My first thought on unpacking the umbrella and pressing the button to activate it to open and then pressing it again to "collapse it then push it close back to it's base" was "wow finally something worth my money!". From all the way closed it really does shoot out and expand smoothly though it's quite a jolt! You need to have a good grip.

I do not recommend this for anyone who is weaker on grip or strength ability to push the collapsed umbrella back to it's base closed position as it does require some force. I mention this specifically as some older reviewers mentioned how hard it is to use for them. For anyone else who hasn't lost their general strength it's fine. I would also like to let anyone who buys this know that I am experiencing heavy rainfall in California. Not the raining cats and dogs thick rain found during heavy storms probably experienced for those living on the East coast or North USA where when it rains you cannot see nothing but white.

So again, not sure if this umbrella is tough enough for I guess..."storm rain or storm winds". I don't foresee it holding up to strong winds just by test pressing on the metals of the fabric because they flex easily which makes sense since this is partially an 'automatic' open and close function, then it should be flexible so it will reliably collapse. I could be wrong about the strong winds, but I've gone through many umbrellas--don't let that remark deter you though.

I think anyone who expects an umbrella immune to storm…