The Vine: August 23, 2007
Hi Sars,
I’ve got a question for your readers:
I live in the south, where the weather forecast is “30% chance of thunderstorms” every. single. day. in the summer. For some reason, my husband is particularly hard on umbrellas — he wants one to fold up quickly and small enough to put on the floorboard of the car at his feet, but that is adequate for shielding him from the rain. We’ve tried name-brand ones as well as “Hey! It’s only $3!” ones. He breaks them all.
Can anyone recommend a sturdy, small, step-on-able-without-breaking-immediately umbrella?
Thanks,
Never thought umbrellas were that big a deal
Dear Umby,
I just grab whatever costs $5 at the deli, given my propensity to leave umbrellas in cabs, and also to unfailingly face the lip of my umbrella into the prevailing wind in such a way that it blows inside out in three seconds…although now that I think about it, the first thing might cause the second thing, but anyway, I don’t know good umbrellas because I’ve never had one.
I will turn this over to the readers’ wise counsel.
Tags: Ask The Readers retail
The Windbrella Georgetown Folder
My office had branded ones made out of these, and it’s the best umbrella I’ve ever had that can also fit in my bag.
I struggled with this for a while, and I never found a small umbrella that didn’t fail to snap at a crucial moment. After a while, I just sucked it up and got a bigger model that, yes, can double as a walking stick, but hasn’t broken on me yet.
Doesn’t answer the question, exactly, but when I carried the small fold-up umbrellas I lost and/or broke them all the time. Now that I have a big-ass walking-stick one, I have lost it and/or broken it exactly zero times in four years. It’s definitely more of a pain to carry around (“Ow, that’s my ARMPIT, dammit!”) but it’s much, much harder not to notice that it’s there. Plus, I’m drier.
Here in Seattle, where it rains a lot (though not as much as they’d like you to believe on “Gray’s Anatomy,” incidentally, and we also don’t call them “ferry boats” OR “mocha lattes” out here either), people who use umbrellas are generally considered rookies.
The long-time locals long ago gave up on umbrellas, which are just a drippy pain in the hiney, and don’t work half the time anyway because it’s usually also windy when it rains. Instead, we go for good quality raincoats/jackets and hats. Much easier to work with, far less likely to put out anybody’s eye on the city sidewalks.
Eddie Bauer’s Adventurer Umbrella is a great fold-up umbrella. It’s a bit pricey for an umbrella but the darn thing is near indestructible and it doesn’t flip in the wind.
I know slate.com did one of it’s Shopping articles on umbrellas a while back. Can’t remember what exactly was suggested but they bought a wide range of unbrellas and tested and ranked them all. I do recall that one of the ridiculously expensive ones was the big winner but they did have some other good performers as well.
I’m with Meg, since I’m from Portland, but I’ve also been using a Nautica auto-open umbrella on-and-off for a few years. It’s yellow, so I never lose it, and I’m not careful with it, so it’s durable. I cannot for the life of me remember where I got it–maybe try one of the Nautica outlet stores? I’m also nearly 5’10”, so I don’t poke anyone’s eyes out and I don’t get to work looking like I waded there.
I have an LL Bean umbrella that I love and use most of the time, but a while ago someone gave me one from this company: http://www.shedrain.com/. They make all kinds of teeny-tiny fold up umbrellas (try Retail: Compact Umbrellas), some that even come with hard cases, apparently…which sort of seems like it’s just more case to lose, really, but it might help it survive being underfoot in the car. The one I have is the “Rain Gem” and it works just fine in terms of wind-resistance and fold-uppiness, though I don’t know if you could say, stomp on them and expect them to work well.
I’ve been happy with my little Totes for 10 years now (yes, same umbrella). I cannot for the life of me name the model or whatever, but it’s the kind where it opens with a pushbutton on the handle, and the same button will collapse the top (though obviously not cause the pole to retract). I’ve had it turn inside-out on me in strong wind from time to time, but it always pops right back into shape and has not suffered any permanent damage.
I think I have the same umbrella as Shanna. I bought it at the grocery store, probably about 10 years ago, when I was taking Metro to work everyday and wanted something small and easy to get down in a hurry. It is starting to look a little worn but it has really done a great job.
My brother left a little umbrella in my apartment from the Sharper Image that was fantastic — folded small, was sturdy, and had teflon on the fabric so it dried quickly — and I managed to hold onto it for three years (hey, he left it in my apartment, he must not have wanted it badly) before I left it in a bar. And I’m hard on umbrellas, too.
