I finally got to use the umbrella in the rain the other day and I have to say that getting into the car and just pushing a button to close the umbrella was fabulous! It was so quick as opposed to me fumbling to close my old umbrella while I got poured on.  The only downside I would say is that after you hit the button to close the umbrella, in order to open it again, you have to push it down (into the starting position) and click it into the smaller position again and this was actually pretty tough to do.  There is a lot of resistance so it would not be ideal for an old person who doesn't have the strength to push it shut.  Other than that, it's great.