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Full cassette vs semi cassette awning

Updated: 22.10.2026

You are choosing a housing for a rear garden that feels sheltered, or for a wall that takes the weather, and you want to know what the box actually covers. This full cassette vs semi cassette awning page is about the awning when it is closed. Once the arms are out, both types shade with cloth and arms. The case is protection for what you retract, and it is not a wind class. None of the nine amazon.co.uk listings in our [cassette awning comparison](/hub/sun-shades/cassette-awning) is a documented semi-cassette, so the cards stay full-cassette titles. Public UK guides plus those listings. No lab test.

You are choosing a housing for a rear garden that feels sheltered, or for a wall that takes the weather, and you want to know what the box actually covers.

Our top picks

Green Bay Green Bay electric full cassette 3.5 x 2.5 m

Best overall

Green Bay Green Bay electric full cassette 3.5 x 2.5 m
8.4/10about £1,099.99
View offer
Generic Retractable full cassette 3 x 2.5 m with remote

Alternative

Generic Retractable full cassette 3 x 2.5 m with remote
4.0/10about £1,103.99
View offer
WKIEQACO WKIEQACO manual cassette 350 x 250 cm

Alternative

WKIEQACO WKIEQACO manual cassette 350 x 250 cm
4.0/10about £1,499.43
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What each housing covers when it is closed
  2. 2.Which site suits which housing
  3. 3.End brackets or a bar along the wall
  4. 4.What this set can actually show you
  5. 5.Choose the closed position first

What each housing covers when it is closed

A full cassette puts the cloth, the roller and the arms inside the case when you retract it. Samson says most of their own full cassettes are end-fix. A semi-cassette, on their matching page, is a hood over the cloth with the arms still visible, and the chassis is a torque bar. An open roller leaves cloth and arms out unless you add a hood. Awnings Online draws the same three-way split: full, semi, and open. While the awning is out, shade comes from the arms and the cloth. Infinity Verandas notes that a Yorkshire awning spends most of the year closed. Use that as a climate note about how long the case matters, not as a test of any ASIN here. The cloth is protected when it is inside the housing. It is not protected during a shower you left the awning open for.

Which site suits which housing

BASE Direct matches a full cassette to windy or coastal sites, busy streets, upper floors, and long periods closed. They match a semi-cassette to a sheltered rear garden where the arms can stay partly visible. A sheltered patio can still take a full cassette if you want less cleaning. This set does not document a semi-cassette, so their site guide is the decision rule, and the cards here stay full-cassette titles. Coastal, upper-floor, or closed for long spells is where the same guides prefer a full cassette. Every kept title in this set is a cassette or a full cassette. The housing still does not license leaving the awning open in a gale. No wind class is stated on any of these cards, and a Weinor or Markilux wind figure from another range does not transfer.
Green Bay Green Bay electric full cassette 3.5 x 2.5 m

Testsieger

Green Bay Green Bay electric full cassette 3.5 x 2.5 m
8.4/10about £1,099.99
View offer

End brackets or a bar along the wall

Many full cassettes are end-fix. Awnings Online says the brackets sit near the arms at each end, and that many end-fix models need a third bracket past about 4.5 m. That line is not a rule for a 3 m or 3.5 m listing here. Semi-cassettes mostly use a torque bar, so the brackets can move along the wall. Samson will recommend a semi-cassette when end positions clash with doors, pipes or weak masonry. Green Bay B09TQN1RH4 is a full cassette, and a highlight names a steel square torsion bar. That bar does not reclassify it as a semi-cassette. If the only sound brick is not where an end bracket must sit, a fitter's torque-bar semi-cassette may be the practical answer, and it is not one of these nine titles.

What this set can actually show you

Housing lines here are full cassette, a fully enclosed box, or manual cassette. No listing is a semi-cassette. The Green Bay, the 3 x 2.5 m remote title, both WKIEQACO manuals, the Dalumian page and the generic electrics all stay on the cassette side of the split. You can use them to see how a marketplace full-cassette title is worded. You cannot use them to compare a semi-cassette price, a torque-bar bracket kit, or a review of arms left in the weather.

Choose the closed position first

Choose the housing for the closed awning. If you want arms that stay partly visible on a sheltered rear, this set does not contain that product. A specialist semi-cassette is the next search.

Common questions

What is inside the box when a full cassette is closed?
The cloth, the roller and the arms. That is how Samson and the UK buying guides describe a full cassette once it is retracted. The front bar closes against the case. While the awning is open, the arms are out and the box is only the parked end.
Does a semi-cassette leave the arms outside?
Yes, in the usual UK description. The hood covers the cloth and the arms stay partly visible. Samson treats the torque bar as the chassis, with brackets that can be clamped along it. If you want every arm inside the case, the guides point you to a full cassette. That is storage, not wind while the awning is open.
Which housing suits a sheltered rear garden?
A semi-cassette is the usual UK-guide answer for a sheltered rear garden, where you can accept arms that remain partly visible. BASE Direct still says a sheltered patio can take a full cassette if you want less cleaning. Coastal sites, upper floors and long periods closed are where the same guide prefers a full cassette. This set only has cassette and full-cassette titles.
What is the difference between end-fix and a torque bar?
End-fix puts brackets near each end, which is how many full cassettes are mounted. A torque bar runs along the wall so brackets can sit where the masonry is sound. Awnings Online says many end-fix models need a third bracket past about 4.5 m. That note is not automatic for a 3 m or 3.5 m cassette.
Should I choose the housing before I choose a motor?
Choose the housing for the closed position and the wall first, because a motor does not change what the case covers. A sheltered rear garden and a coastal upper floor can want different cases and still both be electric. In this set the housing wording is already full cassette.

Related pages

Cassette awning buying guide

How to fit a cassette awning

Best cassette awning

Cassette awning

Electric cassette awning: motor, socket and a crank

Sources

Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Shelf figures stored 21 October 2026. Updated 22.10.2026.

  1. Awnings Online, buying guide (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  2. Awnings Online, measuring (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  3. BASE Direct, cassette versus semi-cassette (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  4. BASE Direct, EN 13561 (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  5. Primrose, full-cassette fitting PDF (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  6. NICEIC, garden electrics (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  7. GOV.UK, party walls (retrieved 22.10.2026)
  8. Waltham Forest, planning permission FAQ (retrieved 22.10.2026)