Hello All, I posted about filling holes earlier and received a lot of great responses, thanks!As I was getting ready to order the new replacement awning, (meaning they would take off my old manual awning and put on a brand new power awning) from Camping World I thought I would call around to see if there were other options.A local dealer says they can upgrade my current Colorado Carefree manual to a Colorado Carefree power awning. The current manual awning is in good shape, but never worked as smooth as some other manual awnings we've owned, plus is almost 5 years old.Has anyone had this upgrade done? If so, how well does it work? Did you have any issues? Does anyone have any opinions on which way is better?Note that the price is almost identical for either option, so cost is not a factor here.Any input and opinion is warmly welcome and appreciated!

I've had both brands and each has it's +'s and -'s. The A&E looks cleaner with the motor inside the roller tube and automatically dumps rain water, but when it dumps it DUMPS and as I recall, either side can drop. Not sure what is required to close the awning if the motor fails. Carefree can be set with one side lower than the other for continuous rain runoff rather than a huge dump, yet it still opens and closes normally. If the motor fails, the cover and gear box can be removed to roll up the awning, reinstalling the gear box will lock the roller tube. It also has an outside switch for opening and closing. Because the motor is NOT inside the roller tube, your existing tube and/or fabric can be reused.

In all honesty, I can't see going to a power awning. Just something else to worry about and eventually fail. I don't find manual awnings difficult to use and they are a lot simpler. Just my 2-cents.Happy Camping!

I did the Carefree Travler power arms to our manual factory Dometic A&E on our Montana. Piece of cake. However our fabric was brand new. For a 5 year old awning I would just replace it, even it the replacement is an A&E.Our new rig has two Carefree electrics with the adjustable pitch arms and unigaurd covers - fantastic.

I have had both. My current RV, I was hoping the dealer would exchange the power for the manual. No luck. My manual one was much more adjustable, pitch wise,tilt wise. The power is nice but also electrical, something else to worry about, in my book for my electric it is quite an ordeal if the motor fails to manually put the awning away.

I had a power awning on a motorhome and did not like it. With a manual awning you can extend it all the way out and then adjust it up or down. Not so with the electric. When fully extended it was too low, we could not see any distance, only the patio area. Several times it didnt want to retract. There was some way to retract it if needed but it was not easy. As others have said, just one more thing to go wrong.

Manual to Power Awning - Upgrade Current or get New?

Mile_High
Explorer
Jul 20, 2013
ColoradoMike wrote:
Yes, but I'm not trying to make you a loyal customer . . .
Well I guess they will survive without you. I suppose its the same with any business - two customers walk in with the same intent, and one walks out with a happy transaction and the other with a bad feeling. Just how the chemistry mixes at the time.

You can see it here - One guys swears by his RV, and the other hates it.
ColoradoMike
Explorer
Jul 20, 2013
Yes, but I'm not trying to make you a loyal customer . . .
Mile_High
Explorer
Jul 18, 2013
ColoradoMike wrote:
Hi Mile High, Well, we live in Colorado too, so I would very much prefer to deal with them.

My comments are from trying to contact them directly, where I was passed around, then told someone would call but never did.

Also, comments from dealers, who are Carefree dealers, who tell me they are hard to deal with.

Net-net, if someone from Carefree is reading this please get in touch with us!
Well if YOU think they are slow to respond, they must really be slow, because it took you over two months to respond on this thread! :B
ColoradoMike
Explorer
Jul 17, 2013
Hi Mile High, Well, we live in Colorado too, so I would very much prefer to deal with them.

My comments are from trying to contact them directly, where I was passed around, then told someone would call but never did.

Also, comments from dealers, who are Carefree dealers, who tell me they are hard to deal with.

Net-net, if someone from Carefree is reading this please get in touch with us!
Mile_High
Explorer
May 02, 2013
Well I would have to disagree with you 100%. I've had nothing but excellent service from Carefree - they bent over backwards to help my installer convert the Dometic on my last rig to the Carefree power arms. He was able to contact the factory direct and they emailed templates, drawings, specs, anything he wanted.

It also doesn't take rocket science to see the difference between the two - the Carefree arms are twice the size as Dometic. Our last Dealer said the Dometic arms were so flimsy the gas shock was bending some and he had to replace them.

I guess I'm pro Colorado as the folks that build Carefree are in our home town of Broomfield, and I guess I'm anti Dometic, as our new rig is 100% Dometic free!
ColoradoMike
Explorer
May 02, 2013
Thanks! I've not heard too much difference between the Carefree and Dometic products. Certainly, the Colorado Carefree service is not good and they don't seem to help their dealers either as they have complained to me how difficult CC is to deal with.

However, based on some previous posts we decided to go with the Dometic as it will be an entirely new and not an upgrade to our current unit.

We're really dry here, so the issue of our awning is not very big. I do open it up when I wash the unit and then let it dry before closing it.

Thanks again!
0rion
Explorer
May 02, 2013
mine is a carefree....pretty sure his is too but I'd have to ask him to make sure. He just has the adjustable pitch which would be handy to have. Those uni and alumaguard covers are also the way to go. They say to dry your awning before you put it away but mine gets water in it regardless. I just rolled it out today and it had water in it....not the easiest thing to clean either.
Atom_Ant
Explorer
May 02, 2013
Adjustable Pitch Travlr

Treat yourself to the Unigard covers too! They are awesome
ColoradoMike
Explorer
May 02, 2013
Any idea what brand and model your buddy got that tilts? Also, what brand and model do you have?
0rion
Explorer
May 02, 2013
ours has an electric awning but doesn't have the adjustable arms so it dumps after water accumulates on it...... a ton of water. I'm on the fence with ours. Most of the time I hate it because normally when it rains the wind blows and I'm not sure how much wind it can take so I roll it up. That's when I wonder why we even have an awning. If the wind isn't blowing, which is rare, what looks like 10-15 gallons of water accumulates and then gets dumped all at once. These are the times when I hate our awning. When I don't hate it is when I see my buddies putting their manual awnings up. Friend of mine just got an electric that has the adjustable arms so he can tilt it.....I think I would be a little happier with that one.

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