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We’ve reviewed this guide and stand by our picks. We also updated buy links throughout.
Trudging through the rain is rarely enjoyable, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. A great umbrella can reduce the misery, keep you (mostly) dry, and be stowed away when it’s not needed. After 66 hours of research and putting 48 umbrellas through five rounds of testing, we’re confident the Repel Windproof Travel Umbrella remains the best umbrella. Its nine-rib construction held up against gale-force winds, and it’s as sturdy as umbrellas that sell for more than twice as much.
This is a solidly built, easy-to-find umbrella that holds up in high winds. It also comes in a variety of colors.
For more colors visit amazon.com
The Repel Windproof Travel Umbrella folds up to an 11½-inch-long, 14-ounce package that fits easily into most bags and glove boxes. And it forcefully expands at a touch of a button to reveal an ample 37-inch-diameter canopy that protects your torso and head from precipitation in all but the windiest of conditions. Its lengthy, textured handle is easy to grip for hands of all sizes. We also appreciate that the Repel Windproof Travel comes in a wide variety of colors, so you can more easily pick yours out of a crowded umbrella bucket. Finally, despite its affordable price, Repel backs it with a lifetime refund or replacement guarantee, but only if you purchase directly from Repel and register the item under their warranty.
Despite its low cost, this offering under the e-commerce giant’s house brand blew away most competition in wind-resistance tests. It also comes in a variety of colors, but they tend to vary in price, plus this model has a history of stock issues.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $17.
The AmazonBasics Automatic Travel Umbrella with Wind Vent is available for less than the Repel, and its vented design and solid build shrugged off even the toughest gusts during our testing. However, it can be hard to get a handle on when it will be available. Representatives have assured us that it remains in the AmazonBasics product line, but since this model came to our attention in February 2017, it has gone in and out of stock several times. Each time, we’ve seen no online indication that it would be back. It’s a solid pick—when you can find it.
This umbrella performs similarly to our top pick but has a more luxurious feel and build—but it lacks a wrist strap.
The Balios Folding Double Canopy Umbrella looks and feels premium—with a wooden handle and solid build quality—and it costs about the same as the Repel. But the wooden handle is more slippery than the Repel’s. This, coupled with the Prestige’s lack of a wrist strap, means you have to be careful about keeping a grip on it. It held up well to strong winds, and its 37-inch-wide canopy bounced back easily after it was forced to invert during testing. It deploys quickly, and the handle feels solid to hold.
It isn’t the toughest, but it is quite light and very affordable, and it comes in many colors. It’s great for kids or forgetful folks.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $19.
The Lewis N. Clark Umbrella was a previous top pick and is still a great value—this lightweight travel model frequently goes on sale for about half as much as our other picks, which makes it a good bet for kids or other people who frequently lose umbrellas. It isn’t as solidly built as our other picks, but at 10 ounces, it is about a quarter pound lighter than the Repel and AmazonBasics models. And its 38-inch canopy offers better coverage and more wind resistance compared with most other umbrellas in the sub-$20 range. We also like that it comes in five colors.
In this model, you get classic style and impressive durability at a very reasonable weight—and price.
If you want more coverage than a compact automatic umbrella can provide, a stick umbrella (often misidentified as a golf umbrella), while heavy, can protect more than just your upper torso. Among the nine options we tested, the Totes Auto Open Wooden Stick Umbrella was by far the most affordable, yet it held up against the strongest winds and didn’t feel at all top-heavy—a common issue with the other stick models we tested. It also looks better than you might expect for the price. But if you want something with a nicer finish and made from more premium materials, we did test some pricier stick umbrellas with nicer finishes that performed just as well, but they cost more than five times as much as the Totes.
This is a solidly built, easy-to-find umbrella that holds up in high winds. It also comes in a variety of colors.
Despite its low cost, this offering under the e-commerce giant’s house brand blew away most competition in wind-resistance tests. It also comes in a variety of colors, but they tend to vary in price, plus this model has a history of stock issues.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $17.
This umbrella performs similarly to our top pick but has a more luxurious feel and build—but it lacks a wrist strap.
