PICNIC TIME Manta Portable Beach Tent, Fully-Assembled Pop Up Tent, Beach Shade and Sun Shelter, Instant Outdoor Shade with Carrying Bag for Outdoors and UPF50+ UV Protection (Gray with Black Accents)

I did a LOT of research before committing to a pop-up shade. For some reason these things, no matter who makes them or how big they are, cost a small fortune. They're the same technology and maybe twice the materials as the $10 pop-up shades for your car windows, so I imagine the manufacturers of these things are filthy rich. Anyway, moving on. I wanted something that would POP up easily, fit my three kids and all of our gear, and give us adequate shade from the Arizona sun during various t-ball games, river outings, etc. This one by Picnic Time seemed like the clear winner, so i took the plunge and payed Amazon the exorbitant fee for this thing, EVEN THOUGH all the reviews said it was nearly impossible to close and put away. I figured, hey, I have a college degree and youtube, how hard can it be? So here's the deal: If you try to fold this thing up left to your own devices and logic you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO. At all. I promise. But, do a quick search on youtube (http://youtu.be/p1ISW-pwUXs) and you will find out that it's SO SIMPLE to close up! Honestly! The only problem is that I swear the man in the videos must be 7 feet tall and 300 pounds because when HE closes his Manta Shelter down it looks like a tiny doll version of what I have. I'm only 5'4" and it is a challenge to say the least to get my tiny t-rex arms maneuvered around it. But after a few practice runs closing it up at home I am now an expert. It is durable, and in my opinion quite spacious. Myself and my three kids use it regularly and we can ALL fit inside. Imagine three kids swarming all around inside with towels, shoes, sunglasses and sandwiches, falling all over each other and pretending very badly to get along. All of that fits inside this shade! My husband can fit too if we sit and make a little room, and he is over 6" tall. Usually he wanders off though, mostly to avoid the chaos that is our life, which has nothing to do with this product at all.So, save your pennies, watch the videos on youtube, practice a couple times, and then you too can say, "Bring on the horrible, scorching summer fun, Picnic Time Manta Pop-up Shelter!"

I was so excited to get this tent since I live in a beach town, yet I don't want to bake in the sun. I also loved the fact that it is lightweight, no assembly, and creates enough of shade to remain on the beach all day, it broke after 2 uses! Even though I purchased this almost 2 months ago, I still believe they should exchange this product for me!UPDATE:It broke after using it just twice. I wrote a review with just one star since it had been over a month since I purchased it, and thought I wouldn't get a refund; however, I contacted the company, and they got in touch quickly, had me send pics, and it took less than 1 week to receive a new one. I was very happy with their customer service and the fact that they stood behind the product they sell!!! It is so easy to set up and break back down, and so light weight too!

I initially found this day tent cool for the first use. However, after only three uses, the pole caps came off in the bag, leaving the poles exposed. When I opened the bag to investigate, the tent suddenly popped out, and the poles were left with no cap or hinge. Disappointing quality and durability.—-I give back five stars to this company!I would like to share this with everyone.I wrote the review on Amazon, and I emailed the customer center right away with this issue, but I received no response from them for a while. But after a few weeks/months, they found me and asked for my address to send a replacement. And today I got a new one from the company.I don't like to rewrite the review, but I felt if I didn't tell you, it would be wrong of me.

I wanted this to work, my husband wanted it to work. The printed instructions were poorly printed in a high contrast and did not clearly communicate key steps to either of us as to what exactly reduced this mini-cabana to the same size it came packaged as. We both consulted YouTube and found that instruction equally unhelpful. We're trying this in the comfort of our home with, no wind, sand, kids to watch, or other articles we'd pack down to the beach or shore taking our attention. I was unable to close it, and though my husband kept trying it was 30 minutes of fighting before it was closed, and even then two things. 1. We think it was closed wrong side out, and 2. By the time the 30 minutes had rolled around my husband had tried so many variants he had no clue as to which sequence or combination of steps had just worked; meaning it wasn't repeatable. Moreover 15 minutes in, with those spring sticks twisted taut and compressed in at least two if not on three axis they got loose and struck my husband full force across the bridge of the nose; ouch! Lower on the nose and he'd have had blood to go with the pain. If that had hit him off to the outside of his face a thwack like that could have caused a floor fracture to his eye's orbital bone; not funny. The makers or sellers should set up a focus group and give them the product and the instruction sheet they've prepared and then without coaching the participants sit back and watch what goes wrong (and do what you need to, to fix that). The "no coaching" is important, because you can't be with the people unpacking this at their home, or on the beach in adverse conditions like wind, etc. Fix it on the instruction sheet! You tube is a nice touch if it helps (it didn't as is), but You Tube isn't always available at the beach or lake, especially on a larger screen that shows important detail in the bright sun! This is not ready for market as is based on our experience and intended use, keeping the perspective remember that's just two individuals being sampled. We cant be prepared to give closing it 30 minutes and knowing even then we just got lucky. While we had it opened and fully extended we noticed it's vertical clearance at the highest in the center would not allow two relatively short persons (<70") to sit on a low-slung beach chair or stadium seat without wearing the canopy as a hat. Without the chairs there's no back support, so that leaves two people to lay crosswise, one in front, one in back, not great for both to keep an eye on the kids, and laying crosswise like that excludes other things you might want to keep out of the sun or off the beach, like a cooler, handbag, towels, lunch? As my husband was trying to close it he felt like it was possible the forces it was taking could either snap the rod in the middle, at a joint, or even rip the encompassing fabric the rods were stitched into. As I said, we wanted it to work, but for these reasons we considered the whole package defective for any of the varied reasons mentioned. Fix the problematic concerns (all of them including vertical clearance, and we'll want one of these).