» Ace Evert Banana Offset Umbrella 8511, 10 ft, Polyester, Navy

Ace Evert Banana Offset Umbrella 8511, 10 ft, Polyester, Navy Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: Good value for the money
Comment: I've only had this a few weeks. Assembly was straightforward except that I wound up with 2 extra parts at the end. I emailed the company & sent a photo of the missing parts. It turned out to be stuff I do not need from an older version of the product. They responded quickly to my email. Took me about an hour to set it up.

Note that this umbrella will not stand up on its own. You have to put a lot of weight on the base. You can buy a fancy plastic base that you fill with water. You can instead use landscape paving stones -- the 16x16 inch ones that run about $5 each at Home Despot. You need at least 4 of them. I used 6 because I was worried about the wind. The stand is made to nest these paving stones and it is a fine solution to weighting the base.

I have hardly used it. Bought it to use over the hot tub in the rain. The weather has been fine ever since. But I am pleased with the setup, it covers the tub fine, it is attractive enough, easy to operate. If problems I'll post again this winter.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Does not hold up.
Comment: We loved this umbrella when we first set it up even though we didn't realize you HAD to buy a big ugly base for it. Well we left it open one afternoon and one gust of wind complete distroyed it! We are lucky it didn't damage our house or the patio furniture. I think for a good offset umbrella you have to spend the cash.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Seems to be well made...
Comment: I ordered this with a bit of hesitation having a prior bad experience with a DIFFERENT BRAND (thankfully receiving a refund). I was impressed out-of-the-box with this. It seems well made, but more importantly well engineered (other one turned out NOT to be). Time will tell of the long term materials quality, although at this point it seems all will be well.

** update: has turned out to be quite sturdy and well made. **

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great offset umbrella!
Comment: I am a big fan of this umbrella, having just ordered my second for the yard. Assembly is easy enough and the crank system works like a charm. Balance is the only issue. I highly recommend purchasing the Southern Patio blowmolded base to go with it. Then just fill it with water rather than having to deal large paver blocks. There will be many summers of enjoyment under this umbrella.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Sturdy, well-built, and easy to operate!
Comment: This is a great patio umbrella!

We had an offset umbrella we purchased from a well known discount chain that was worthless by the 3rd summer. We always took it down in bad weather, stored it inside during winter, and took good care of it. Every moving part had a plastic sleeve attached to the steel frame that allowed the frame to be lowered or adjusted. Those were all broken by the 2nd summer, but it could still be used by forcing the umbrella to operate. This summer, being the 3rd year we have had it, resulted in the metal braces all bending. It had to be discarded.

We ordered this offset umbrella, paying approximately the same as we had for our first one, and it is a vast improvement. Heavier weight frame, stronger and heavier fabric, easier operation, and better appearance. This is a premium product. Although, for our purposes, we did not use the garden stones to hold the base in place, we drilled holes in the base to attach to our deck with 3/8" x 1 1/4" screws. Simple enough to do and better stability. It would be nice if the base came with predrilled holes.

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