When the UPS or FedEx truck delivers a box and my wife gets to it before me, she’s throwing shade. You know the drill. Thankfully, something showed up here that the boss really likes. Something that throws real shade. The kind of deep, dark shade that provides relief on a hot day at the beach. Or the river. Or out on the trail. We’re talking about the all new Adapter Shade Panel and Sweet Spot Vehicle Kit from Force Protector Gear.
Founded in 2005 and based in California, Force Protector Gear is the designer and manufacturer of the US Marine Corps replacement Sea Bag, “The Deployer“, as well as their ThermaShield® line of products. Their gear is currently in use in extreme environments worldwide by USSOCOM and other demanding, high profile expeditionary customers.
What is the Adapter Shade Panel? The ASP is a thermal reflective specialty product in the ThermaShield family specifically designed for the Overland community. This magical blanket material can make shade that is 20-40° less than sitting in the full sun and ensures 100% UV protection. The real magic is in the special fabrics used in it’s manufacture (1000D Cordura, FPG Desert Cloth®, and FPG Reflectec®) which enable TRUE shade unlike other tarps or awnings currently marketed for overland use. Beyond providing shade, it can easily block wind and rain, and it can reflect heat away from you or towards you depending on what the need is.
As the basic building block for making modular, scalable shelter, the ASP’s tapered trapezoid shape attaches quickly to narrower 4WD vehicles, vans, or even side-by-side roll cages. As a stand alone system, it provides quick shade and protection under its 6’ x 10’ footprint and can be erected in about 5 minutes making it perfect for quick lunch stops on the trail.
Modular 
Scalable
The Sweet Spot Vehicle Kit includes an ASP, a ThermaShield blanket, 4 super sturdy poles and all the rigging, and provides nearly 200 sq ft of real shade that can be tailored to any environment. By adding a single Field Blanket to the sides or end of the ASP you can quickly augment your wind/shade/rain protection, and ensure continuous shade as the sun dips low on the horizon.
With standard ThermaShield snap spacing, you can attach additional blankets in minutes adding 60 sq ft of protection each time. In a few short minutes you can build a full Bedouin-style camp with shade and wind breaks. The utility of the Sweet Spot Kit as a basis for shelter is only limited by your imagination and how many blankets you add to it.
One thing that I really like is the fact that the Sweet Spot Kit is not a “one trick pony” like larger and heavier hard mounted awning systems.
Like all ThermaShield products, this kit provides many functions and can provide shelter both on or off your vehicle, help keep track of small parts and protect yourself when lying under your rig in the hot sand, or even just snuggling up at the campfire or keeping warm at a chilly sporting event. Their Desert Cloth is surprisingly soft and lends itself well to picnic blanket or bedtime use as a “woobie”.
It also has medical applications and can help reduce heat injuries, and is helpful for cold injuries or treating for shock by keeping an injured person warm. In a pinch, the Adapter Shade Panel or ThermaShield can even be used as an expedient litter when things go bad in the wilderness.
Testing
Average consumer grade companies make stuff and hope that it works. Since hope is not a plan, and their primary customers are anything but average, FPG took their ThermaShield to the lab at the Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts. They tested these blankets in temperatures ranging from -25 to 135 degrees Farenheit. Then they put them in the hands of SOCOM personnel where they were proven in real world conditions. The current Sweet Spot Vehicle Kit is an evolution of this rigorous testing and continued development of the basic ThermaShield concept.
Rugged 
Windproof
Attachment:
The ASP can attach to anything from racks to shells. It can even attach to rear hatches on SUV’s using the supplied “Belly Band” strap. Padded corners on the ASP allow snapping in additional field blankets while protecting your vehicle’s expensive paint. Hypalon backed “Gromolon” anchor points and steel rings stay centered on the pole tips and provide a 270° stable arc to pull from. Utilizing the ¾” Stake Straps enable you to easily clip in to the MILSPEC anchor buckles and cinch down for a rock-solid standard configuration. Available SmartClip Adapters allow you to lock in paracord or small bungee cords for those non-standard setups fixing to objects, trees or vehicles.