It isn’t the toughest, but it is quite light and very affordable, and it comes in many colors. It’s great for kids or forgetful folks.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $19.
In this model, you get classic style and impressive durability at a very reasonable weight—and price.
Over the past six years, we’ve taken umbrellas on errands, run them under the shower, attacked them with a leaf blower, and tortured them to the point of failure in gusty winds and even blizzard-like conditions. In between the tests we’ve lived with these models and lent samples to family and friends, inspiring impromptu midstorm side-by-side comparisons and revealing how these umbrellas wear after long-term use. Hundreds of umbrellas are available; with all this testing, we’re confident we’ve found you some of the best.
We also visited Rain or Shine–which was open for business at the time of our research–in New York City, one of the few umbrella specialty retailers left in the US. Its owner, Peggy Levee, is a protégé of one of our other sources, the late storied umbrella sales and repair expert Gilbert Center. Levee operates out of an office building in Midtown Manhattan that is stocked with high-end models from around the world. Together with Levee, we examined a range of brands, discussing performance, value, and owner satisfaction.
As always, we started with our own past research and testing, and we looked at other online reviews. Before our last visit to Rain or Shine, we consulted the work of the good folks at OutdoorGearLab, who have done their own extensive umbrella trials. Good Housekeeping has performed useful tests, too. The folks at The Art of Manliness provide history and generally informed opinion.
Regardless of its size, no umbrella will keep you dry from head to toe, especially not if there’s a breeze.
Our 2015 interview with umbrella guru Center revealed a sad truth: Most—though not all—umbrella making is outsourced to generalist manufacturers, often to the detriment of quality. Supporting that fact was our dive into online reviews and retail offerings, which revealed an alarming number of cheap, physically identical umbrellas available under multiple, rarely well-known brands. It also revealed an alarming similarity and positivity in supposed owner reviews (we’re on record as skeptics of this phenomenon). Armed with this background information, we were able to develop some key criteria to help us narrow down the field of qualified contestants.
For our 2018 update, we conducted research on dozens of new automatic, manual, ultralight, reversible, and stick umbrellas. In the end, we decided to test seven new models, from Ace Teah, Bodyguard, Crackajack, Elementex, LifeTek, and Tadge Goods, against our picks from Repel, AmazonBasics, and Lewis N. Clark.
In 2019, we built on what we learned from the previous updates, testing an additional seven umbrellas from Herschel, Balios, Davek, and Totes. We also checked out the most recent examples of inverted umbrellas and included more detailed notes on what we think of that design.
To state the obvious, an umbrella is supposed to keep you dry. So in 2015, we tested several umbrellas’ ability to keep a T-shirt-clad mannequin dry beneath the spray of a dual shower head. To nobody’s surprise, we learned that wider umbrellas did a better job of reliably protecting the mannequin’s head, shoulders, and upper torso. But once canopies get wider than the 37- to 39-inch range—the typical size of the automatic umbrellas we tested—you start running into weight issues without gaining significantly better coverage. With that established, in subsequent years we focused our testing on other aspects of umbrella performance and build quality.
We concentrated instead on testing the umbrellas in real-world scenarios and, perhaps most important, seeing how they held up to stiff winds. Umbrellas have to be lightweight yet resilient, and even with modern ripstop fabrics and alloys and composites, that necessitates a compromise: flexibility. A good umbrella will withstand a stiff breeze, but also invert—flip inside out—when a sudden gust overwhelms its strength limits. In effect, it will bend rather than break. What matters is its ability to flip back to proper form easily and repeatedly. In 2017, writer and tester Sarah J. Robbins took each of the 16 new models with her as she ran errands on a rainy February day, wearing her infant son in a BabyBjörn carrier. A few days later, during a sunny but blustery day, she did a second lap, this time pushing the baby in a stroller.
She brought her observations to Wirecutter editor Tim Heffernan, who had performed the 2016 tests; together we made a subjective judgment based on factors such as weight, balance, and handle comfort. For the cane umbrellas, which were considerably taller and heavier, we considered the ease of use for Sarah, who is 5 feet 2 inches, and for Tim and writer Daniel Varghese, who are both about 6 feet tall.
