ShedRain WindPro - Vented Auto/close Travel Umbrella

Great umbrella. Good quality. With arthritis in my hands, I struggled with standard umbrellas. This is easy for me to use.

This is a very nice mini umbrella, and does auto open AND close. It has a very thick sturdy shaft, and is made with semi-flexible spars that bend in the wind and prevent the umbrella from becoming a sail. It also has a vent hole on top, so in all it is quite stable in high winds. It is not the lightest umbrella ever, due to its sturdy construction, but it is light and small enough to carry around all the time in a backpack or briefcase no problem. I'm quite satisfied with this product. My only complaint would be that the button is kind of hard to push for auto-close, so if you have a weak grip you might want to try an umbrella with a more sensitive mechanism. On the other hand, this does effectively prevent accidental closures.

I commute to downtown Chicago every day which will sometimes involve walking through cruddy weather between the office and train station. This umbrella is the perfect size to collapse into my backpack and keep in there as an ongoing permanent precaution. It's constructed well enough to vent most wind through, although when the really heavy gusts come and I'm not angled correctly, the undercarriage system is designed to allow the umbrella to "flip" and then flip back without any permanent damage to the structure. Of course, with the pros listed here concerning its size, the resulting con is that there's only so much surface area this umbrella can protect. In heavy rain, I get soaked from the knees down since it's just not big enough. However, for me that's an acceptable trade-off as compact size and durability are my chief concerns for how I use it.

What I don't like is that when you push the button to close, it closes, but you still have to muscle it back to its original size which is not fun in the rain. It's tougher to do than the NON-auto closure one by the same manufacture, which I prefer.

I received my new umbrella - ShedRain Windpro Mini - at the beginning of a long dry spell. So I really couldn't give much of a review until now. Over the last week however I have had the opportunity to test it in light, moderate and heavy rain but not strong winds. It has worked like a champ! The grip is a little short, but the umbrella is well balanced and the auto open/close feature works very well. I would consider it more a "compact" than a "mini" umbrella. The canopy is wide enough to give one person good coverage but not really sized for two adults. It is sturdy, the fit and finish are excellent and the materials very attractive - I bought the basic black. I am very pleased with this product and expect it to last for years.

Compact, Sturdy, large enough for a couple, hugging and hutling away from rain or shine. Always carry it in my bag for unexpected weather or when I want my own shade.

I purchased my first ShedRain WindPro Mini Umbrella in 2005 or 2006. I purchased the umbrella reluctantly - it was the only umbrella option offered at the store, and it was a pricy one at that - and out of necessity - it was raining and I needed something, anything, to keep my camera equipment dry. The umbrella quickly proved to be different than others. It was sturdy. It was wind resistant. It opened and closed with vigor. I enjoyed using the umbrella so much that it mitigated, if only partially, the dreariness of the rain. I brought my umbrella with me almost everywhere. It resided in a side pocket of my backpack, always there, always ready. And then, like a fool, I lost it. How I lost it is neither here nor there, although the losing was entirely my own fault. Alas. I thought perhaps I could make due without an umbrella. But as a resident in one of the rainiest cities in the United States, last week's weather made me rethink that proposition. Instead, I found and purchased a new ShedRain WindPro Mini Umbrella. I must admit - I'm rarely as excited after an Amazon purchase as I was in anticipation of receiving my new umbrella. What an immediate disappointment. This umbrella neither opens nor closes with vigor. In fact, it doesn't close automatically at all. Sure, a second button press releases the umbrella's tension, but the canopy itself must be manually closed. ShedRain seems to have replaced the considerable quality of the old version with disappointment or possibly thing-a-ma-jiggers and what-cha-ma-call-its, since they appear everywhere along the skeleton of the new version. The old umbrella was the manifestation of simplicity; the new, an apparent inversion of parsimony. All in all, the decline in my perceived quality of this umbrella has left me quite melancholy. How I long for the days of yore; oh, how I long for my lost umbrella.

This is the second one I have owned. My original literally lasted for years so I didn’t hesitate to order another one.