550 cord loops for extra strength at corners 
Smart Clip details
SmartClips and Stake Straps
The ASP has Surface Mount Buckles on all four corners that accept ¾” side release male buckles. In most scenarios, simply clipping in the Stake Strap and running the eye to a tent stake gets it done. It’s difficult to express in words what a game changer the Stake Straps are – keeping tension and making one-handed adjustments is stupid simple with these.
The SmartClip Adapter puts their patented aluminum SmartClip® into play giving you a huge amount of attachment options with a no-knot anchoring system for use with 550 Paracord or small bungee cords. You can easily attach to objects further away than the Stake Straps will reach (how much 550 cord did you bring?), or you can even use pliable bungee cords that can flex with high wind gusts in the desert. These incredibly tough accessories provide nearly limitless securing options in a tiny package.
Stake Straps 
SmartClip w/550 cord
Deployed Smart Clip 
Stowed SmartClip
Weights and Dimensions
Adapter Shade Panel Dimensions: Trapezoid shape; 112” L x 52” W (vehicle end) and 72” W (pole end).
Adapter Shade Panel Weight: 2.2 lbs.
ThermaShield Blanket Dimensions: 112″ L x 72″ W
ThermaShield Blanket Weight: 2.2 lbs.
Our Thoughts?
We really like the fact that we can carry a MASSIVE amount of shade in a very small and very light package. The fact that it can be tailored to the conditions so easily is a huge plus for me. Windy? Sun blazing hot and low on the horizon? Need privacy? It’s as easy as snapping another blanket onto the ASP and staking it down.
I’m convinced that there is no better shade option available given the light weight, simple form factor and limitless applications this kit provides. Add in the SOCOM proven, made in USA quality and the science inherent in the 1000D Cordura, FPG Desert Cloth®, and FPG Reflectec®fabrics and you have a true “best of breed” product that has applications across the full spectrum of adventure travel from hardcore 4×4, overland, motorcycles, UTV’s, hiking, kayaking, and more.
CONCLUSION: The argument for the Adapter Shade Panel and/or the Sweet Spot Kit versus other options is unbreakable. There is no other shade system on the American market today that provides more scalability, more UV protection, or more heat reflective properties than this kit. If you only have one way of making shade, or if your life depends on being able to make shade or shelter anywhere on a moment’s notice, this is the clear choice.
FULL DISCLOSURE: The Force Protector Gear products featured here were provided at no cost to the author or American Adventurist for the purpose of this independent gear review.
[QUOTE=”Gear, post: 142938, member: 85″]The older version works well. Take note on the number of sections. Older ones where 3 section some of the newer ones are 4 section. For some reason there seems to be more bend in the newer 4 section version. I have used the Green Elephant poles for several years now with good results.[/QUOTE]
Went to order these and they do not ship to my address from their website. Green Elephant also sells on Amazon and the older 3 section poles are available.
[URL]https://www.amazon.com/Green-Elephant-Telescoping-Tarp-Poles/dp/B07K8KVMLT/[/URL]
I use the Green Elephant poles as well… Good stuff!
[QUOTE=”chickadee, post: 145137, member: 486″]We look forward to trying these out in Baja soon…[/QUOTE]
Nice. [USER=7882]@Team FPG[/USER] will love that!
We look forward to trying these out in Baja soon…
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2021 Overland Expo Mountain – Shade was key!
[QUOTE=”ArkansasDon, post: 142918, member: 4968″]Dave I like these poles alot, IMO they are quality built pole with a nice case that all the parts store within the pole. The locking mechanism is stout. A friend turned me on to these. I have the older version of these.[/QUOTE]
The older version works well. Take note on the number of sections. Older ones where 3 section some of the newer ones are 4 section. For some reason there seems to be more bend in the newer 4 section version. I have used the Green Elephant poles for several years now with good results.
[QUOTE=”Dave, post: 142904, member: 1″]Never heard of these?[/QUOTE]
Dave I like these poles alot, IMO they are quality built pole with a nice case that all the parts store within the pole. The locking mechanism is stout. A friend turned me on to these. I have the older version of these.
