Coolibar UPF 50+ 42 Inch Sodalis Travel Umbrella - Sun Protective

With 350 days of sunshine each year, I am thrilled to find something that will protect me from the Tucson desert rays, and keep me cooler on my walks to the campus shuttle bus. I have been using for 2 weeks Not recommended for our windy days, but other than that, I am glad to have this umbrella. Noticed another person with same umbrella the other day, walking across campus. We both agreed this is a great product!

This product has an unusually short handle, which makes it very awkward and uncomfortable to hold. You need to hold your arm in an 90° angle which begins to cramp after a while. Its also very difficult to close.

I have admired the sun umbrellas that I have seen used by travelers in the tropics, so finally ordered one myself for our next trip to Thailand. The Coolibar travel umbrella arrived today - just in time for the trip. But unfortunately there are two problems. First, the umbrella does not open properly. Pressing the push button, only partially opens the umbrella. To get the umbrella to fully open and to stay open, you must force the center mechanism up and down several times pushing it firmly against the end stop. Once it stops sliding backward, you must then pull down the sides of the umbrella, so that it is not partially inverted. This process is too cumbersome to open an umbrella. Second, it is difficult to hold the open umbrella because it is very top heavy and poorly balanced. It requires an awkward force to hold it at any angle other than completely upright. While the concept of this umbrella is a fine one, the problems with not opening properly and the poor balance lead to my rating is only 1 star.

I love it! It offers a lot of protection and when the wind blows, the umbrella comes back to normal. Excellent product!

I live in Arizona, and have a 20-minute walk into work every morning. I use this umbrella every day and it does its job well. It really does feel cooler when I walk under it -- this can make the walk in to work bearable when its 100+ outside (whereas my regular rain umbrella does not). And more importantly, it seems to be very effective at shielding my skin from the sun. Im fair-skinned and paranoid about cancer, and I feel very protected when I walk under my Coolibar. Two caveats. (1) This umbrella is thick and bulky and harder to fold up than a normal umbrella -- you kind of have to muscle it. It comes in a little sheath and Ive never once been able to get mine back into the sheath. (2) It only lasts so long. My first one lasted about two years of consistent but gentle use before starting to fall apart; I managed to get a third, limping year out of it. Ive just received my second one -- so, it was worth ordering again, but it would be nice if it lasted longer.

The sun protection is wonderful; the burning feeling from the sun is gone. The cost is reasonable for the quality and sun protection.

The brolly is everything it promised to be. However I was not made aware they there would be customs and duty charges to be paid before I could collect it from the post office. These increased my cost by 50%. I feel ill informed and cross that I had to find out the hard way. A honest description of what happens if importing from the USA in the advert would have been much appreciated so I could decide for myself if I wanted to proceed.

Perfect size, light

Overall, good product. Large enough to cover all parts. Giving it four stars because it is VERY hard to close—the spring mechanism requires a lot of pull down force and is not easy.

Covers very well keeps you cool. For the price its not very strong I used it when it was raining and the wind just turned it upside up and it just broke. $50 gone.I wont purchase again.