BioBrite RainStar Safety Umbrella

Buying an item like this can feel like a bad use of money if the item is not at all what it seems. When I bought this item, I was taking a gamble. Would I get something just as nice as the golf umbrella that I bought a couple of years ago, or would I have bought a lemon like that portable umbrella I bough from a discount store last year.I know the answer now. And that answer is somewhere in between.The construction of this umbrella is decent. It's just as nice as my golf umbrella. In fact it is much shorter. With a shorter tube, also means a shorter canopy. Unopen, the canopy is 22 inches. Open, the canopy extends about 19 inches from the tube (a.k.a. the center pole), which falls in line with the description of having a diameter of 38 inches. (Remember math, kids? What's the area of an octagon inside an inscribed circle where the radius is 19 inches? That's just over 7 square feet.) By comparison, my golf umbrella has a radius of about 26 inches (Roughly over 13 square feet of space.)The ferrule (the tip of the umbrella) is made of plastic rather than metal. An improved design would use metal but with a rubber tip to prevent damage. There is some kind of metal burr sticking out from the inside of the top notch (where all the ribs meet). Whatever it is, it is sharp and probably needs to be Dremeled off.In the photos the manufacturer provides, light is coming out of the umbrella from the outer part of the ribs (the poles that are along the cannopy). This is not true as the light begins at the TIPS of the umbrella. Had the manufacturer had included a short strand of electroluminescent glow wire to follow along each rib, there would be some truth to this. The ferrule aslo does not glow as it is made of black plastic. But otherwise the photo describes the lighting of the inside of the canopy incorrectly.However, what is included are 8 bright, blue LEDs which go with the blue canopy. Each tip is wired and soldered thoroughly with what I can assume is 22 to 24 gauge wire. In fact, running along each rib is a red wire and a black wire in a small fabric tunnel up to the top notch, where the run down the tube to where a circuit in the handle controls the power. It should be noted that aside from glowing, the lights will also blink rapidly and slowly if you press the power button again one or two more times.. This is ideal for getting attention.In the handle, there is one other features, a flashlight. The flashlight is activated by pressing on the lens of the light. This toggles a very bright white LED. An improvement to the handle would have been to have a more ergonomic grip to fit the grip of a hand which many umbrellas have lately.I also would have picked a better runner mechanism that opens the canopy. Something that didn't make me feel like I could jab the runner switch into my thumb.Overall, the ZHOL RainStar Safety Umbrella isn't the Blade Runner umbrella I had hoped for. (Yeah, I know about the other model where the tube glows, but the handle on that one says it was more Star Wars than Blade Runner.) But that doesn't mean that it can't be as the manufacturer just needs to make a few changes to improve the umbrella.The world definitely is ready for something like this, but I don't think the manufacture took into account how serious consumers would feel about it. ZHOL could do better.

Umbrella is beautiful and same size as the $5 special I got from walmart. I liked that it has a quick release button. The first one I ordered, one of the LED's did not work and they replaced it fairly quickly for me. The second one I got, everything worked but I found that after opening and closing the umbrella, one or two of the LED's dimmed significantly. It may be a loose wire or something, even so I am not able to adjust it or fine tune it. Still a very neat umbrella, I don't know how sturdy it will be in the long run, if I were able to use it more often I could tell you how well it was holding up. Until fall or winter I may not get too many chances to use it though.

After getting a replacement due to two LEDs that wouldn't light up it is great. I will say the flashing settings are fairly obnoxious, but the handle light and the non strobing LED setting are great.

The umbrella I received was missing the "battery cage" and light bulb in the handle. Therefore it doesn't light up at all. What a disappointing X-mas gift. It SUCKS.

Gave this as a Christmas gift and she was thrilled especially with flashlight in handle...she trips a lot! .

Cool!