Product Description

Unflippable, Unflappable, Unleakable. World's finest wind-proof umbrella. Tested at the college of Areonautic in Queens NY, will not invert in winds of 55+ mph. Limited Lifetime warranty. #1 umbrella on the PGA, LPGA, and Champions Tours. GustBuster has been featured on CNN, GoodDay NY, Regis and Kathy Lee, Talk soup and many more televison and radio shows. Patented technology allows the wind to pass thru the umbrella, while you stay dry.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46085 in Sports & Outdoors
• Brand: GustBuster
• Model: 85162BL
• Released on: 2005-04-18

Features

• Expansive black umbrella with pinchless open and close release
• Double-reinforced, lightning-resistant fiberglass shaft
• Classic, burn-embossed, hardwood J-handle
• Wind-tested to 55 miles per hour
• Measures 62 inches in diameter; lifetime warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
Similar to the GustBuster Classic umbrella but with a larger diameter, the black Doorman keeps you dry wherever you roam. The Doorman boasts all of GustBuster's patented, proprietary design and construction technology, including a pinchless open and close release system and a double-reinforced, lightning-resistant fiberglass shaft that's designed not to crimp or snap. The burn-embossed hardwood J-handle, meanwhile, offers a classic look. Best of all, the Doorman offers an expansive 62-inch canopy that comfortable protects two people at once. Wind-tested by the College of Aeronautics to 55 miles per hour, the Doorman carries a lifetime warranty.

Customer Reviews

Ok umbrella, poor value. Delicate
With the model name Doorman, you would expect it to be a workhorse, but you would be wrong.

The first problem I had was with the packaging. The first umbrella came in a standard fedex triangular "tube" that you would use for sending posters and such. These tubes are collapsible in the middle offering no protection to each end, and at those ends the shipper only included a couple of pieces of news paper as padding. When the umbrella arrived, the tip had been shattered to many pieces. Amazon replaced it with hardly a question asked and I had the replacement the next day before I could send the old one back. The replacement umbrella was packaged the same way, but was luckier during its trip.

My big issue is the the quality of the umbrella. The tip is made of very brittle plastic. The same part that broke during shipping on the last umbrella arrived ok, but split near the rivet part that holds it on within one week of arrival (it was used twice that week). 6 months later, the tip is still holding together but I'm fearing the day I might tap it against something the wrong way. For the price and reputation, I would have expected a nice metal tip like I see on peoples older umbrellas, or at least a screw on plastic of higher quality. Next is the way the fabric is secured to the canopy. They used just string wrapped a few times around the arm at the center. The tips seem good though, which is where you see most connections fail. The shaft seems week and as I hold it I wonder if the handle will come off the shaft. The material keeps the rain out as expected, but does not repel water. After market sprays would be required for this.

The design of the wind defeating system is sound and its implementations attractive. The holes in the nylon(?) are nicely shaped but surprisingly not hemmed making me hope that the fabric is rip-stop, though I don't see any veins indicating so.

Its an OK umbrella, but it seems to be made cheaply and I expected more from the most expensive model of such a high reputation umbrella company.

Poor Performance, Design
Dear Sirs,

It's been a number of months (3-6) since I purchased four different gustbuster umbrellas: the doorman, the classic, the metro manual, and the metro automatic.

I'm sorry to say that with the exception of the classic, the other three umbrellas have far underperformed with respect to my expectations.

I don't doubt that the aerodynamics of the umbrellas might be superior, but the operability and construction design of those three models is inferior to other umbrellas I've owned, and definitely less than what I expected.

Specifically:

1. The hard plastic tip of the doorman cracked when it hit the hard ground from a distance of only a few inches. I had read the warning that it's not good for the umbrella to continually tap it on the ground, and I assure you that I avoided that behavior because I know it to be true. The umbrella slipped from my grasp, the tip hit the ground, and it cracked. End of story, and evidence of a design with low factors of safety on highly-likely failure modes, i.e., poor design.

2. The metro-automatic can be opened by pushing a single button, but closing the umbrella is not as easy. In fact, it's quite difficult to the point of being aggravating. I'd rather have an easier-to-use umbrella that can't withstand 60 mph winds.

3. The metro-manual is not only a pain to open and close, but when it is in the closed configuration, the handle continually slides to the extended position, even after repeated attempts to put it in the stowed position. This makes the unit unwieldy and problematic. The only reason we bought it was because it was physically shorter than the metro-automatic.

In an ideal world, I would like to return all three umbrellas for a full refund of my money, but I don't think I could fairly ask or expect for that outcome.

I will, however, not encourage anybody I know to purchase the gustbuster brand umbrella. It's just not very user-friendly nor well-made.

Sorry to send you this feedback, but I accept constructive criticism on a daily basis with the attitude that the customer that complains is your best customer. Please accept this email in the way that it was intended, as honest feedback of your product.

Sincerely,

Ken Davidian

P.S. I don't expect a reply, but if you wish to contact me, please just send me an email to this address. Thanks.

Poor quality, warranty is deceiving
I bought a GustBuster umbrella several months ago, expecting that it'd be the last umbrella I ever needed. Wow, was that a bad decision. This "windproof" umbrella had two of the spokes break in a light wind (the weather report said the winds that day were only about 15 miles per hour). So I e-mailed the company because I remembered that it had a "lifetime guarantee." They told me that I'd have to ship it back to them (which is perfectly fine), but I'd also have to pay them $10 for their trouble. What kind of lifetime guarantee is that? For $10 or less I could buy another umbrella locally. Their product has proven that it's NOT superior and it DOESN'T live up to the claims they make for it.

Don't spend all this extra money on a GustBuster because you think it'll work better. It won't. Go out and buy a normal umbrella for 1/3 or 1/4 the price of a GustBuster -- you'll probably get the same amount of use out of the normal umbrella, and you won't be paying an outrageous price for something that doesn't work the way their marketing claims.