Chrome dome replacement?

Birdiepal is another version of the same umbrella.

Most people don't use them right. The best way to use them is to take off your hat and wear a wet kerchief on your head while under the umbrella. I just hold it in my hand so that as I move down the trail I can keep the shade over as much of me as possible. With the wet head, a slight breeze and some shade it's like air-conditioning. You can get a good brrrrr going if you also wet down your shirt.

Thanks Piper, so if the weights are the same for two models they should be roughly the same in features and build strength? Which model do you use?

I like the A/C suggestion.

Do you want stronger or lighter? Your choice, with the usual tradeoffs. The Birdiepal Outdoor is advertised as “The strongest trekking umbrella of the world.” The Swing Liteflex is advertised as “The world’s lightest trekking umbrella of its kind.”

Euroschirm has a PDF catalog of their trekking umbrellas available here that may answer some of your questions. (The catalog link is on the left below the picture; the file is about 14MB.)

There is some confusion regarding product names, probably compounded by shifts in the company’s marketing strategy over its 90+ years of existence and the fact that it has produced umbrellas for other companies, reportedly including Golite.

The original company name is Eberhard Gobel. They manufacture various collections of umbrellas marketed for trekking, golf, business, travel, and promotions. Birdiepal and Euroschirm are brand names owned by Eberhard Gobel. I believe the Birdiepal line was originally marketed as golf umbrellas and the Euroschirm as trekking umbrellas. However, there seems to be a recent effort to consolidate their product lines under the “umbrella” name of Euroschirm and the Birdiepal url now redirects to the Euroschirm website.

The Birdiepal Outdoor and the Swing Liteflex are different models of Eberhard Gobel (Euroschirm) trekking umbrellas. Each is available in a variety of colors or with a reflective coating. You will find some online references to a “Birdiepal Swing Liteflex” (e.g., Campmor and various forum reviews), but a review of the Euroschirm catalog suggests that these designations are incorrect.

The Swing Liteflex is essentially the same as the old Golite trekking umbrella. Refer to this article and the associated reader comments, which include this quote from a Euroschirm representative: “The Chrome Dome was designed out of the Swing liteflex, but GoLite chose to cut alot of corners by using lower cost toolings in order to have the market and profit margin more manageable. So you can call the CHROME Dome the ‘younger cousin’ of the Swing liteflex.” I have both the old Golite and the current Euroschirm versions and can confirm that they are virtually identical. The current Euroschirm version has a beefier slider, a thicker handstrap, and a few minor cosmetic differences that add about 15g over the Golite version. The Euroschirm website lists the Liteflex as 207g; I read 222g on my scale. My old Golite is 207g.

I haven’t used the Birdiepal Outdoor, but the Euroschirm website shows it as slightly larger than the Liteflex and significantly heavier at 372g. My understanding is that the struts are basically the same but the shaft is stronger and the fabric is heavier with some extra reinforcement. There is an entertaining video on their website (also available on youtube) showing the Birdiepal Outdoor being abused in various ways. Looks basically indestructible.

I don’t often take an umbrella while backpacking but the Liteflex is plenty strong enough for anything I would use it for. If I was anticipating conditions requiring the extra strength of the Birdiepal Outdoor, I probably wouldn’t carry an umbrella at all. If you are considering one primarily for shade, the Liteflex would certainly be sufficient; the Birdiepal Outdoor would be overkill. (Note, however, that there is also a Birdiepal Octagon model splitting the difference at about 300g).

Of course, you could simply buy one of each and get the free shipping!

Happy hiking.

Another place to look is Montbell's umbrellas. Some interesting designs that are not explained well on the website. But I have checked them out at their Portland store. And bought one.

Six Moon Designs also has the "Silver Shadow" which is identical to my Golite Chrome Dome.

https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/

Ken they should hire you. Thank you very much for the detailed explanation. This could be a BPL write up on trekking umbrellas. I definitely prefer the lightest option – just getting my head around carrying a 7-8 oz umbrella is a big enough leap lol.

Gary that looks like the exact same trekking umbrella sold by the OEM company site for $52.50 each plus free shipping if you order two. The SMD is a better value at $44 but I don't like carrying anyone's large logo – just want an all silver umbrella, so maybe I'll see if the OEM will match the SMD price.

If Campsaver had it in stock, you could buy it for $44 less 20% off. But that's at least a month away. I can pick it up now before a trip or again at the end of June, so could possibly wait for Campsaver.

there is currently a real GoLite Chrome Dome for sale in Gear Swap.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=103536

http://www.ebay.com/sch/reflective%20umbrella they're less than $6 including shipping (from the US) right now. I may try one.

Silver on the wrong side, no handle, may not do well when wet.

I know from past experience modifying cheap umbrellas that I don't need a handle. Some of the amazon models have removable components: http://www.amazon.com/s/&field-keywords=photography+umbrella (you can remove the black part on some)

I've been using photographic umbrellas (for lighting) since 1975. Buy a real umbrella.

> I've been using photographic umbrellas (for lighting) since 1975. Buy a real umbrella. +1 since they're mostly used indoors the frames are pretty lousy and would probably get damaged with the first strong wind.

>"Silver on the wrong side" I got into a discussion of this with my BIL, an experiment physicist in molecular optics who oversees the "Coldest Place in Spain" (they do their work around 70 microKelvins). I observed that in India people use a black umbrella. And he pointed out that if it were silvered on the inside, the fabric would radiant less heat to the person below. Silver on the top means less radiant heating of the fabric of the umbrella by sunlight. Black on the top radiants more of the fabric's heat upward from the umbrella. Silver on the bottom radiants less from the hot fabric. Silver on the bottom reflects a person's radiant heat and that of the ground back at themselves. Suggesting that this discussion could soon go down a twisted rabbit hole of competing theories and a total absence of experimental data. One data point: It feels like a day 10-15F cooler when I hike in full sun under my Chrome Dome, in the Sierra, around 7,000-9,000 feet (pretty intense sun, fairly light, decomposed granite soils). I'd be willing to mock up two cheap umbrellas with silver out / black in versus black out / silver in, but it will be a while before I could test them, because it's -8F at home this morning, and while it will be a sunny day, the sun will only get 15 degrees above the horizon at noon.