Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Over the last 20 years I've owned four or five different pop-up canopies. All were the traditional accordian-style, purchased variously from Wal-Mart, Home-Depot, and Amazon. At first these were new products on the market and clocked in at about $100. Over time the pop-up canopy became a commodity; I think the last one I bought was $60. But the main point is that every one of these products was indistinguishable from the other: Same design, same materials, same build-quality. And truth be told, I was happy with them. We use ours exclusively for the beach and even with high winds, we'd typically get three or four years before they canopy frame failed structurally, which is what happened to the canopy that died last summer. We replaced it with the Eurmax and here's the bottom-line take-away: This is nothing like the traditional pop-up canopy. You pay a premium in price--the commoditized canopies are $60-$70; the Eurmax is $160. But what you're getting is a totally different product. The materials are higher quality throughout: Heavier gauge steel on the frame; higher-grade plastics at the joints; the shade itself is a higher denier; even the bag is better—it's roomier and has big, fat wheels that make it practical to roll the canopy long-distances. (Which you will want to do, because the Eurmax is heavier than normal canopies.) But the design is even more impressive. Traditional canopies are a box with the crossbars eminating from the corners. This funnels all of the stress to the sides, which, at least for me, have been the point of failure for every canopy I've ever owned. Eventually, those accordian-style sides bend. The Eurmax has the crossbars braced not from the corners, but from the sides, which distributes all of the stress more evenly across the frame. Then, it has a single piece which rises from the crossbars to create the apex—and this vertical pieces is on a heavy-gauge spring. So when the wind pushes down on the shade, the spring allows the apex to flex by design, taking stress off of the shade. There are lots of other thoughtful engineering touches: The feet are wider. The buttons to release the legs are more robust. The stakes are *much* beefier and are fitted with flat tops to make them easier to push down on. The bag is roomier because it's designed for you to be able to store the frame *with the shade attached*! I don't do a lot of review on Amazon, but I'm evangelizing here because I was blown away by the Eurmax. I had thought that the premium price might buy me slightly better materials. I had no idea that what Eurmax was selling was almost a completely re-engineered product. I can't recommend it highly enough.