OK I usually buy the umbrella at Walgreens that cost $5.00. It lasts about one or two months depending how much rain in Chicago is on that month. Then the umbrella folds the wrong way and is ruined.
So I wait umbrella-less till the next big rain storm, then I dash into Walgreens and buy a new $5.00 umbrella and the cycle continues…
Now I’ve seen some umbrellas that are advertised at unbreakable or the kind that won’t turn inside out etc. Anyway they run from $30 to $150.
I was wondering are they worth it?
Any umbrella recommendations? Or is it better to continute to buy the $5.00 ones at Walgreens maybe spending $20 - $25 a year.
If you’re not prone to losing umbrellas, then get yourself a good one. Preferably a larger one. Then you’ll wonder why you put up with the cheap ones for so long.
I don’t think that more expensive means better. I think that better means better.
I’ve gotten some pretty fancy schmancy umbrellas (as gifts) that broke within a week. I have two cheapies from a hardware store that I’ve had for maybe 6-7 years, and have gone through gale force winds, and they’re still with me.
Search for golf umbrella. You’ll see dozens of 40 to 68 inch monsters for just a few bucks. Most are wind/gust resistant and won’t break at the first wind to come along.
Since size matters to me (in umbrellas) I got a couple of huge ones for about 7 bucks apiece.
YMMV
I got a set of 2 folding umbrellas for 19.99 at Costco, and they are indeed MUCH better than the cheapie ones. That’s not really expensive or anything, but going from cheap to mid-priced resulted in a huge jump in quality.
More expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better. But usually cheaper DOES mean poorer quality. If a person is in the habit of losing umbrellas, then buying the cheapest ones available will probably be less expensive in the long run. If a person is in a rainy climate, and is not in the habit of losing umbrellas, then a single well made umbrella (which probably won’t be the cheapest) is likely to be less expensive in the long run. I live in an area where we don’t get a heck of a lot of rain. It’s not a desert, but we have clear skies more often than not. Mostly, I don’t even bother to take or buy an umbrella. My purse is waterproof, and so is my skin. I don’t wear clothes that need to be dry cleaned, and I don’t wear makeup or hair products, and I don’t style my hair elaborately. Sometimes I get wet. But I dry out in an hour or so. If I lived in a colder, wetter climate, I’d buy a nice umbrella, and spend whatever I thought was reasonable. But as it is…I really don’t need one, most of the time.
It’s Sam Vimes’ boots, sort of. I consider the cost of the item, and the likelihood of use, and estimate the amount of wear I’ll get from it, when I make a purchase. I can go to the Container Store and pay $20 for a fancy container for my first aid supplies, or I can go to Dollar General and pay $3 for a plain container. Since the container will not be seen in most instances, and since the three buck box will probably last almost as long as the twenty buck one, I’ll go to Dollar General. I am not, after all, planning on passing this box down to my daughter when I die.
I’ve never used anything but a folding umbrella (I like them to fit in my purse), so I can only comment on those. Spending more money on a better umbrella with nicer parts and sturdier fabrics helps. The shop where I bought it also repairs their products until the fabric wears out.
They also have a page of tips for buying a long-lived umbrella.
We handed out umbrellas as gifts for a workshop I ran. They were good, and not too expensive in quantity 100. The one I got has outlasted every other umbrella I’ve ever owned. The stem collapses, but you can’t stick it in a pocket very easily.
True we only need umbrellas for 5 or 6 months a year around here, but when this one dies I’m getting another good one.
Dear god, if you live in a city, please don’t buy a golf umbrella to walk down the street. There are plenty of normal-sized, Gustbuster-type umbrellas one can find for less than $40.
In my student year abroad, during the semester break when I had a one-month rail pass, I left a trail of umbrellas behind, through several of the great capitals of Europe. Also, somewhere, a left glove.
I like a big golf umbrella for its effectiveness, but all the ones I’ve seen have a serious liability–no strap or hook on the handle, so you can’t just hook it over your arm when you need to use both your hands. This can be really awkward, for example, when paying for your food at a cafeteria or similar establishment.
I have a cheapy umbrelly that I have had now for somewhere between 15 and 20 years. It still keeps me dry and it opens and closes… even if I have to help it a bit sometimes.
Now that I’ve said that, I will break it or lose it almost immediately and never find one to last more than 6 months.
The gustbuster was a waste of money. After only a few uses, the stitching that holds the fabric onto the end of the ribs came undone and something happened to the mechanism where it wouldn’t stay open without me holding it open. Maybe I just got the 1 defective out of a thousand, but I won’t be buying another one.
I forget who said this at the board, but the advice was:
“If you are in London on a rainy day, unprepared, just walk into the lost and found department of a train station and say ‘I lost my black umbrella.’”
There’s a comedian with a great routine about how umbrellas are the only things it’s okay to steal, because you don’t really own them to start with - the universe just moves them around, and sometimes you get the red one. If your friend was in your car and left, say, his wallet, you’d never just shrug and leave it there, would you? But you sort of do, with umbrellas.