Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

5 stars for quality and sturdiness. Purchased for my “Flame & Shade” 10’ cantilever umbrella to create shade in my pool’s sun ledge. PROPER ASSEMBLY (SAND) IS A PROJECT. Definitely use sand instead of water for more weight and stability. With sand each finished piece weighs roughly 60 lbs. It ain’t moving- and no leaks even with water added to the mix. BUT, while finishing the first base taking 45 minutes of scooping and sifting handfuls of sand into a funnel to avoid clumping I FOUND A CHEAT. Use a LARGE- biggest you got- funnel like those used for oil, then cut a 2 liter bottle in half so that it too makes a funnel. Place the spout of the 2L into the umbrella base (it fits perfectly) then place the large funnel in/ atop the 2L so that it’s a double funnel setup. Fill the large funnel with sand (it will overload the funnel and not flow) align the funnel opening to the 2L spout and then slowly add water into the funnel until it makes a slush-like consistency. It flows right into the base with absolute ease! I had my 13 yo daughter manage the hose while I kept adding sand. Shortened the entire process down to 5 minutes for each base. Each base takes about one half cubic foot of sand (a typical bag of sand found at Lowe’s/ Home Depot) so you will need 4 bags of sand. Definitely use fine sand and not coarse paver sand. You’ll understand why if you don’t (it clumps). The fine sand is much easier to flow through the funnel. My 13 yo said “could you imagine if we hadn’t figured that out- we woulda been out here all night!” The aluminum bars that lock the 4 bases aligned with zero effort on the first try. Took a risk and purchased in spite of the few negative reviews here, but glad I did. Absolutely 5 stars with proper setup.