Let this be a lesson to other misers like me. :wink:
When I first started attending club launches, I wanted a canopy, but I wanted a cheap canopy. So I bought some thing for $60 that you have to assemble every time you use it. After spending the first 45 minutes of every launch setting this thing up, I threw it away and got a slightly more expensive EZ-Up kind of thing, off brand for about $80. "It's worth the money," I had discovered.
The first time the wind gusted, it crumpled into a pile of aluminum and canvas. So, I said, no more aluminum. Going to have to break down and get a steel-framed job.
So I got a Leader Accessories steel frame job from Amazon for $110. Now I've spent a total of $250 on canopies, but at least I ended up with a steel frame that will last forever.
Or so I thought. At Red Glare, we had sudden wind gusts over 40 MPH. I was off doing something, and my wife was stuck trying to pull down the canopy by herself. A sudden gust whipped it up and dropped it down, and one of the steel arms broke.
No biggie ... I'll but a replacement arm. But searching did not turn up a way to do that. They don't sell parts on Amazon, and when I found the manufacturer's web site, they don't sell parts there, either. I used their "Contact Us" form to ask about replacement parts, and never got a response.
So I broke down and bought a EurMax premium pro grade one. $280. Weighs 75 pounds, stands five feet tall in the bag, which has wheels that you have to screw on. Outer legs are about 2" wide and hexagonal.
Had I done this in the first place, I would only have spent $30 more than I spent on the other three combined. Now I've wasted $250.
Hopefully this one lasts. The only drawback is that it won't fit in my Toyota Yaris, and requires at least two people to stand up.
When I first started attending club launches, I wanted a canopy, but I wanted a cheap canopy. So I bought some thing for $60 that you have to assemble every time you use it. After spending the first 45 minutes of every launch setting this thing up, I threw it away and got a slightly more expensive EZ-Up kind of thing, off brand for about $80. "It's worth the money," I had discovered.
The first time the wind gusted, it crumpled into a pile of aluminum and canvas. So, I said, no more aluminum. Going to have to break down and get a steel-framed job.
So I got a Leader Accessories steel frame job from Amazon for $110. Now I've spent a total of $250 on canopies, but at least I ended up with a steel frame that will last forever.
Or so I thought. At Red Glare, we had sudden wind gusts over 40 MPH. I was off doing something, and my wife was stuck trying to pull down the canopy by herself. A sudden gust whipped it up and dropped it down, and one of the steel arms broke.
No biggie ... I'll but a replacement arm. But searching did not turn up a way to do that. They don't sell parts on Amazon, and when I found the manufacturer's web site, they don't sell parts there, either. I used their "Contact Us" form to ask about replacement parts, and never got a response.
So I broke down and bought a EurMax premium pro grade one. $280. Weighs 75 pounds, stands five feet tall in the bag, which has wheels that you have to screw on. Outer legs are about 2" wide and hexagonal.
Had I done this in the first place, I would only have spent $30 more than I spent on the other three combined. Now I've wasted $250.
Hopefully this one lasts. The only drawback is that it won't fit in my Toyota Yaris, and requires at least two people to stand up.