Used this for a summer trip to the Outer Banks, N.C. We unfortunately chose a week where it was sunny but windy with occasional gusts over 40mph, but we remained in the shade because this tent did its job well. Very few umbrellas on the beach could withstand the test. The tent comes in a nice black bag with two thin straps which came in handy when our hands were full of other beach supplies. It is made out of a thick, stretchy material- very similar to a heavy-duty swimsuit fabric. Each corner has metal grommets and is reinforced by a leather-like material. The straps that are attached to the bag are thin but strong. The sand bags are made out of a lightweight stretchy material and are pulled closed by the aforementioned straps. There are two lightweight folding poles that come with the tent. The poles have a soft ball on one end (which is the end that faces upwards on the fabric) and a plastic square bottom on the other end (this end goes a few inches into the sand for stabilization).

Since this was my first time using it, there was a bit of a learning curve. First, when you are filling the bags make sure to fill them up to the maximum amount possible (not necessary if no wind gusts). For extra measure, I dug a small hole in the sand, placed the overly-filled bag in it, created a little mound in front of the bag and THEN covered it with extra sand so that any stray wind gust wouldn't lift up the tent and collapse it (see photo). Second, I made sure to angle the tent facing the wind. Then, I created an "X" as described in the instructions, snapped the two poles together and Voila! Tent complete. My brother liked the tent so much he will be ordering one as well for his travels. Some things that could be improved in this tent are: 1. Bag size. The bags could stand to hold a tad more sand. Even on mildly windy days the bags occasionally shifted which caused the tent to collapse. I filled each bag up to the maximum allowed and still had to create a wall in front to keep the bags from sliding in towards the center. 2. Poles. While you can order extra poles, it would be nice if the medium-sized tent came with four poles instead of two. The wind may have been kinder if it weren't hitting the lower part of the fabric. Also, there were days where wind direction made it so the lower part of the tent was directly facing the ocean, which obscured my vision of the shore somewhat.

Other than those two minor complaints, this is overall a great product. Lightweight, easy to set up and carry with the shoulder straps, and withstands the elements. Taking the tent down is as easy as dumping the sand, folding the poles, and stuffing everything back in the bag. If the elastic lasts, I intend to use this for years to come.

The beach tent worked great in a mild breeze. When the breeze got a little stiff, not so much, but given my wife, friend, and I are engineers, we figured it out. This beach tent needs to be facing into the wind! Once we figured it out, we were able to get this tent up in fairly stiff breeze like 15-20 mph, in literally a few minutes. Lay tent out. Dig about a 6-9 inch deep hole about 12 inches diameter under where the corner sand bags are. Couple of big digs with your hands will do. Open the corner sand bags in the hole and fill to the max!!. Cinch them up, fill with more sand, and cover whole thing with sand. Set up poles near the front edge like in the pictures and this beach tent sail is billowing! If the wind is very gusty it can still pull the poles down, but if one works the base into the sand by grabbing the pole low and pushing back-n-forth while pushing down, you can stabilize the pole. To put away, just as fast. The ultimate compliment was watching multiple people struggle with those fiberglass poled pop-up shelters, just to give up and walk over to us asking where did you get that tent? We packed these tents in a suitcase for an 11 hour flight to Hawaii, so very portable and light weight. Would have given a 5, but we had to figure out how the tent functioned on our own, so 4++ and those who buy this tent after reading this you can give it a 5.

There's definitely a learning curve. But once we figured it out it's become our MUST HAVE item for the beach right behind sunscreen and towels. First time we used it there was no wind and it was a piece of cake to set up and I wanted to buy one for all my friends. Second or third time it was windy and I fought with it the whole time at the beach and wanted to throw it in the ocean. It felts a lot like I needed a physics degree to keep this tent from falling over. Best thing works for us is ALWAYS (always!) have the tent facing the wind, fill those bags GOOD (I also dig a little rut in the sand for them to sit in so they don't want to slide).....and then there's the pole placement. I put the ball of the pole way out where the black corner of the tent is, and then angle the pole base inward inside the tent and bury the base (I don't have the poles standing straight up, I have them angled like the leaning tower of Pisa toward the wind). I'm not sure if that makes sense and I'll try to add a pic later. But putting the ball at the very corner of the tent keeps the tent from having a lip in the front that catches wind and blows it down.

It's been only one day but love this. It's light enough to easily carry along with all my beach volleyball gear on my bike. There is more shade coverage than I expected as four adults hung out in our beach chairs (with 4 poles). The poles are about 5'5" or so and the low side doesn't hit my head when I'm in my low beach chair. I don't have a clue how durable this will be because while it works great in high winds, you do have to stretch it very taught and over time and stress, it may cause problems with stitching but material and poles seem to be high quality. I recommend a third or fourth pole I ordered from their site to ease stress and to lift the windier side when wind direction changes but you don't need it. Poles have that bungee thing inside so they stay together and easily set up. Easily set this up myself. Yes, it's a little expensive but for shade coverage, portability, and confidence in wind without constant readjustments, I think it's worth it. I got the dark blue palm leaves and it looks great and my friends quickly found me on a crowded beach.

Update: Have used this a few more times and still love it, and people constantly ask me about it. It DOES NOT stay up under very windy conditions ( im guessing when I say 35-40 miles an hour). The wind pulled the bags out buried in the sand but that was extreme wind. That day no one on the beach could get any umbrellas or shades up. Otherwise it still works great.

So awesome my wife set this up by herself!!!!! There are breezy 5 to 10 mile gusts,and this thing is laughing at it. The moral of this story, if my wife (who cant breath through a scuba snorkel) can set this up ....anyone can. All the negative comments were from installation errors. Soooo here are my wifes tips

1) overfill the bags way beyond where u think
2) buy two extra poles especially for the larger tent.
3) Overfill the bags
4) Overfill the bags
5) once bags are overfilled...put more in!
6) adjust one pole at a time towars each corner...cause u bought the extra poles
7) kiss wife, compliment her mechanical ability, it might lead to sex later😄