[URL]https://greenelephantsale.com/products/green-elephant-compact-telescoping-tarp-poles-set-of-2-adjustable-aluminum-rods-for-tarps-awning-poles-for-camping-backpacking-hiking-more-portable-lightweight-replacement-tent-poles[/URL]
[MEDIA=youtube]O-N1VHqlTXk[/MEDIA]
[QUOTE=”ArkansasDon, post: 142902, member: 4968″]I use the Green Elephant Poles when I add the sun shade to my left side awning or as extra support for my awning room.[/QUOTE]
Never heard of these?
I use the Green Elephant Poles when I add the sun shade to my left side awning or as extra support for my awning room.
[QUOTE=”Jimmie Perkins, post: 142847, member: 6433″]Still fine tuning this, using a fiberglass tent pole to add support and push out unstaked awning poles. Some bits here, the ASP is tapered so the tent pole (I used a cheap replacement pole) has to be trimmed to a specific length for the position you place the awning poles at the awning. My goal here is headroom at the tailgate area, I’m tall, without having to stake out additional lines which is also an effective option. Also, a nice aluminum tent pole might be more robust, this one cost $8.
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I have and use telescoping Oztent Ridge poles. They are meant to be horizontal and to do just what you’re trying for here; going from the top of one vertical pole to another, with hard plastic on each end with holes to accommodate the top of your vertical poles.
$11.99ea and telescope to 8’5″. I have several I use around camp in different ways. I also have a bunch of their inexpensive but robust vertical poles that I’ve used with my FPG Thermashields, trailer awning, canoe trip shelter, etc. They’re the only longer poles I buy. I’m experimenting with a number of shorter, more packable, poles, too, for bike and canoe overnights.
[URL]https://www.oztent.com/products/tent-range/tent-accessories/oztent-awning-poles[/URL]
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Still fine tuning this, using a fiberglass tent pole to add support and push out unstaked awning poles. Some bits here, the ASP is tapered so the tent pole (I used a cheap replacement pole) has to be trimmed to a specific length for the position you place the awning poles at the awning. My goal here is headroom at the tailgate area, I’m tall, without having to stake out additional lines which is also an effective option. Also, a nice aluminum tent pole might be more robust, this one cost $8.
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[QUOTE=”Dave, post: 142381, member: 1″]Definitely on my list of needed mods.
Can you post some close ups of those brackets with and without ASP? Thanks![/QUOTE]
Sure can. You can also do this off the shelf with Leitner’s RTT brackets or Aux Light brackets and a little hardware.
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[QUOTE=”Jimmie Perkins, post: 142368, member: 6433″]Some deployment ideas that [USER=85]@Gear[/USER] cooked up for me.
Brackets that attach to the underside of the Leitner load bars.
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[/QUOTE]
Definitely on my list of needed mods.
Can you post some close ups of those brackets with and without ASP? Thanks!
[QUOTE=”smlobx, post: 141969, member: 2932″]
This awning is a little too small for my intended use on my Gladiator so I have ordered another product and hope to do a review of it when I get it next month.[/QUOTE]
The beauty of this is that you can make it as big as you want – circus tent big – just add panels.
Or, if you’re like me and want that minimalist setup, just use one or two panels 🙂
Some deployment ideas that [USER=85]@Gear[/USER] cooked up for me.
Brackets that attach to the underside of the Leitner load bars.
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They keep the ASP tight against the vehicle. Also using a second set of poles to elevate the ASP near the tailgate, I’m tall so this helps.
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Using a set of straps (or paracord) on the 2nd set of poles helps with wind and reduce sagging.
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Nice product. Glad to see it’s made in the USA.
‘I agree that shade/shelter is extremely important. Having just come back from a trip to South Texas we used our awning almost daily in order to be able to enjoy our campsite.
This awning is a little too small for my intended use on my Gladiator so I have ordered another product and hope to do a review of it when I get it next month.
[QUOTE=”Road, post: 141928, member: 4554″].
Great, and thorough, review, [USER=1]@Dave[/USER].
.[/QUOTE]
Thank you!
[QUOTE=”Dave, post: 141925, member: 1″][URL=’https://americanadventurist.com/throwing-shade/’]Continue reading…[/URL][/QUOTE]
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Great, and thorough, review, [USER=1]@Dave[/USER].
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