My royal blue duckling umbrella is 40 years old and still going strong, w only one missing eye 😔. I thot I should finally order extras.
I was shocked to see so much plastic replacing metal - I don’t think these will last as long.
The release button on my new one (I’ve used only one of the two I ordered) does absolutely nothing until I jiggle the stem to get it in the right position. Then the umbrella doesn’t open all the way without extra pushing, which offers a lot of resistance so my hands feel as if they could get hurt.
It’s even more difficult to collapse! I have to use both hands and stabilize it against my body, tugging mightily to get it to close all the way and to stay closed. There was NO difficulty like this w my old one.
The new one collapses into a smaller size, which is nice for carrying it by the loop, but honestly is unnecessary and makes the whole thing look stunted and out of proportion.
I like the colors I chose, bright red and another royal blue. The instructions say to keep them in their sheath to prevent fading. My old one hasn’t faded. I know the sheath keeps them together for mailing, but unfortunately has no real use on receipt.
It appears to be the same company making these. Change isn’t always good, but at least my one-eyed duckling has companionship!
