I have an electric jack, manual levelers, and no awning.
The jack is what it is. I really couldn't care less that I'm using electric for what I could easily do manually (real manual jack).
Would like an awning, it's in the works. Think I'll go manual for reasons I'll explain in a sec.
The levelers, well, sometimes it'd be darn nice to finally get to where I'm going and not have to do it manually. But it's really not that hard.
So when making a decision to go manual or electric, convenience actually doesn't matter to me. What I consider is if I lose power, can I still do it manually with minimal added frustration? In the case of the jack, a real manual jack is not that hard. But working the electric jack when you lose power is A LOT different! THAT takes forever. And of course, my tanks are in the way, so when trying to turn the lever on my jack manually, I can't go full circle. Really a pain.
Same consideration will go into the awning. If the electric one has a manual back up that is just as easy as the real manual one, I'll get it. If the back up is more difficult than the real manual one, I'll go manual.
Maybe this is more of a concern to someone like me since I dry camp almost exclusively, AND, I own an old trailer (1987). So power is never taken for granted. I've had to chase electrical gremlins from time to time that thought it'd be funny to make me hook up my trailer with no power. On ground so "un-level" that the tongue was literally 4 inches off the ground when I started my half turns to jack it up.
Some brands of electric awnings can be tilted. Some such as mine cannot. Electric tongue jack is very convenient when it's hot, or it's raining, or adjusting hitch, or raising up the rear of the TV to snap up the WD bars. There is a manual override to it as well as the electric stabilizer jacks. I love them all.
A & A parents of DD 2005, DS1 2007, DS2 2009 2011 Suburban 2500 6.0L 3.73 pulling 2011 Heartland North Trail 28BRS 2012 VW Passat TDI
Our trailer came with an electric awning. I almost considered it a deal breaker, but then the dealer made a better deal for us because of it. Didn't think we'd like it and felt we would get rid of it as soon as it gave us trouble. The Bride loves it. She says she can put it in and out without my help, she can put it out just a little if its dribbling and it is simple to retract when we leave the trailer for a little while. I give to the popular local view and if Momma's happy, we're all happy. I find I'm putting/using it in and out more often even at the house when loading. The jury is still out on its longevity and I would like to get a kit to make it not so flat. Has anyone done that conversion?
* This post was
edited 03/09/12 04:56am by rgolding *
If you have a tow vehicle, you will always have power to run your electric stabilizers and tongue jack and awning - they're 12V. Just plug in the 7 pin or use jumper cables.
If any of the motors goes out you'll be inconvenienced one weekend.
The electric tounge jack is my next priority for our TT, I just hate the manual crank. The manual scissor jacks can stay I don't mind them since I have an 18 volt cordless drill to raise and lower them, it makes the job really fast and effortless. As for the awning I am thinking real hard about changing to electric but I haven't studied much on them.
2008 Forest River Wildwood Le 27BHBS - 2010 Dodge 2500 Laramie Mega cab 6.7L Cummins diesel, Flo-Pro exhaust, XRT Pro tuner, Mygig Lock Pick, Access tonneau cover, Ranch Hand grill guard, KC daylighters.
Lots of folks become believers in electric tongue jacks very soon after installing one. I know I did, especially when jacking up to engage/disengage the WD bars in which case you are also jacking up your tow vehicle. My awning and stabilizers are manual, so I can`t comment on the power version of those.
I wasn't 100% on our electric awning when we recently bought our new trailer. Guy doing the walk through during purchase was demonstrating it and as I watched him roll it out and back in I asked about angle adjustment. He told me not to worry, it only goes out and in, no adjustment even though I saw adjustment knobs on the arms. Got it home and played with it and I can adjust the slant up and down, left to right a little bit. Just a few seconds in the evening and I roll it up for the night or if the wind kicks up too much. Other than the trailer being about a foot taller than our last one it looks pretty simple to override to manually work. I can't recall the make and all the stuff is out in the trailer. Pretty happy about it for now!
We installed an electric jack last season... we're fans. As for the speed, I think it's faster than manual and in the cold/heat/rain it makes our hook-up much more plesant. After using the manual jack in Georgia's humid summer heat, it takes a while to dry out from the sweat... not such a problem with the electric jack.
Our awning & stabilizers are manual... which is no big deal for us.
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....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys 
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