover from light rain (as opposed to heavy, coming down sideways rain... which probably would have gotten us wet). The major complaint is that this does not work well, if at all, with Yakima's SkyRise tent. The awning blocks the tent's rainfly poles - which means we couldn't pitch the rainfly on one side, and our tent got DRENCHED as a result. It was also very difficult, and extremely frustrating, trying to mount both the tent and the awning... as the awning got in the way and we couldn't reach the knobs to tighten down the tent. It was a really frustrating setup, and really disappointing as they are both Yakima products. If you're just looking for an awning, this did a good job. I'd like to see a larger size option in the future, though. It was just large enough for our two chairs and the dog bed, without getting so close to the car we risked scratching it. This was tricky to set up or take down solo. It's easy to have a pole come loose during setup which can then smack into your car. Also the tie down strings tend to swing out and hit my car during setup. So I'd recommend two people - and with two its a very easy process. The zipper on the bag gets snug around the corner... and I worry that will rip eventually. I think with a better mount (that doesn't interfere with tent mounting and deployment), and some sort of safeguard to keep the poles from swinging down, this would be a very solid awning! I hope they come out with an attachment to extend the length or attach to the sides in the future, as other awnings have.

The awning is great for precipitation cover, but It's not the most efficient awning for blocking the sun. You would have the angle it away from the sun to get shade, but the sun is consistently moving. Installation was pretty simple and easy, but since my awning came damaged, I had to bend out the pinched aluminum rails where the nuts slide into. Other than that, i'm happy with it for now. I'll be adding the Yakima SkyRise3 on my rack next to this soon.

The mounting system alone makes this product a game changer in the awning world. I have a van, so I will probably end up switching to a gutter mount bracket, but for most vehicles without a gutter, the universal rack attachment is brilliant. Super easy to install, and secure with SKS locks. Awning itself is a little smaller than most, but for the majority of cars out there I think it is a great size. Build quality is on par with some of the big names out there, but for a fraction of the price. Super easy to setup and take down. Very happy with this product!

Awesome product. Great for day, camping trips, as well as events. Only criticism I would give is that it would be nice if the casing was aerodynamic.

We just got our long waited Slim Shady! easy to install, easy to deploy. everything is well built and very operator friendly. My wife was able to set up the shade by herself with no instruction in 5 minutes first try. we cannot wait to start camping this year.