Verdict
The Falcon is a good entry-level driveaway; fine if you don’t have a great deal of time and money to spend on extending your ‘van. Unless you plan all-year touring, or prefer the ease of inflatables, it should more than suffice.
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Pros
Light weight makes this motorhome awning easy for one person to handle
Cons
No groundsheet as standard
Quest Leisure believes that the awnings market in this country is polarising, with opportunities for growth at either end.
While many of the firm’s competitors are courting the luxury end of the spectrum, Quest has set its eyes on the more budget sector, for people who have been touring for a while and are now considering buying a motorhome awning for the first time. They might not have a huge amount to spend.
That’s the thinking behind its pole-only Falcon, with Quest Tec 75 polyester fabric that has a hydrostatic head of 3000mm and an ultraviolet protection factor of 50+.
The new range is also very much aimed at people who might be putting up their awning on their own, so the awning alone weighs just 7kg. Even with the adjustable poles (half steel, half glass fibre, to keep the weight down), metal pegs and carry bag, the total weight is only 11kg.
The driveaway is the same design as the caravan awning of the same name, with a second set of poles at the rear to make sure it stays up when you do drive away.
It comes in two sizes: Low, with a 180-210cm connection height, and High, 240-270cm. Both sizes provide a built-in driveaway kit – the tunnel beading can be zipped on or off. As standard, this comes with 6mm beading; 4mm can be bought separately.
The design allows you to peg with the mudwall in or out, although Quest Leisure assumes you will want to peg on the outside.
The simple structure meant that on our test, the Falcon went up in super-quick time.
The awning has two mesh doors in the side and doors on either side of the tunnel. In the front is a panel you can unzip and roll up – or, if you buy an extra canopy pole kit, turn into a sun canopy.
Window blinds can be left up, down, or halfway. The optional pop-up inner tent takes a standard double bed.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Price £358.99 (low awning); £361.99 (high awning)
- Weight 11kg (total weight of packed bag); 7kg (awning alone)
- Dimensions 3.25 x 2.10 x 3.00/3.40m
- Pack size 80 x 28 x 28cm
- Access Two side doors
- Key selling points Light weight, built-in driveaway kit
- Options Breathable matting (£59.99), inner tent (£26), LED light strip (£34), canopy poles (£15), rear poles for sealing awning to motorhome (£25)
The new range is very much aimed at people who might be putting up an awning on their own, so the awning alone weighs just 7kg