With summer here, I find myself not wanting to stand around in the direct sunlght when I go out shooting.  Lately, I have been thinking about buying one of those fold up canopies like WalMart sells.  I figured that I still would be able to enjoy shooting as long as I had some shade.  Anyone else do this?  Brand recommendations, pros, cons?

I don't own one. The reason is that I used to travel for work to outdoor events. I had the $1000 EZups. They worked great and were very durable.

Just about every event, I'd see someone who tried to cheap out with the $79 walmart one. They always broke, tore, and bent. If you shop for even the $200-$300 canopies, you'll see complaints of this in the reviews. I swore I'd never own one like that, but can't make myself pony up for a good one.

I did have a few we sourced directly from a supplier in china that were steel instead of aluminum. They cost about $450 and worked fine, they were just heavy as hell.

Do you have an SUV?

ARB attached awning

Smittybilt Detachable awning

I have used the $100 EZ Ups. I don't find them to be easy for one person to set up or take down but they work ok, even in some wind. We've used these for several soccer seasons.

I have an F150 4x4.

This is why I am member of Boulder City Range , covered shooting in all of the bays , on club and public side.

My local ranges all have permanent canopy's installed.

Thanks for the mention, WP.

I use 10x10 E-Z UP's. You can put two 6' folding tables under a 10x10 and each table will accommodate up to three students (depending on the size of the student).

I've purchased 10x10 E-Z UP's for as little as $79.00 on sale (you just have to sniff out the deals).

Word to the wise: Bring at least 2' rebar stakes, 550 Cord (or rope), and a sledge hammer. Because a quick wind or dust devil will take your canopy and ship it for free into the next zip code.

Ask me how I know.

Hope this helps.

-Joe

I'm a member and a contractor at BRPC.

The covered pits are nice, but if you need to shoot at closer distances to the backstop you can't place your targets mid-range while under the covered areas.

That's when bringing your own canopy comes in handy.

Just Sayin'.

-Joe

I shoot at night of course.

I gues I am on the hunt for a 10x10 E-Z UP.

A buddy of mine down there has/uses one, I think he got it at Cosco. It took about 10 minutes to set up. You'll need some decent pegs, rope and weight (milk jugs full of water, or something) to hold it down for the inevitable wind. It helps make it more bearable on those extra toasty days.

An alternative is a sun umbrella.  Use a piece of box beam that will fit in your trailer hitch and then weld a vertical piece of box beam to the end of the trailer hitch piece.  Ensure the vertical piece will accept your umbrella pole.  A pin or screw can be used to secure the box beam to the trailer hitch and another for the umbrella.  While not as big as an EZ up it works for one or two people and is fairly small and light.

For EZ up hold weights I have seen bags filled with sand or dirt used.  Or for a little more money I have seen dry bags used filled with water.

I've got a Caravan brand shade. It's held up very well. It's a steel based frame and a thicker canvas type cloth so it has held up quite well. It's been hammered with winds but aside from keeping it anchored with cinder blocks or such it has held up quite well. Does have a small tear and the top is filthy but it works well. The frame is much beefier than the cheap ones from China Freight or Big 5. I got it from my father and it's probably got 15 years of use.   The rolling storage case it had fell apart and the walls were discarded some time ago, but it's been a great shade canopy.

A friend pulled out a canopy he bought from China Freight and oddly enough it had Caravan marked logos on the plastic caps on the frame. It certainly wasn't a Caravan frame, much lighter weight, so beware as there are counterfeiters out there.