Hi Duncan,

I honestly couldn't recommend one over the other, sorry, they are both top quality awnings. A few thoughts on their differences below though.

I always look for lightweight items to strap to my 4WD, the 23Zero Awning wins out here, but only just. The Darche awning, however, has been in the market for longer so it's been tried and tested more times over. 

Probably the biggest difference is the rear section whereby the 23Zero omits one rafter at the expense of coverage to cater for lift up tailgates. The Darche option has an extra rafter here which provides extra coverage but some tailgates may collide with the frame.

It's also worth checking out the differences in the wall kits to see if there is anything that best suits your needs/wants. If all else fails, the 23Zero awning comes at a pretty good price point, so if you're not brand biased then you'll save yourself a few dollars here.

I hope that helps.

G'day Carlie,

We don't currently have one of these on display at Brendale. The aluminium arms are 2m long so you'll get just under 2m of coverage from the back of the aluminium backing plate. 

G'day Jakub,

I'm assuming you're looking for the maximum length of the upright poles to determine whether the awning will work with a car that has been lifted? Darche indicates that the awning is designed to go up to 2.3m high (this is the maximum height the walls can fit). The poles themselves have a little more length in them and can go up to about 2.5m total length.

G'day Ben,

Depending on the size and shape of the wear holes we think the Coghlans Tent Repair Kit will probably be the best option. It comes with some canvas pieces, canvas cement and cotton thread.

G'day Tina,

At this point in time, Darche doesn't make an awning tent that can be attached to the 270 Awning. You can however attach 3 different wall options to enclose the area under the awning.

G'day Alan,

The Eclipse 270 Awning isn't designed to be set up and left in its freestanding mode, this is really just to aid in the setting up process. Darche recommends that it is always set up with the poles and ropes. Check out the Setup and pack away video on our website for more details.

G'day Ryan,

The Gen 2 Eclipse now has a new aluminium hinge system which is hinged from both ends, a stronger 320gsm poly/cotton grid ripstop canvas. and new lightweight box tube alloy rafters. These are the upgrades from the Gen 1 according to Darche.

G'day Zachory,

We're an Australian retailer so the driver side is the right-hand side, and the passenger side is left-hand side. If you're looking to purchase one of these from the US then, unfortunately, you'll need to find a US-based retailer to purchase this from as Snowys don't ship parcels outside of Australia.

G'day Abs,

Unfortunately there isn't anything that attches to the 270 Eclipse, but it is a very common question!  The 2m Extender is going to work the best with most sides of the awning, and as its free standing it should but up nicely against the edge.  Whilst theres nothing to connect the two, it may be something you can get knocked up custom by a canvas or awning specialist.

G'day Janine,

There's not an 'off shelf' installation solution for you, it definately can be attached to your pop top, but you'll need to employ a little improvisation and DIY.

We've got a video you can check out here, that runs through the installation process on a few different set ups.  That should give you a good idea of how it's going to need to attach to your Pop Top, and what sort of considerations you'll have to make.

G'day David,

The mounting kit supplied with the Eclipse 270 Awning will generally fit direct to most roof rack channels. If you have a look at the final image (with an orange background) you'll see what it comes with. You'll also need to ensure that your roof rack and roof load rating will allow for the full weight of the awning. Our suggestion would be to get a roof rack specialist to mount it if you're not sure how to safely mount the awning to your rack. 

G'day Glen,

The Darche 270 Awning is designed to be fitted to a car, not a caravan, but I don't see why with a bit of careful planning you couldn't get it to work on a caravan but obviously, this would be done at your own risk. As far as the height of the walls goes, they're all 225cm and they're the only option available to us, so I'm not sure what you could do to resolve that difference sorry. 

G'day Kelvin,

Darche doesn't actually give the 270 Awning a rating for rain but they have integrated a few features to help prevent water pooling during wet conditions. The guy ropes that attach near the top of the awning, when pulled tight create small valleys in each segment of the awning to allow water to run off the outside. So as long as you take precautions and string out all the guy ropes if you know foul weather is on the way, you should be just fine.

G'day Lance,

Unfortunately, at this stage, the Darche Eclipse 270' is only available in the current size.  However, with the optional walls, the sheltered area can be considerably increased by up to 4.2 metres.  If you click through the images on our website, there are 2 which offer the extended measurements with these walls in place.  The Eclipse 270' is very user-friendly to set up and with a little practice, is equally friendly to pack away.  We have a video on our website demonstrating the best way for packing it up - there's a knack to it ;) Cheers

G'day Will,

The 3 poles on the Darche Eclipse 270 Awning are pivoting poles with spigot bases. There are purpose drilled holes along each rafter should you wish to add extra poles. Hopefully that clears it up!

G'day Matt,

I've just spoken to Darche and yes the 3 extra poles have balls on the ground end spigots on the awning end, this is the only way they could design it to have space for the poles storage. They may have previously done these with a flat bottom.