A good umbrella will withstand a stiff breeze, but also invert—flip inside out—when a sudden gust overwhelms its strength limits.
Then the most promising candidates weathered a series of stress tests. We began our tests in the small park outside our office in New York’s Long Island City. The goal was to force the umbrellas to invert by holding them in a position they’d rarely, if ever, be in in real-world use: with the handle faced parallel to the ground and the canopy directly downwind, catching the wind like a sail. Once we’d made the canopy invert, we attempted to reverse the job.
After weeding out models that were too hard to flip back or were damaged in the process, we tested the survivors during various New York City squalls. Updates writer James Austin used these umbrellas during his daily commute, taking into account the amount of protection provided and how easy they were to carry on the buses, trains, and streets of New York.
This is a solidly built, easy-to-find umbrella that holds up in high winds. It also comes in a variety of colors.
The Repel Windproof Travel Umbrella is our overall pick because in quality and durability it equals models we saw for more than twice the price. In fact, the Repel felt just as solid in every phase of our testing as $100-plus models we’ve tested. You can find lighter options out there—the Repel weighs just over 14 ounces—but along with its heft comes the ability to withstand big gusts. Billed as a “travel umbrella,” it folds up to just 11½ inches long, which makes it easy to store and carry. Still, when fully extended, its 37-inch canopy offers plenty of coverage.
For more colors visit amazon.com
One of the selling points of the Repel is its nine-rib construction, whereas most standard umbrellas typically have eight or fewer ribs. The extra rib provides a greater amount of reinforcement across the canopy, and therefore greater durability. We believe this design contributed to our test sample’s valiant fight against some 40 mph gusts, even when many competitors flipped. When the Repel did invert, its fiberglass ribs arched easily in the direction they were pushed. And when we pressed the automatic close button, they snapped back into place.
The Repel Windproof Travel's sturdy build goes beyond its extra rib. Its automatic open and close mechanism is quite satisfying. Pressing the button snaps it forcefully to attention with almost no perceptible play in the fully deployed shaft. The comfortable, rubberized handle is relatively long (about 2½ inches), which during our tests meant that Sarah could fit almost her whole hand around it, yet it didn’t feel too small in Tim’s or Daniel’s larger hands. Its polyester, Teflon-coated canopy showed no sign of dents or fraying stitching—even after the stress tests. Should anything go wrong for you, however, the umbrella is also covered by Repel’s lifetime replacement guarantee—with no return required.
It comes in several colors (including a simple black), so you won’t have trouble picking yours out from the forest of identical umbrellas in the coffee-shop umbrella stand. One caveat: We recommend sidestepping the double-canopy color options such as the blue-sky design, which adds an extra layer of fabric that makes the umbrella heavier and harder to tie together.
After more than six months of regular use, the Repel has continued to impress us with its resilience. Even in the face of significant winds, it never flips inside out.
The Windproof Travel Umbrella experienced a pervasive counterfeit issue in April and May of 2018, but a representative from Upper Echelon Products (Repel's parent company) assured us that this problem has been resolved. We plan to monitor the Amazon listing of the umbrella more closely, just to be sure. In the meantime, be mindful of third-party sellers of the Windproof Travel Umbrella on Amazon. The best way to avoid a counterfeit yourself is by making sure the seller is Upper Echelon Products and/or that your order is being fulfilled by Amazon.
After using the Windproof Travel Umbrella on and off for about a year in rough city weather, senior staff writer Tim Heffernan says the umbrella has held up well. It’s been stuffed into backpacks, handbags, and carried through trains crowded with damp disgruntled New Yorkers and it still works perfectly.
Another of our testers, research editor Christina Colizza, noted that the Repel expands with more energy than she expected, and was a bit harder to close than other umbrellas she’d used, which lead to her friend losing a fake nail trying to secure it.
Although we appreciate the Repel umbrella’s sturdy build, we should note that the snappy opening and tight tolerances require a strong spring to drive them. As a result, retracting its shaft back down to its fully folded form requires a bit more force than you might expect. But once you’re aware that closing the Repel requires extra effort, it becomes more of an afterthought.
