Coleman Event 14 Shade

Summary

Went to Anaconda store on the Sunshine coast (southern Queensland Australia) 29/8/2012 and they are on sale, marked down to $199 seemed to be a few stacked up so are still around.

 Haven't bought one yet, just looking. A bit worried re the quality after reading some reviews.

This is a really well designed shade totally let down by being cheaply made. We had one for a year (almost to the day) when it got hit by a moderate gust of wind (no more than 20 knots) and literally exploded - the four main cross seams tore wide open. We took it back to the retailer and Coleman's New Zealand supplier sent us a replacement cover. This one lasted about a month before the same thing happened in even lighter winds.

I suspect they sent us one that had been used as a shop display for some time as I noticed the nylon rope stays had become very fragile (if you stood on them they turned to dust) so suspect the cause of the problem is that the material used throughout the build has no UV protection - this is the only reason I can think of for this. For northern hemisphere readers, UV is a big issue down here - not just in terms of skin cancer but it destroys many plastics real quick - cheaply made stuff doesn't last.

This is very disappointing as the design is outstanding. The Event 14 is very easy to erect and dismantle by one person, the frame can be left standing, The most important thing though, is that it offers far superior shading to anything else I have seen but at the end of the day there is little point in getting one if it is only going to last a year before falling to bits. Shame really.