I don’t know if y’all’ve heard, but it’s hot here in Texas. We have a separate sun from the one that ain’t-Texas and he’s a mean SOB. Back in April I reviewed my OPENROAD 4WD truck cap and knew I’d eventually pick up this 270-degree awning. Thanks to the aforementioned Texas sun, “eventually” came sooner than anticipated and the awning went on in June.
(After the first video on the truck topper, OPENROAD provided us with coupon code SNW10 to share with our audience, which is good for 10% off their entire website and is, as of this writing, still active.)
Before we get into the awning, though, I should mention that I also got a side storage box on the same order (Memorial Day sale and all). I’m now using it to keep certain items in a quick-access, handy location. First aid kit, ratchet tie-downs, lead remover hand cleaner wipes, backup hearing protection, my LongShot camera system (review HERE), etc.
Functionally, the storage box is awesome. Now that it’s installed, I have no complaints. I didn’t even mind it arriving flat-packed and requiring about 20 minutes of assembly time to bolt the thing together like Hellraiser.
BUT . . . the installation is a pain-in-the-butt and is absolutely a two-person job. OPENROAD’s truck cap (at least back when I got mine, as the company has continued refining the design since) wasn’t made already prepped for a side box.
The box has to be held in place while all of the mounting hole locations are marked on the truck cap (I used a bottle of my wife’s quick-dry white nail polish…don’t tell her). After that, the box can be lowered and you’ll need to drill all of those holes through the truck cap flange before lifting the box back into place and using the included nuts and bolts to clamp it on.
Thankfully, that’s a one-time endeavor and the side storage box has been extremely convenient for me since.
FYI I only installed a box on the driver’s side so I can still reach through the truck cap and access the bed on the other side. I like to keep a cooler over on the right side and this setup allows me to pop open the side door and open and access the cooler right from there.
Okay, onto the awning . . .
OPENROAD’s awnings are universal fit, meaning they aren’t specifically or exclusively for mounting on OPENROAD’s truck caps. The caps come by default with permanently-installed mounting racks that run the length of the cap. While it’s possible to mount an awning to one of these racks, it’s a better, stronger install with a set of cross bars so I installed those across the racks first, then installed the awning on top of the bars.
Large L-brackets and assorted hardware are included with the awning and the cross bars. For me, as a guy installing an OPENROAD awning on an OPENROAD cap, I would have appreciated hardware designed specifically for this scenario. As-is, OPENROAD sends a few different types of hardware to try to cover all the bases and allow the buyer to mount the thing to effectively any crossbar, roof rack or truck cap you may already own.
When stowed, the awning is fairly unobtrusive and aerodynamic. It’s a hair under eight inches tall and wide by 86 inches long, and it weighs 50 pounds.
Unzip the heavy-duty cover, walk the awning around the back of your vehicle, and use the included, adjustable strap to secure the far side to your roof rack on the other side. Deploying this thing takes about 30 seconds.
If it isn’t a particularly windy day or isn’t dumping rain, nothing more needs to be done. I’ve been using the awning without the support legs on the majority of our trips out to Copperhead Creek Shooting Club.
If it’s truly windy or gusty, though, or raining cats and dogs, four support legs flip down from the awning. They adjust for length and lock at that length near-instantly. I’ve never had to use ’em, but the OPENROAD awnings also come with tent-style stakes and tie-down lines so you can anchor the corners of the awning to the ground.
Up on the inside there’s a little kickstand, which creates a peak at the top of the awning and ensures that water drains off without pooling anywhere.
Stowing the awning is also easier than I expected. Just walk it back around until the arms fold up against the mount, roll the PU-coated 230g ripstop material up, strap it into place, and zip the heavy duty cover closed around it. Unlike most sleeping bags and tents, an engineering degree isn’t needed to get it folded up so the cover will fit on. The cover will fit on without a fuss, yet at the same time it isn’t baggy as though there’s too much material. Tight enough to look clean, loose enough to zip up easily.
Shade and rain protection are obvious benefits of the OPENROAD 270-degree awning, but it also comes with three LED light strips built-in. A touch on the light strip near the hinge cycles them between white, yellow, and orange light and holding that touch pad area transitions the strips from bright to dim and back up again.
A USB cord is included for powering the LED light strips. It’s long enough that I can run it to the center console in my Tacoma, but the simpler solution is to run these lights off a small, portable power bank.
A handy storage bag is pre-installed up in the awning mount and would be a great place to keep that power bank. I can’t find the dang power bank that I know I have in a drawer somewhere, so this storage bag currently holds (when it isn’t in use) the light strip power cord seen in the photo above, plus the main strap, stakes, and tie-down lines.
That’s 95 square feet of protection from the Texas sun. Honestly I’d probably just choose to suffer and bake if the awning were a pain in the butt to open or close, but I can round trip the thing from first touch of the zipper to fully shaded with the support legs down to ready-to-hit-the-highway again in about two minutes without even rushing the process.
In the photo above, can you see the red zipper that runs along the bottom of the shade’s side flaps?
It’s for attaching sidewalls. I don’t have the sidewalls and probably don’t have a reason to buy them, but it’s certainly neat! Back in the day when I used to do a lot of camping it would have made the list for sure.
This thing has been a lifesaver. Dan and I have used it at least weekly since June, mostly for protection from the sun, but it also kept us dry on a couple rainy days, and it has been worth its weight in gold. Well, at a minimum it’s been worth the $699 asking price.
The OPENROAD 270° free-standing awning is durable, super-easy to set up and stow away, and delivers 95 square feet of protection from the sun/UV and rain. It’s a universal fit for effectively any vehicle with a roof rack of some sort, and it comes in at a super competitive price point among similar products.
Watch our quick YouTube video embedded at top (or HERE), find out more on the OPENROAD 4WD website, and take advantage of the SNW10 coupon code that they were kind enough to provide our audience after the original truck cap video went live. Two thumbs up from this guy who survived the summer thanks in no small part to this awning.