Having dealt with most of the awnings on the market, I can confidently state how dissapointing the bus depot one has been (though it may have been an older model) taking 3 people almost an hour to fully assemble one last year!
The Fiammas are epic, but pricey. The shadyboy is small but nice. 

The ARB is my choice. 

-craig

> On May 26, 2015, at 11:34 AM, Tom Buese <tantonbz@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> MY experience w/ my Shady Boy is the same as Mr. Squirrel's-use the tricks
> learned the hard way & it works great, for about 10 years also.
> 
> YMMV,
> 
> Mr. BZ
> 
> On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 10:58 AM, Rocket J Squirrel <
> camping.elliott@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I've been using a Shady Boy for over a decade now -- in thunderstorms,
>> hailstorm and heavy heavy rain, winds that toppled camp gear. It's never
>> let me down.
>> 
>> There are some tricks.
>> 
>> Always securely tie down the outer two corners so winds can't blow the
>> awning up. Always use the optional blow-down poles so winds can't blow
>> the awning down. In heavy rain, shorten the outer corner tiedown lines
>> to pull the corners earthward so rain will sluice off and not pool on
>> the awning.
>> 
>> When set up like this, it's never let me down.
>> 
>> --
>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>> 1984 Westfalia, auto trans,
>> Bend, Ore.
>> 
>>> On 05/25/2015 09:59 AM, Stuart MacMillan wrote:
>>> 
>>> I've had a Shady Boy, and it's a bit of a PITA to deal with. And, you
>>> ALWAYS need to tie it down.  One time I didn't, and a sudden gust of wind
>>> on a calm day blew it upwards, and the center fiberglass rod was
>>> "slingshot" into the van and put a big dent in the cabinet. It would have
>>> put a big dent in me if I had been in there.
>>> 
>>> Same goes for the Fiamma or any other awning.  The PO of my son's van had
>>> a Fiamma that blew up like this and it ripped off the rain rails, partially
>>> tearing them away from the van body, and breaking the seal between the roof
>>> and the body.  The awning was destroyed (or at least he thought so since he
>>> tossed it), and it took me a while to figure out where the water in the
>>> back of the  van was coming from.  It was coming in where the roof panel
>>> seal was broken.  Now I need to weld the rain rail back to the body. There
>>> was also a lot of rain rail rust under those mounting brackets, so I can
>>> understand the desire to not modify or permanently attach anything to the
>>> van.
>>> 
>>> Probably Ron's EZ Awning for me next.
>>> 
>>> Stuart
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>>> Of Kk Al
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2015 12:40 PM
>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>> Subject: Awning advice
>>> 
>>> Hi all.
>>> We are considering an awning purchase for our 87 Syncro with no pop top .
>>> We'd like something as desrete and slim as possible. And of course, does
>>> little or no permanent change to the vehicle.
>>> 
>>> Any suggestions are appreciated.
> 
> 
> --
> Tom Buese