Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've had two of these for several years, and absolutely loved them. To me, they were the perfect solution to one of life's perhaps trivial, but sometime important problems: how to keep an umbrella on the beach when the wind is blowing. I'm sure I sold many of these over the years, as people would see them (and the wonderful little table top that fits on them) and ask me about them. I always recommended them enthusiastically. No more. At some point, the manufacturer decided to redesign the product to save ten cents, and ruined it. The cross-piece used to screw the unit into the sand, which used to be a sturdy piece of 1/2 inch PVC pipe, has been replaced with a cheap piece of plastic tubing that bent and buckled on the first use. As others have noted, the set screw to secure the umbrella in the stand, which used to be fairly sturdy, is now made from soft, cheap plastic that also failed on the first use. To add insult to injury, the diameter of the main unit itself is now just slightly smaller than it used to be, so the little table tops I have no longer fit. If you're willing to replace the provided crosspiece and the set screw before using, and if you don't have older tabletops you'd like to keep using, this will work OK. But if you want something that works as promised, or if you've had this in the past and think you're getting a replacement, stay away. What a shame.