Despite its low cost, this offering under the e-commerce giant’s house brand blew away most competition in wind-resistance tests. It also comes in a variety of colors, but they tend to vary in price, plus this model has a history of stock issues.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $17.
We love practically everything about the AmazonBasics Automatic Travel Umbrella with Wind Vent. For less than $20, you get an umbrella made with high-quality fabric and sturdy stitching that strikes a fierce stance against the wind. And its slightly curved handle makes it comfortable and easy to grip. The only thing that keeps the AmazonBasics out of our top spot is its relative elusiveness: This umbrella has gone in and out of stock frequently in the past—and when it disappears, there’s no indication of it coming back. If you can manage to get your hands on one (or two), it’s worth doing.
What impressed us most about the AmazonBasics model during testing was its windy-weather performance. That’s thanks to the wind vent—gaps between two overlapping layers of fabric that lie flat and watertight in the rain but open when wind catches the umbrella from underneath, releasing air pressure and discouraging inversion. Whether in the midst of a blizzard or while facing gusts near the top floors of a high-rise apartment building, this umbrella refuses to quit against the toughest gales. AmazonBasics also offers a ventless option for an even lower price, but we found that it didn’t hold up as well during and after our stress tests; if you want something at the same price as the ventless model, we recommend the Lewis N. Clark Umbrella instead.
Fully closed, the AmazonBasics is just 11 inches long; the fabric of its canopy, however, is thicker than that of the Repel, so when it’s bundled, it’s a bit stockier as well. The round handle is comfortable, as is the wrist strap, and the automatic open and close function is as responsive as any we tested.
After half a year of using the AmazonBasics umbrella, travel and outdoors editor Ria Misra reports that it still works smoothly. Tim—who has been testing the AmazonBasics as well as the Repel—also says that its vented canopy came in handy on the windy hill near where he lives, or it was until the umbrella was forgotten somewhere.
This umbrella performs similarly to our top pick but has a more luxurious feel and build—but it lacks a wrist strap.
If you want an umbrella that looks and feels a bit more premium than our other picks, but you don’t quite want to upgrade to a heritage piece, the Balios Folding Double Canopy Umbrella is a great option. Its 37-inch vented canopy expands quickly when deployed, and the snap of the auto-close function is quick and satisfying. The wooden handle is a nice addition, and it felt comfortable and natural to hold, though it may feel a bit large in smaller hands. It stood up well to wind in our tests, inverting only when held directly parallel to the wind on a particularly blustery day in the city, and it snapped back easily and quickly.
The wooden handle (which the company takes pains to note is “ethically sourced,” though we have been unable to confirm what that means, exactly) lacks a wrist strap and feels slicker than the rubberized handle of the Repel. This combo left us worried that the umbrella might be snatched into the air by a particularly strong gust. The handle also made this one of the longest collapsible umbrellas we tested, measuring 13.5 inches when collapsed.
It isn’t the toughest, but it is quite light and very affordable, and it comes in many colors. It’s great for kids or forgetful folks.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $19.
If both the Repel and the AmazonBasics are out of stock, another good low-cost option is our former top pick, the Lewis N. Clark Umbrella, which comes in four colors in addition to black (although black tends to be the cheapest). One of the smallest of the bunch, this travel umbrella is equal in height to the AmazonBasics, though lighter at just 10 ounces. Despite its low price, the Lewis N. Clark survived our stress tests of the past two years with very minor damage, and we’ve had no issues with the units we’ve been using for long-term testing over the past year.
Still, compared with our other picks from this year, the Lewis N. Clark has a lightweight polyester canopy that’s more wrinkly and less taut in certain places—telltale signs of looser quality-control standards. And although its metal ribs are listed as being made of steel, we are nearly certain they’re actually aluminum, judging from their light weight, lack of magnetism, and appearance. For these reasons, we think most people are better off spending just a few more dollars to get one of our other picks, but if you want something for kids or are a serial umbrella forgetter, the Lewis N. Clark is a good option to consider.
