Update 12/2024: With our next trip fast approaching and wanting to use the TeleBrella again, I had to come up with a better solution to the arm collapsing issue that I mentioned in my original review. Fortunately, I think I discovered the perfect inexpensive solution. I drilled a 3/32 hole in the umbrella frame’s arms. I then inserted 0.093 x 2-5/16” hitch pin clips. This simple solution prevents the collapsing of the umbrella arms when exposed to downward pressure! The arms are locked in place with no movement even under high downward pressures. I wanted to share this modification with the company and other purchasers that might be experiencing the same issue that we had with the strong wind gusts on Hawaii last year. Love the travel umbrella concept so much that we even bought more. A shoutout to Mark at ShadeUSA for all his help and support! Original review: 2/2024 We love how compact the umbrella is and how easy it was to pack for our extended trip to Hawaii. The idea of a full size umbrella that breaks down for travel is what convinced us to purchase it. As we intended to use it as we went between islands. The umbrella is easy to assemble and we loved the storage and full-size beach bags that came with the umbrella. On a windless day the umbrella is awesome. However, on days with strong winds and/or wind gusts the umbrella arms would begin to collapse down. Even with the included office clips installed the umbrella arms would still collapse down under any significant wind or sudden gusts of wind. The clips built into the frame combined with the office clips don’t provide enough grip to keep the umbrella fully open. Unfortunately, during our Hawaiian trip we experienced a number of days that had strong winds and/or wind gusts. On these days, I also observed that the Tommy Bahama umbrellas around us were not experiencing issues. So the TeleBrella should have been able to handle the conditions. I did have some success by wrapping drink can cousy material around the umbrella arm under the supplied clips. However, It still eventually slipped under the stronger wind gusts. So I then doubled up on the can cousy and clips combination, this seemed to work the best but still not a perfect solution. We really love the idea of a full-sized sturdy travel umbrella and will continue to bring the TeleBrella on our trips even with the issue described above.
