BEACHBUB™ All-In-One Beach Umbrella System'16 (includes BUBrella, beachBUB Base & Accessory Kit), Bold Breaker Red,

I ordered the BeachBUB as the latest in a long line of shade-casting beach products. My family and I spend about a month every summer on the Delaware coast, mixing ocean and bay beach days. Here are my thoughts after the first week of use:Setup: I would say that setting this thing up takes about the same amount of time as any standard beach umbrella. For several years we used a popular brand of ‘tent’ that was just an umbrella set into the sand at an angle with some additional pieces of fabric to create a half-dome. Setting the beachBUB up was substantially faster than that. The real advantage of this setup is how straightforward it is. There is no trying to screw anything down tighter, no kicking sand up against the umbrella shaft and adding water, no screwing around with the angle to minimize the impact of the wind. Just follow the steps, and the setup is bullet-proof every single time.Quality: This is evident from the first unpacking. Every piece of hardware, whether metal or plastic, is more robust than on any umbrella I’ve seen short of the beach rentals (which appear to be made of small trees and WW2 era cotton canvas). Due to the thicker material and better hardware, this thing does not pack down as small as I’m used to. Because of this, it does not fit into the umbrella holder on most popular beach carts. This isn’t an issue, however, because the bag that comes with this thing is marvelous. The bag is oversized, so stuffing everything in is never stressful. The strap is wide and padded, so carrying is comfortable and effortless.Effectiveness: For the first several days of our most recent week at the beach, the weather was pretty standard. Hot, a slight breeze, no real issues. Because of this, the beachBUB just looked like a standard, albeit slightly nicer, beach umbrella. And then, on our last beach day, we set up in 20 mph sustained with 35 mph gusts. I watched every single other shade system around us collapse or rip straight out of the sand. People either had to abandon the desire for shade altogether, or sit next to their shade in order to hold it still. The beachBUB didn’t move. Because of the hub system at the bottom, the thing doesn’t rotate. It barely wiggles. I left it up all day long and never once even considered lowering the canopy. I know it’s rated to 45 mph, but i honest’y feel like it could do much more. Turns out that having a giant sandbag anchored to the base of your umbrella is pretty effective. This is what really sold me. Easy set up, no stress about wind, amazing.We also purchased the beachBUB table, which was also excellent. I set it up with its own independent pole, however I think I will mount it to the umbrella moving forward. While using its own pole allows you to get it into a slightly better position, you have to re-anchor the pole every hour or so as the shade moves with the sun. By attaching it to the umbrella pole, you can just spin it around without having to relocate anything.Long story short, I’m very happy with my beachBUB purchases. I tend to prefer buying quality items that do their job well and will last a long time, and I feel like I’ve gotten that here. Yes, these items are expensive, but to me they are worth the money spent. While the jury is still out on long term durability, I feel very confident that everything will hold up. I don’t write many reviews, but I felt compelled to in this case. This has taken all the thought out of our beach-day setup. As my kids get older and our family of four needs to bring two umbrellas instead of one, I have no doubt I will purchase another beachBUB system. Cheers.One downside, as an afterthought, is that I do wish the umbrella tilted. I understand why they didn’t add the mechanism, and the company does make a sun shade that is supposed to serve the same purpose, so perhaps I’ll give that a try.

Context is important here: I bought this umbrella as a gift for my 75-year old mother because I thought it would be easier for her to put up solo than a traditional beach umbrella. Spoiler: It is not. Because of the price point I was on high alert for value matching cost — a $170 beach umbrella better live up to the hype, right? So let's start by talking about what this umbrella DOES do. It does hold up in high winds. It does look cool and give other beachgoers the impression you have discretionary income. Now let's discuss what it DOESN'T do. It is not lightweight compared to similar products. Their marketing copy reads "...sand gopher tool to help you easily create a hole in the sand for your umbrella pole." This is not in fact easy. I am a 47-year old man in better than average physical condition, and the effort required to bore a 14" hole in the sand is equal to or greater than just digging a hole with a shovel. In terms of entrusting this to my mother, you have to squat or be on your knees to get the leverage necessary to bore into the sand, so that's not happening for her. What's more, knocking the "core sample" of compressed sand out of the gopher tool is not an intuitive process, and the thin aluminum tool dented the first time I tapped it against the umbrella pole to remove the sand. Over the course of the week I took to using the wooden handle of the tiny shovel provided to gently tap the side of the gopher and loosen the cylinder of sand inside. Which brings us to the tiny shovel. They recommend fifty shovelfuls to fill the de facto sandbag you're creating which is the anchor for the whole apparatus. Fifty. I just used my regular shovel. So in the end we have an attractive, over-engineered umbrella of standard weight and dimension with a few novel features — and a legitimate high wind tolerance — that takes an equal or greater amount of effort to set up than a typical beach umbrella. And bring your own shovel.

We now own two of these beach umbrellas, and I wouldn't consider buying any other brand. The first one has held up beautifully & is in regular usage at our beach house. This time I bought the lime green shade because it will stand out & make it easier to spot our group when we are on the beach. If you are a regular beach goer and are looking for a new umbrella, go ahead and try this one out. You will not be disappointed.

I purchased the Beach Bub last February, and have now used it for a full Beach season, and we’re on the beach here in Delaware four days a week. I can say it’s even better than I had hoped, it’s made with quality materials and well constructed. Last year with a regular umbrella we were constantly battling with the wind even tying the umbrella to my chair. Not this year. Even in very gusty conditions this thing stands tall. It does take a bit more effort to set up, but not much. It’s a good size giving a nice shaded space and I don’t have to worry that it’s going to become an errant javelin in the wind. We are very pleased with this purchase.

My wife and I absolutely love this umbrella! We went on vacation earlier this year and the hotel we stayed had these umbrellas to use at the beach. We loved it so much, we decided to order one when we got home. It is very sturdy and well built! The anchor system works so well and makes it very solid in the wind!!! The over sized bag makes it easy to pack up, carry and store!They also have the best customer service!!!! When we received ours it was missing a couple of parts (most likely someone ordered it, swiped the parts and sent it back to Amazon and then it got shipped to me.)I called the number on the pamphlet that came with it and got a hold of Bill. He was very nice, apologized for the inconvenience and sent out the parts the very next day!Excellent customer service!!!!We go to beach weekly and have used many types of umbrellas and shade structures and this is by far the best we have seen and used!