Wirecutter's former social strategy manager Sasha VanHoven has had the Lewis N. Clark for more than a year, and reports that it’s “beat up but still kicking!”
In this model, you get classic style and impressive durability at a very reasonable weight—and price.
Stick umbrellas can double as canes (or props) and often have significantly larger canopies than their more portable, automatic cousins. While fun to use, they can be a pain to hold one-handed, especially if you’re on the smaller side. But at just over 20 ounces, the 42-inch-wide Totes Auto Open Wooden Stick Umbrella has good weight distribution, and that helped us keep dry while running around town, even in rough weather. Its ease of use put it ahead of other similarly sturdy but more expensive stick models such as the GustBuster Classic, which felt considerably more top-heavy.
Though it offers the same height and canopy size as the other stick umbrellas we tested, the Totes is significantly cheaper. (And OutdoorGearLab named it one of their favorite umbrellas, too.) Its 42-inch canopy is made from a lighter (and likely lower-cost) material compared with the other umbrellas we considered, and we wondered whether it would hold up to strong winds. During our blizzard tests, however, as hard as Sarah tried, she couldn’t get this umbrella to flip inside out. This could, of course, be seen as a flaw: Seeing your umbrella bend alleviates the fear that one sudden, harsh gust will break it. Still, given the price of admission, that risk seems to be one worth taking.
James has been using the Totes since December 2018, and says it continues to work well in city storms, even though it's been used in a few too many bad Gene Kelly impressions.
If you want something made of nicer materials or with a more sophisticated finish, and you are willing to splurge a bit, you can find some good options out there. These models don’t really offer better performance under most circumstances, but the same could be said of a Gucci sweater compared with one from L.L.Bean.
If you’re willing to spend a lot more money for something with real style, this umbrella is a great option.
If you’re looking for a classically styled stick to go with a suit, look to the Davek Elite. It feels sumptuous, with a stitched leather handle, a fiberglass frame, and a 44-inch microfiber canopy that the company says is “190 thread count.” It also has a hefty $170 price tag, which makes it the most expensive of our picks. However, that cost is partially justified by Davek’s easy-to-use lifetime guarantee (which includes 50 percent off a new umbrella if you lose your original). It performs exceptionally in the wind: Thanks to its flexible ribs, in our tests it didn’t become a kite in the gusts; instead, it turned inside out and then easily recovered. Note that the cane handle measures 5 inches across, which is quite a lot for a smaller hand to manage. The Elite comes in three colors: black, blue, or the handsome copper, pictured at the top of this section.
During our most recent round of testing, we tried the newly redesigned travel-size Davek Solo, a past iteration of which we’ve recommended. The $115 collapsible umbrella was the best we tested, with a comfortable round handle, a strong canopy, and a surprisingly convenient metal belt clip. It was also the only umbrella that elicited comments from other New Yorkers, with one person excitedly telling James all about his own Solo, which he’d had for years. But it’s hard to justify spending so much on something so small and easy to lose, especially when our picks are almost as good, at a fraction of the price.
Inverted umbrellas are a relatively recent development in “holding something over your head to keep water off” technology. The odd way the canopy deploys and collapses—unfolding down and out like a blooming flower and collapsing up and away from the holder, like a normal umbrella broken by the wind—is supposed to reduce water dripping onto the floor and make it easier to do things like get in and out of a car. But in our tests of both the Kazbrella (one of the early examples of this concept) and the Sharpty Inverted (the best-selling “stick umbrella” on Amazon at the time of this writing), we found the novel design underwhelming.
When we tested the Kazbrella, we noticed that the extra material on the canopy (there are two layers of fabric, with a flexible structure in between, allowing for the fold) makes the umbrella more top-heavy than others of a similar size, causing extra strain when you’re carrying it and making it harder to control in a gust of wind. Also, in order for it to be “drip free,” the umbrella would have to be stored canopy up in an umbrella bucket, leaving the handle in the puddle left by other umbrellas.