I’m with Meg in the boat of ‘damn the umbrella.’ In Chicago, there’s really little point to try ANY umbrella, thanks to the wind-tunnels caused by the skyscrapers. I imagine it’s the same in any tall metropolitan city. I have a rain jacket from Eddie Bauer that folds up small and yet is big enough to fit over my messenger bag. Put on a baseball cap, tighten the hood, and call it a day. My legs always get wet anyway, and I’ve managed to flip those large umbrellas AND the dinky ones inside out.
Of course, last night with the 73 MPH winds underscores the simple fact that an umbrella in Chicago only helps for the light rain, and at that point, just buy a waterproof bag and move on.
I can agree with those who say an umbrella can be pretty useless sometimes (not to mention kind of dangerous, in a lightning storm). However, southern rain is not like rain in some other parts of the country. Living in Boston now, when it rains I don’t even bother to put the hood of my sweatshirt up. People take out their eye-gouging umbrellas for what I would classify as “mist.” But a torrential Florida downpour? That’s rain.
Sometimes all you can do is wait for it to stop, ’cause even if you COULD get to your car and stay dry, you wouldn’t want to drive anywhere.
The best umbrella I ever had came from the dollar store (it got lost in a move home from college one summer and I still miss it), so I think sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw and not necessarily a certain brand.
The umbrella I have now is, according to the handle, a “Clipper Mist” by London Fog — it is not really small, but it would be small enough for a car (it fits in my book bag easily). I’ve had it for five years through all kinds of New York City weather and it still works great even after being blown inside out several times. And it’s pretty easy to take down quickly — I can even do it with one hand and my hip if I’m carrying a shopping bag or something.
I have one of the standard Totes umbrellas, and while it’s nothing to write home about by itself, its warranty is. Lifetime warranty, no questions asked. So he could get himself two Totes umbrellas, and whenever one was sent back to the factory to get a new one, he could use the other.
I still haven’t found the perfect umbrella, but I can tell you which one NOT to waste your money on: Urban Outfitters. I know, not smart. It was just so cute. But it died the second time I used it, and was so mangled after a mild storm I could hardly tell what it was as I chucked it into the trash.
Fulton umbrellas are definitely the way to go. You can get individual sized ones that are about 4 and a half inches long and they’ve stood up really well to rain and wind storms and rain/blizzards in Nova Scotia and Montreal. I’m hard on my umbrellas but I’ve only lost a couple, never destroyed any despite all the abuse. Also, I lose them less frequently than I’ve lost other umbrellas because I get the smallest size which fits in a small purse.
http://www.fultonumbrellas.com/
In Montreal there sold at some stores I know aren’t in the States, but also at Tilley’s:
http://www.tilley.com/home.asp?countryCode=US
I’ve had good luck with my Sharper Image umbrella as well. This is the one I have currently and the two tier effect means it holds up really well in the wind. I’ve used it on the shore of Lake Erie and had no trouble.
I have to second the vote for the sharper image umbrellas – they have the wind resistant variety that fold up small enough for my tote bag. They are very sturdy and handle quite a bit of abuse. Also, they have a great auto open/close feature that is SO handy when stepping into a shop or onto the subway. They’re not cheap at $30, but I’ve bought these for friends moving to Seattle and London, and they all love them.
I live in Houston, where we know our rain.
The best umbrella I’ve ever had was one my husband got for me. It didn’t have a brand name on it, but it was double-layered so that downtown wind tunnels wouldn’t turn it inside out, and it was one of those big ones that folded about four times until it collapsed into a manageable size. It was heavy, but fairly sturdy. I wept when my husband lost it, because it kept me and my bag dry even in the downpouriest of downpours.
As for eye-pokery, I was able to collapse it a bit if I was standing in a crowd and still stay fairly dry.
I’m useless for brands, but those are the *features* I’d look for.
I second the Shedrain. I can’t find the exact quote, but there’s a line about how the only proper test of an umbrella is on London Bridge in a rainstorm. Well, I’ve used one of their compact umbrellas in those exact conditions (and worse)–it held up just fine. Plus, they’re much lighter than standard compact umbrellas, which is nice.
I’m all about the windbrella. It’s a little pricey, but basically indestructable. It’s all aerodynamic and whatnot.
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/71044.asp?source=Nextag&keyword=71044&cm_ven=NewGate&cm_cat=Nextag&cm_pla=APPAREL&cm_ite=71044