Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

By far....the BEST sun shade I've ever owned. I've owned umbrellas and pop up canopies. But, hands down, this wins all around best choice. The concept is so simple, yet so effective. The fact that you can use beach sand for the anchor method, means you're not toting extra weight or additional supplies to secure this on the beach. It's easy to carry, super lightweight......I'll say that again, SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT. No more sweating your balls off carrying some big, cumbersome, heavy sun shade. Literally, my 5 year old could carry this in one hand. Don't think the low total weight makes this a cheap product. The poles didn't bend or feel weak or cheap. The material is stretchy and seams are well made. The wind was whipping and this thing held up fine. However, if you're an idiot, don't buy this. You want to set the "front" towards the wind (even though most of the time I was at about a 45 degree angle from the wind. Set it up facing the wind (for the most part) and it'll stay up all day. Guys umbrellas were blowing over, people's pop-ups were caving in on the sides, but ours held fast. Set up and take down is soooooo quick. Again, best sun shade by far in this category as well. Aside from all this, it looks bad ass. As soon as we'd set it up, people would start looking and pointing at it. You'd see them grabbing their smartphones to google the web address that's printed on the side. Think about it....you see a family walk on the beach and in a matter of a minute, they've got a sun shade up and functional. Worth the money. Best experience I've had ever with this. You won't be sorry. Let me further elaborate on some specifics: Set up: Spread canopy on the ground (I found aligning/stretching out the front two anchors generally was all I needed to begin). Fill these two anchors with sand. Make front taught, but also realize you want to leave a slight angle on each anchor for best support (not straight out to sides, not straight in front). Then, with the front semi-set in place, do the same for the two back anchors. Then, lock up your two poles and place one under each of the two front corners. I found about 10-12" in was ideal (tee hee). From here, it simply takes some minor positioning of the anchors and poles, but by no means should send you into a 10 minute positioning rage. In a mid to heavy wind, it helps if you bury the anchors in the sand. If you take a break from sipping your beer, you may notice that the anchor bag shows signs of dragging in the sand, this would be an indicator that burying the bag is needed. But remember, dig the hole where the bag was, not where it is or behind it, as this will loosen your setup. Again, common sense, dig hole, drop bag, cover. I did notice throughout the day that I had to make a minor tweak to a pole position or two, but I simply very slightly angled the pole AGAINST the direction it looked like it was going to fall, and voila....instant magic - a stable structure. Some reviews are blowing this up - but again, I am willing to make a no-brainer adjustment if necessary in between beers or building sandcastles. This "trade-off" of tweaking doesn't even register on my radar as it happens so infrequently and it's so minor.......compared to watching the plastic washers and spacers bust or crack off the old-style canopies in a heavy wind, killling small children as a rogue wind lifted a four-legged metal spider off the ground, or have the metal bars on the old-style just bend altogether. How many messed up, broken canopies to you see next to the trash cans on the beach? It's like a freakin' cemetery sometimes. Also, if you have a few beach chairs or little kids, this is a great little setup. It is the perfect height to fit your chairs underneath, a cooler, wagon, and small beach mat. If you're expecting to mingle while standing, or have a rave keeping your hands in the air like you just don't care, then go to a club. I also found the way the anchors spread out, creates a buffer for "your area". And, the fact that the anchor lines are black (contrasts most beach sands or other backgrounds), plus the overall really unique design that draws your eyes down to the anchor points, I have a hard time believing this will ever be a tripping hazard, unless you're drunk, trying to tan in the moonlight, or a teenager texting while walking, or a combination of the three. People on the beach also apparently feel you want to "see all that", so this anchor system at least puts them at some sort of distance where you can't see their pulse through their clothes. Take down is a breeze. Take down the poles (10 sec), dump the bags (20 sec), give it a shake, shove it in the bag. I found it was also really easy to rinse off after use. Seriously, just leaving this review makes me want to go use my Neso again.