For this round of testing, we tried the top-selling stick umbrella on Amazon, the generic-looking Sharpty Inverted (which appears to be identical to the other two top-selling stick umbrellas, all of them inverted). In addition to the problems of the Kazbrella, the Sharpty felt cheap and was difficult to deploy correctly, often requiring a few shakes to get the canopy fully unfolded. And its C-shaped handle was a pain to hook on a bag strap or a cubical wall, like you can do with most stick umbrellas.
The unique folding style is eye-catching, but in our tests it caused more problems than it solved. You’ll be better off with an umbrella that opens and collapses quickly and reliably, instead of bending over backwards to get in and out of a car.
If you want your umbrella to keep you dry for a long time, you need to remember to let it dry. Just leave your umbrella open after use—the bathtub is a handy spot. If you don’t, its metal parts—especially any automatic open and close functions—can corrode. Mildew can also develop in the canopy of a wet umbrella left closed; this not only smells bad but can destroy the fabric over time.
And make sure to let your automatic umbrella do its job, said Rain or Shine’s Peggy Levee: If you’re using one with an automatic open and close function, do not pull it closed as you would a manual model. “I always point that out to customers,” she said. Over time, that unnecessary tugging could cause the mechanism to break.
Ace Teah Travel Umbrella (unavailable): Some readers asked us to consider models with reflective strips. We’ve never thought that was a particularly important distinguishing feature, but we did call in this sturdy 10-rib model to try. Unfortunately, the umbrella ended up being the heaviest we tested, and not particularly easy to use or hold due to its long, slick handle. If you want an umbrella that’s highly visible but lightweight, a bright color may be a better choice; the Repel Windproof Travel and the Lewis N. Clark umbrellas come in many color options.
Blunt Metro: This is a good umbrella if you’re concerned only about the wind. Its shallow, scalloped shape—a direct result of some innovative engineering—shrugged off gusts better than any other umbrella in our test. Unfortunately, we learned that it also does a poor job of keeping you dry when the rain blows sideways.
Bodyguard Travel Umbrella: This model was one of the most popular umbrellas available on Amazon, featuring an impressive 10-rib construction and austere marketing. It’s now been upgraded with a 12-rib construction, which we will consider for future testing. Though the previous model we tested performed decently in our real-world wind tests, inverting several times without breaking, it was difficult to flip back. It’s a bit too sturdy for its own good.
Crown Coast Travel Umbrella (unavailable): Though this moderately priced umbrella handled relatively well, its stitch quality wasn’t the finest: Upon arrival, a few units had threads already pulling in some places. The rainbow of color options—including camouflage—is a plus, but the extra layer of fabric on the model with the blue-sky under-canopy made it bulky and tough to close.
Crackajack (unavailable): We called in this model in response to reader requests for new ultralight options that could pack in a purse. At 6.5 ounces, this manual model certainly fits the bill, as the lightest umbrella we tested in 2018. Unfortunately, its handle was tiny and slippery, and its shaft felt particularly flimsy.
Davek Duet: With a 48-inch canopy, this large model is built for two. As a result, it’s wider than most people want or need, but if you’re big or tall, or just want maximum coverage, it’s worth considering. The eye-watering price is backed by Davek’s unconditional lifetime guarantee.
Davek Mini: If having a really compact umbrella matters to you above all else, this model, which folds down to the size of a banana, is a great choice. But its tiny 26-inch canopy will barely keep your head and shoulders dry, and even then, only during short dashes in light rain.
Davek Traveler: Another compact option from Davek, the Traveler measures 33 inches across when open and 9 inches long when closed. We think you’d miss the rain coverage of a full-size (38 inches or so) canopy more than you’d appreciate having a couple fewer inches of umbrella in your bag.
Davek Savile: Hand assembled in England, the granddaddy of Davek’s offerings is billed as an heirloom piece and has the $350 price tag to match. The handle and shaft are hand-carved from chestnut wood, which adds to this umbrella’s weight—a hefty 30 ounces. Impressive, for sure, but we prefer to save $200 and instead take the still luxe, and more portable, Davek Elite for an umbrella of this style.
