Montbell Travel umbrella 3.0 oz

No experience with that particular one, but I do have their 5.1oz Trekker one and their silver one at 6.5oz (lighter for some reason then the one they sell now). My experience of the 2 is there are no real design differences between the different weights, only umbrella size. Though I say that, the ribs may be made all out of metal or partially out of carbon depending on model and what year they were made. As a general rule, the lighter the umbrella, the smaller the coverage and the height is slightly reduced. They may use thinner fabric as well. You can get the actual coverage and shaft length numbers off their website product descriptions to compare them.

The ribs fold as you noted, but if I expect to keep using the umbrella off and on, I leave them locked in place and don’t use their storage sack. The Montbell umbrellas aren’t as robust as the Golite and will get damaged easier as I use to own a Golite Chrome Dome umbrella. In strong winds, the Golite will handle it better; but better doesn’t mean well. Then there is the handle. I’ve always thought the Golite handle was a bit too short to comfortably carry for long periods (assuming hand held). The Montbells are even worse in this, but their lighterweight does make up for some of it. If you attach them to your pack for hands free operation, the Golite is easier to do so with elastic cord as the handle’s grooves give something to grab. Montbell’s lack these groves, so you have to come up with something else; though sticking it into a shoulder pouch is the easiest solution, there are other methods. But when the ribs are folded, the Montbell umbrellas pack extremely compact so you don’t notice them in your pack.

I know a guy who carried the Montbell silver one the length of the CDT and liked it, so they can last. But I think you will have to take it down earlier than the Golite one in strong winds and be more careful of brush along the trail as their lighterweight model’s fabric does seem thinner than Golite. The 3oz model you reference is a lot thinner than the material on the umbrellas I have (which already seemed thin) and would suggest the need to baby them more when there is a possibility of being snagged on anything. Also more likely to suffer from abrasion in my opinion, but have not had any issues with this with mine thus far, but I normally store them in their case the majority of the time.

I like the idea of leaving the ribs extended for storage. Thanks for that.

Yes I suspected that the fabric might be noticeably lighter. I’m extremely impressed with the durability of the Golite green-dome that I have. I expect that if I purchase the Montbell, I’ll have to be more careful with it.

Kelly

I have both a Mont Bell ultralight (157g – older model) and a Swing LightFlex (chrome dome – 232g + 58g for the sheath). I use the Mont Bell purely for city and travel and the Swing for arid zone walking.  You would have to baby the Mont Bell for walking unless you knew you were on wide and open trails..

This thread http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=26096&p=329933&hilit=umbrella#p329933 has a couple of comparative photos of them.

Umbrella is fine but the handle sucks.  Gets uncomfortable quickly and is particularly bad if you are fighting wind at all.  The old golite handle was better.

Here’s some more info. The original full-length umbrella is 25 inches and is more durable all the way around. Mine weighs 8.25 oz. With a bit of pipe insulation on the handle for keeping it from bruising my collarbone in “no hands” mode. The Montbell light is 21 inches long fully extended, 16 inches with just the tines opened ( not in the smallest closed mode, that is 10 inches ). It is 6.65 oz. I found the “light” just too delicate for storms that I had no problem with before with the original, AND when attaching it to the pack for the “no hands” method the light handle was simply too short. I also did not like that the actual deployment time and fiddle factor of straightening the tines a PITB with the “light”. So for me, the weight/space savings was not worth it backpacking. I want a tool that is quick to deploy, easy to use and durable. They are not cheap so for the $ I’d rather be happy using it. So for a difference of 1.60 oz, I’ll carry the original.

Is it the one where you fold the ribs up and in half to fully store it. I kept the ribs extended when in storage on the run/in use and not in it’s wee thin cover.

I liked it very much, broke a rib due to my error. Trying to push  it into the side pocket of my Talon 44 and it became tangled and I didn’t realise it. If I were to get one again, even tho’ it’s a pain in the arse, I would slip the (a) cover over each time I pocket it whilst on the go. Maybe get an extended wee cover (bread bag?) so it could be done in the semi folded position. Then I think it would be fine for open tracks. Mine died walking around the Prom’ Mark F, in pretty good wind and rain. Held the canopy in one hand and handle in the other facing into the rain and got along all right. The size of a pool cue handle but much lighter.