Umbrella opening mechanisms

Comparing all opening mechanisms

There are three widely used opening systems when it comes to umbrellas. We will briefly introduce them to you and show you their respective advantages and disadvantages.

1. Manual opening

When opening manually, the umbrella's slider must be pushed up by hand until it engages and the umbrella has stretched open fully.

Advantages:

Most inexpensive variant
Lighter than automatic systems

Disadvantages:

Requires both hands for stretching and closing the umbrella
Requires both hands for stretching and closing the umbrella

2. Automatic

When opening automatically, the umbrella can be stretched open at the touch of a button. To close it, it must be pushed together with slight force. This allows the spring to tighten, ready again for reopening. This opening system is usually recognised by a button with an arrow pointing upwards.

Advantages:

Stretches quickly with one hand
Really easy to use
Lower price as the full automatic

Disadvantages:

Requires both hands for stretching and closing the umbrella
Slightly heavier than manual-opening umbrellas

3. Automatic open and close (fully automatic)

The automatic open and close function enables the umbrella to not only be opened automatically at the touch of a button, but also closed again automatically. Usually recognised by a button with a double arrow.

Advantages:

Maximum ease of use
With just one hand, the umbrella can be stretched and relaxed again.
Fast opening and closing
Very modern and practical

Disadvantages:

Slightly more expensive.
Somewhat heavier than other types of umbrellas.
To tighten the spring again for reopening, it requires a little more force to close than with the simple automatic umbrella.