Elementex Compact Travel Umbrella: We called in this Elementex model in 2018 because it appeared to have a design similar to that of the Repel Windproof Travel Umbrella, with slight compromises. Upon receiving the umbrella, we discovered these compromises to be more severe than they had initially appeared to be. The Elementex’s eight-rib design felt less sturdy than the nine-rib structure of the Repel. Plus, its shaft is extremely short, which makes carrying the umbrella awkward and uncomfortable—you have to hold your grip-hand nearly at shoulder height.
EuroSchirm Light Trek: This German umbrella is quite good overall, especially given its scant 9.25-ounce weight. But subpar wind resistance holds it back. The lightweight fiberglass ribs are considerably more flexible than other umbrellas’ ribs, and as a result the canopy collapses easily when blasted head-on and flexes like a leaf in high winds when held upright. This means you’d suffer more inside-out episodes than you would with our other picks. Although it didn’t break during this year’s testing in a snowstorm, it did look somewhat the worse for wear compared with our other picks, which is why we’re no longer recommending it as an ultralight pick. But it’s still a decent lightweight choice for less-windy climates.
EuroSchirm Light Trek Automatic: The automatic version has the same issues as the manual version but weighs a lot more.
EuroSchirm Light Trek Automatic Flashlite: This EuroSchirm model is like the others, except for some reason it has a small LED flashlight in the handle. That gimmick brings its weight to 13.5 ounces—not a light trekker at all.
GustBuster Metro: This umbrella has a fully deserved reputation for durability in the wind. Tim never got it to come close to inverting, and it’s OutdoorGearLab’s top pick for wind resistance. But its strength comes from a complex truss of multiple ribs and springs that makes it extremely top-heavy; when the wind catches the canopy, it’s like holding a sledgehammer. That design plus a hard-plastic handle that’s slick when wet makes for a losing combination.
GustBuster Classic: Though this GustBuster model offers a wider canopy and a cane handle, it has a similar construction to the Metro. One plus: The contours of the cane handle make it easier to manage in the wind. The Classic is a quality tool for a good price, but it didn’t lead the pack in value or function.
Herschel Voyage Umbrella (unavailable): The smallest option we tested in 2019, the Herschel provided minimal coverage and felt rickety, like anything as small as a light breeze could snap its ribs. Also the handle was little more than a nub of plastic, making it difficult to hold comfortably.
LifeTek Traveler 45 FX2: This model impressed us in our 2018 tests. Likely due to its vented canopy structure (a design it shares with our runner-up, the AmazonBasics Automatic Travel Umbrella with Wind Vent), it withstood being battered by violent gusts without ever inverting, ranking it as one of the strongest umbrellas we have ever tested. And when we did force it to invert, the canopy snapped back into place without much effort. But at a price of more than $30 at the time of our testing, it didn’t offer a large enough advantage over the cheaper Repel or AmazonBasics models for us to justify choosing it as one of our top picks, and it didn’t offer enough unique features for us to make it a separate upgrade pick. That said, because it’s an excellent umbrella with a solid warranty (LifeTek’s two-year “Peace of Mind” replacement guarantee against defects and malfunctions), we plan to continue testing it and monitoring for price shifts to determine whether we should change our conclusions.
Kazbrella (unavailable): We were intrigued by the promise of this “reverse opening” umbrella (the Better Brella is another of the same kind), which closes by folding up instead of down. Supposedly this design makes it easier for you to stay dry while entering and exiting buildings and automobiles, and also keeps the umbrella from dripping on the floor. But in reality the mechanism is cumbersome, requiring a hard shove to open the umbrella. Its double canopy looks attractive—especially in the orange and blue color combo we received—but makes the umbrella awkwardly top-heavy. In our tests, the bulky canopy emphasized the effect of strong winds, which made holding the Kazbrella feel a bit like wielding a hammer. And if you store the umbrella handle up, as most people would, water still drips from the tip to the floor. To make it drip-free, you have to store it handle down, which could mean setting it directly into the pool of water at the bottom of an umbrella bucket.
Knirps Xtreme Vented Duomatic: This automatic umbrella feels hefty at 22.5 ounces, but its canopy handily opens to an impressive 48 inches—the size of many stick umbrellas. It’s a good choice if you want the coverage but not the hassle of carrying a cane around town. It could still be overkill for most people.
