I was looking for a portable umbrella to toss into my go-bag for work, and thought I'd try this one out. It has a very unique wooden grip and looked quite a bit better than the $5 cheapie that I'd been using (which didn't last long). I have to say, this thing is a beast. It's absolutely beautiful -- I mean, in as much as umbrellas can be beautiful -- and feels pretty darn sturdy. I've only used it in a couple of light storms, so I can't speak to its usefulness in high winds, but it's doing the job so far. It also has this cool self-retracting feature that I've never seen before. Just push the button and it brings itself back in via some sort of internal mechanical function. Pretty awesome!