Instahut Retractable Folding Arm Awning

Cheap price and quality – My $217 awing actually cost me a little over $250 (14mm masonry bit plus additional fasteners and other bolts) and instead of giving me shade in the backyard, it’s sitting around the side of the house where my “I’ll do something with one day” projects live. After reading multiple mixed reviews I went and bought a manual 4x3m Instahut Retractable Arm Awning. Out of the box it appeared quite flimsy, but I got excited at how easy it was to assemble given the instructions are pictures with precious few meaningful words. The only assembly problem I had was that the screws they supplied to attach the end brackets to the roller were considerably longer than the pre drilled and threaded holes allowed. Everything after assembly was disappointing. To mount it to my brisk wall I used the instructed 14mm masonry bit, but that was too big for the supplied dyna (style) bolts, and they pulled out of the wall as soon as weight was applied. After a trip or 2 to Bunnings I secured the awning to the wall only to find the retractable arms sagging ridiculously low when fully retracted, and a drop of about 60cm at 2.5m extension. I tried to adjust the sag in the arms but the instructions offered no adjustment guidance and nothing I tried seemed to work, so I gave up, took it off the wall and put in my projects pile.

To be fair, I was expecting the awning to drop as it expanded. But 60cm over 2.5 meter is much more than I’d expected. The instructions do identify this drop, but it’s a bit too late after you’ve bought it. I’m 6’2 and I mounted mine at 2.5m high (as high as I could) and was hitting my head on the retractable arms.

I was also a little naive to think it would come with quality fasteners, and good or even complete instructions.

You want the know if cheap price = cheap quality? My experience for the Instahut Retractable Arm Awning is YES it is cheap in all regards. It’s built to a price and it definitely shows. If you want a quality this is not for you.

Some tips if you do buy this: 1) DO NOT mount any lower than 3m or your tall friends will be uncomfortable (and maybe in pain). 2) Throw away the crappy supplied anchor bolts and get something quality from the start. 3) Parts are not always labelled correctly or clearly, but the instructions do show clear pictures. 4) When the right bolt doesn’t fit in the right hole, don’t force it. Buying the bolt that does fit is a lot easier than having to retap the hole. 5) Take the time to thread all nuts and bolts before actual assembly. The parts have treads painted over. The lock nuts on the front of the retractable arms are particularly tight. 6) It picks up the breeze remarkably well and has quite a bit of vertical movement in the arms. Refer to point 1, if you have tall friends they WILL get hit in the head if you mount it too low and it WILL hurt.

Very happy with the awning. Well with the money – I paid $370aud for a 4.5m x3m motorised folding arm anwning off eBay. Given the price I wasn’t expecting too much. I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. I installed mine between two walls 4485mm apart. I installed the brackets on the opposite ends to give extra clearance. It was somewhat tricky to install like this. If I had more room the install is simple. The instructions aren’t the best but there’s very good videos on YouTube. I was that impressed I just purchased another one. If you want top quality then this product is not for you, but the quality is still good and great value for money. It’ll be interesting to see how it lasts in the Australian sun.