REVIEW: True Freestanding 270 Awning | Big Country 4X4 Ostrich Jr. 

Kevin, thank you for your service to our country!! Also thank you both for the very honest review overall and showing the struggles you had adapting it to your racks, that's something most people probably wouldn't think about when buying.

@Venture2Roam, really good review, but here is my problem with most of the products in the Overlanding space: 1. FAR too expensive. 2. Adding all of the gear that most overlanders mount on and in their vehicle makes it a target for theft (I personally saw it happen, a few years back, to several rigs in my town.) 3. I can buy MANY sil/ny tarps for the price of one awning. I prefer to keep my truck more stock looking and far less conspicuous. I have and use 1 - 10'x10' & 1 - 10' x 15' sil/ny tarps, which both tarps pack into a travel-sized pillow bag, so they're very compact and lightweight, that I can easily clip to the roof rack of the cap for an awning and I can orient them in any way I choose, as opposed to having an awning solidly mounted, which limits where it can be used. I can also use my tarps free-standing, away from the vehicle, if I choose. And I don't mind having support legs for my tarps, which I use collapsible, aluminum paint poles as support legs. They're economical and easily adjustable for different types and grades of terrain.

I definitely have “awning envy” every time I see you deploy it in one of your videos. I’ve even seriously considered switching the type of rooftop tent. I use so that it could accommodate an awning like this. Great review Will, clearly well thought out and a lot of work went into making it! (Now I just have to find out if I need to modify my frontrunner rack with a custom bracket like yours…)

Nice video Will and Kevin!!! I love my 270 awning and it makes staying out in all kinds of weather a lot more comfortable! Great collab vid!

Dude you crushed it; great working with you on this! One of my favorite pieces of gear I own.

In depth review 💪🏼

Great product review with the collaboration and pros + cons. Nice to see another quilty 270 awning offering in the US market! Also love that compared to so many others you don't have to set out poles (for the most part). Plus the weight at 37 lbs is awesome! Better then 60-80 lbs We had consider many options without pricing being a concern. Weight was the main focus in mind. We went with the FPG Force Protector Gear Awning - Sweet Spot 2.0 kit. Coming in at 14 lbs and the versatile is endless. No need to commit to dedicated placement on the rig or to any rig. We can move from vehicle to vehicle, side to side to back to a tree in the woods...... When you have a beautiful spot with a tree in the way we can shorten the awning foot print. We can add panels connecr to friends with panels. Heck we don't even need any attachments points. We can just put a strap inside our rear doors if needed. Not to mention nothing hangs on the truck for our east coast trails and trees. Or if we did need an attachment spot we could simply use a Sea Sucker suction cups. Might take a hair longer then the 270 set up (not much) and has poles. We are ok with all of that. 🙂 For our Purpose Built Ford Ranger - Adventure Rig with GFC V2 (Go Fast Camper) this is the perfect match up for our needs. Thank you again for making amazing honest content! Which we know you put a great deal of time to create. We appreciate it! Mark (& Teresa) Maryland

That's a really nice awning!! We ended up going with the OVS for our overland camper. Cheers y'all!! J & C

Great review guys! I love these awnings. Thanks for the info!

Good stuff! I love having an awning, nice review 👍🏼👍🏼

I was about to purchase the Roam awning but hearing this awning is good for strong winds has me considering it now. Thanks for the video, will be researching the installation portion to see if it works with what I got (Adventure Rack Systems).

So rooftop tent + this awning on a rhino rack backbone with pioneer platform. The load limit on the rhino rack is very limited.

Looks like a really nice awning. I've had to custom make brackets and attachments for most of my overlanding gear, so I feel your pain. I used to have a Rhino Rack Pioneer platform on my 4Runner, and I ended up taking it off and replacing it with a Prinsu rack. Zero regrets. The Rhino rack is very strong and sturdy, but has some mind boggling design flaws that drove me nuts. First of all, all accessories are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. I ended up making my own channel nuts because the ones they sell are so pricey. Secondly, the boards run front to back instead of crossbar style. Completely useless. Thirdly, the distance between the slots on the boards are all the same. EXCEPT from the outermost board to the one next to it. It absolutely blows my mind that someone could design it that way! It means that you can't just move stuff over all the way to the end without readjustment. For example, if you have a holder for your MaxTrax, you simply can't mount it to the edge board because it's fixed size. MEGA FACE PALM! The fact that the rear and front frame has no slot for mounting anything is also something that completely puzzles me. All I can say is that I'm super happy that I replaced the Rhino rack.

I want a batwing, but I want the poles/legs because I want the walls ;)

Great video I was looking at the ostrich wing 270 awning in Australia and had concerns about the strength of it with the hinged end only supported with M6 bolts that connect to the channel. These bolts are the ones holding the slide plate. But I am interested if possible with the brackets for the Rhino-Rack platform corner bracket from RLD. Could you please provide more information on this bracket as I can't find anything on their website. If you could also give an update on the awning or provide a new video with the ostrich wing 270 awning not the junior.

Hey Will & Kate we are located in Boise and just found your channel. I have been looking for an Awning and really like the wing style. This looks fantastic for our needs. Our question is how do you think this would work with a SunRider top? We also picked up a white 392 this summer. Just getting to know it.

Sick vid! Nice to see someone from the same state as me on youtube. I'm from Idaho too. I live around the Burley, Twin Falls area. Is there any trail or hike around me you recommend?

Looks like a great awning and you hit a great point that the storage bag is sized to be easy to stow, so often overlooked. I am hoping to get a freestanding rack when my new truck shows up and am glad I have metal workers in my family so I can mount it! Loved the two perspectives creating another great video.

Awesome cool video

How has it held up in winds. The west has some high winds. Especially in Utah's San Rafael Swell.

Have a buddy that’s good with AutoCAD and has a plasma cutter… aaannnnddd I’m out! LOL as a native South African I’d love to support a company from back home. Think this would mount on an OEM Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro rack?

Do you find the sleeve fairly weatherproof? The thing I don't like about my Rhino Rack Bat Wing is that the sleeve isn't very water tight at all. So no matter how much you dry it off, one good Puget Sound rain and it's soaked inside. Cheers.

An off topic question, but need your help its part of my planning for Owyhee trip in summer. I have heard you say a couple times when Armadillo bags come up that they have good and bad points. But you never explained that? I'm trying to figure a way to carry gas on my 4Runner. I have rotopax but also a factory roof rack. Was thinking about using LFD cross bars and using my Thule cargo bin on top to carry gear or some type of gas can carrier but am a little leary of gas on top and venting. Then thought about a armadillo bag stored in the thule. Revere overland on your xmas gift vid recommended them and said venting wasnt an issue with them like Rotopax. Whats you opinion and thoughts.

Nice colab Will. Tried to subscribe to Kevin's channel but the subscribe button is not available for some reason. Might want to let him know.

You didn't leave a link.

Can you still remove your freedom panels with this awning?

Hi Will, I always have my eyes out for interesting Jeep products and while watching your narration, I noticed some nifty gear bags in the cargo area of your Jeep that look strapped to the roll bar maybe?

Soooo you need to have a friend with a plasma cutter to be able to install this correctly?

Doubt you can fix it, but you spelled "country" wrong in "Big Country"

I think his idea of an awning not being an essential piece of gear tells the rest of us he doesn't live in the desert lol.

Personally i would never use this.... if you can't use a mytop automatic converitable top then its bad

So rooftop tent + this awning on a rhino rack backbone with pioneer platform. The load limit on the rhino rack is very limited.