Knirps T2 Duomatic (unavailable): This model is light yet sturdy, with very good stitch quality. However, its handle is smaller and more slippery than some of the others—and its cost is significantly higher.
Magitec Umbrella (unavailable): This basic umbrella model was a promising budget option, but its hard plastic handle was uncomfortable, and the automatic open and close actions were unenergetic and not as effective as they should be.
Niello Best Outdoor Umbrella (unavailable): We took a chance on this one because of its attractive price, good reviews, and 10-rib design, which theoretically provides fuller coverage than the typical eight ribs. But we’ll never know if that’s true: In our tests, two ribs snapped after a single inversion. This one went straight into the garbage.
Senz Automatic: We had high hopes for this umbrella. Its main draw is its teardrop shape, which keeps your shoulders and back drier than a typical round canopy. Unfortunately, the long rear-facing ribs are weak; we damaged one just by cinching the canopy strap.
ShedRain Windjammer (unavailable): This model suffered from poor build quality and did a poor job of keeping our mannequin dry in our shower test.
Tadge Goods Windproof Travel Umbrella: This umbrella pretty closely resembles the Repel Easy Touch, as it has the same nine-rib design and an identical handle. But the Tadge Goods model is about 2 ounces heavier, making it a bit harder to handle during strong winds.
Totes Signature Clear Bubble Umbrella: The clear bubble umbrella makes sense conceptually, providing more cover from windblown rain by dropping material farther down than a traditional canopy would. But in practice, at least with the Totes, that extra wall of fabric is just something for the wind to push against, making even the light umbrella difficult to control. Also because of its design, the canopy isn’t as wide as on other similarly sized stick umbrellas, which limits its protection.
Totes Titan Super Strong Extra Large Folding Umbrella (unavailable): This 48-inch model was the other oversize umbrella in our 2016 test. Unfortunately, a rib failed after just a few inversions. Because it’s lightweight for its size (16 ounces) and not too pricey, we think it could be a fine sunshade in mild weather. But we can’t recommend it for rain.
Totes Blue Line Auto Open/Close Umbrella: This umbrella is well-reviewed, and we recommend Totes’s cane-style Blue Line as the best stick model. But the compact folding version we tested arrived with a 3-inch rip in one of the canopy seams that widened in the wind, and one of the ribs tore loose from another section of the canopy during our inversion test.
Tumi Medium Auto Close Umbrella: This umbrella’s size and compactness are middle of the road, and it didn’t stand out in any particular test, despite its premium price.
This article was edited by Jennifer Hunter and Jason Chen.
In our testing, there is no singular best fabric for umbrellas. All the umbrellas we looked at have canopies made of synthetic fabrics like polyester or nylon, and some have an additional quick-dry coat such as Teflon—but those additions don’t help much. They all do an equally good job of keeping you dry, and shedding water quickly.
Look for an umbrella with a canopy that’s 37- to 39-inches across, which is a good size to protect a single person from the rain, while still folding down to a compact package. Similarly, we think an umbrella that collapses down to 12-inches when closed, and weighs less than a pound is the sweet spot—easy to take with you everywhere but will still keep you dry when you need it to. We suggest the Repel Windproof Travel Umbrella due to its good size, comfortable handle, and affordable price.
Although we tested all of our umbrella contenders against stiff winds and they fared well, the AmazonBasics Automatic Travel Umbrella with Wind Vent excelled. This is thanks to the vent at the crown of the umbrella that lets strong winds pass through without snatching the umbrella from your hands.
The Best Rain Umbrellas, OutdoorGearLab
Brett McKay and David Bastistella, The Gentleman’s Guide to Umbrellas, The Art of Manliness, June 12, 2009
James Austin is an associate staff writer currently covering games and hobbies, but he’s also worked on just about everything Wirecutter covers—from board games to umbrellas—and after being here for a few years he has gained approximate knowledge of many things. In his free time he enjoys taking photos, running D&D, and volunteering for a youth robotics competition.
by Kalee Thompson, Katie Okamoto, and Ellen Airhart
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