This umbrella is just what we were looking for to add to the shaded area on our pool deck. It requires minimal assembly, and went together very easily in just a few minutes. The mechanism for raising, lowering, tilting, and rotating feels very solid. The umbrella fabric is heavy and I expect it to last for some time. It also came with a protective cover for extended periods of disuse, which came with an expandable rod, which I think is supposed to make it easier to place the cover without climbing a ladder. Finally, a word about the base. The umbrella's base is a simple crossbar arrangement with no weighting. You MUST weigh the base down, either with one of the items recommended in the product description, or you can do what we did, which was use 18"x18" concrete pavers, which fit in the cross bar base nicely. You can see it in the accompanying photo, where we've added a couple extra pavers for good measure.