From the horse’s mouth: Avid 4wd enthusiast, Photographer, Videographer and all round adventurer, Basil Lynch, gives his opinion on the Alu-Cab Shadow Awning:
One of my favorite accessories I’ve added to my FJ Cruiser is the Alu-Cab Shadow Awning, it provides 270° of shade and is self supporting. When I got my Alu-Cab Expedition III tent I decided to add the shadow awning onto the order, I saw the awning in person at the 2016 Overland Expo west and I instantly knew I needed to have it.
The Alu-Cab awning can be mounted onto any vehicle, but you will need to build your own mounting system for it. The only systems that support the Alu-Cab awning without creating your own brackets are Frontrunner racks, and the Alu-Cab Expedition III tent. Due to the awning pivoting off of one end, the attachment points need to be extremely stout, mine is attached to the tent with 8 bolts in the rear corner. I’ve seen several custom mounts for the awning on Expedition Portal, and on Instagram, so with a bit of creativity you can mount it to anything.
Each of the three arms are made out of boxed aluminum, making for an extremely strong and lightweight awning. The Fabric for the Shadow-Awn 270° awning is imported from Europe. It’s a Tencate Aluminized Acrylic Fabric with the strength of 270 grams per square meter. The fabric is reflective, which helps keep the temperatures below the awning down, while still being tough and providing years of use.
Read more on his blog:
https://www.basillynch.com/new-blog/2017/7/4/tested-alu-cab-shadow-awning