Headed to Sandbridge Beach, VA next month and planning on getting a new beach sun shade for the wife and myself. We’ve been using a Sportbrella for 5-6 years now but I wanted to get something else. That doesn’t work very well IMO to provide shade and has issues with wind.

We used to bring a 15x15 pop up canopy as it’s 6 adults plus kids on this annual vacation but back when we were going to Ocean City, NJ we had a bad experience one day when a gust of wind picked it up and blew it into the air and it nearly landed on one of our kids plus I think a lot of beaches are starting to ban them too as people have gotten crazy with them. That’s when we all decided to go “everyone for themselves” as far as families and we all got the Sportbrellas.

I’m looking at these 3 which all have good reviews, seem to be easy to put up and provide decent shade while not having issues with getting blown away:

Neso 1
Sun Ninja
Shibumi Shade Mini

Does anyone here have these and use them and if so, what are your experiences with them?


The Neso 1:




The Sun Ninja:




The Shibumi Shade Mini:

Those Shibumi shades are loud as hell the faster the wind blows.

I don't have any of those, nor do I go to the beach and spend any real time there (as in most of the day), but I'd recommend sticking with one of the larger Sportbrellas. They're easy to reposition so you can pretty much have your back to the sun and get the shade you're after/block the wind if necessary. Any canopy style sunshade (I got lots of experience on the sideline of a baseball field attending travel baseball games throughout New England) has a huge disadvantage in that the shade is only under the canopy when the sun is directly overhead, and otherwise it's NOT! Most of the time the shade is 'over there'...It's pretty laughable at times!

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
Those Shibumi shades are loud as hell the faster the wind blows.

That’s the one thing I consistently see in reviews of that one, that it can be pretty loud.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
We used to bring a 15x15 pop up … a gust of wind picked it up and blew it into the air and it nearly landed on one of our kids plus I think a lot of beaches are starting to ban them too as people have gotten crazy with them.

I wonder why?

We had the third one which we used once. We’ve tried others as well and finally settled on hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, and jumping in the water if you get too hot. Tie down straps and 5 gallon buckets of water keep the pops ups planted in the wind. The don’t stop the sun from moving or prevent the sun from reflecting off the water and sand though.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

The Shibumi Shade Mini:

Strangely I keep looking at this one......

We don't use beach shades, well the wife and daughter with grand kids, wind messes with them and it's another thing to haul around.

However I like the second one since it provides a lot more coverage.

[Frank Sinatra]

Shoo-be-doo-be-do…

[/Frank Sinatra]

i live on a beach, trust me when i say get the shibumi. the noise is not that bad, after all you are on the beach, and the ease of set up cant be beat. The shibimi's outnumber any other easily 10 to 1

We have the Sun Ninja.
Love it
Very quick to set up, super compact when collapsed & held up to Pensacola wind with no problem. Comes with a scoop for filling the 'feet' with sand. Unlike the stock photo, it takes filling the feet pretty full to keep it in place, also helps to dig a small hole to put the sandbags in.
You can also set up without the rear piles to get a setup similar to the Nesso.
I'm 6'0" & had no issues with height.

We took a traditional ez up before & it was a pain to move & set up, and sand got in the collapsible legs & made it gritty.

Extra plus for the Ninja, you can use it elsewhere, just need a ballast for the legs in lieu of sand.

We have this one, love it!

https://www.amazon.com/Red-Sur...H/?tag=divegear0a-20

We go to Florida every year for vacation and see a lot of the Sun Ninja and Shibumi. We still take the 10x10 pop up canopy and anchor with fillable sandbags. Never any issues with it blowing away while we’ve seen others go flying. One thing I’ve noticed is the Sun Ninja takes up a lot of beach space with how far out the anchor bags reach.

Sandbag example

I have two sizes of the neso. They work great and can be found on sale. The Shibumi is fucking ridiculously priced. The regular sized one goes for 290 bucks I believe. That is insane for a flexible rod and fabric. Eventually someone will make a similar one and slash the price and I might try one. At nearly 300 bucks no way.

As for the Neso. 3 things you will screw up at first. Point it into the wind. Shibumi is the same. If you just set it up towards the water the wind coming from an angle will not work well. Second, get a small sand shovel because when you fill the four corner bags just put in more sand. More is better and solves most issues. Third, when you lay it our in an X to set it up, stretch it more than you think.

Once you get the hang of the Neso it is great. They are literally a couple times cheaper than the Shibumi and if set up correctly work just as well.

The Shibumi is a great idea that has two problems. It is retardedly expensive , like stupid crazy expensive. And if the wind gets calm it flat out will drop on your head. It needs wind, the good news is it doesn’t need much and rarely does the beach have no wind.

If somebody gave me a Shibumi for free I would use it. I just would feel stupid paying that much for something 5hat you will have to replace every few years. They all sit in the sun and degrade.

They probably sell every Shibumi they make but honestly they are overpriced by a factor of 3. Get the Neso and figure out how to set it up correctly and you will be very happy and not spend an extra 200 bucks on a sun shade. REI was selling unpopular colors of the Neso1 for 70 bucks which is why I have the original size and the Grande.

My wife and I go to the beach 1 to 2 times a week during the summer and we see all three of these in use. We see a lot of the Shibumis and they are noisy. Obnoxiously noisy when there is a strong breeze. We are starting to see a lot more of the Nesos and will probably get one ourselves. We have noticed that you can change the angle of it by positioning the sand bags closer to the poles almost forming a lean to. This offers a little more shade if wanted.

Hello PASig,

While I do not have any of those three sun shades I have seen people use them at the beach. While they do have merits they are difficult to set up (the first two for sure) and you are at the mercy of the prevailing winds for the third.

That said, I can very highly and confidently recommend CoolCabanas.

They are very one-person fast and easy to set up and they do indeed stand-their-ground in strong winds as they claim.

I recently upgraded to the newer ‘large’ CoolCabana 5 and it works great.

I also have two of the previous designs which work quite well too.

Not sure where you live in Pennsyltucky, but if you can swing by the Lehigh Valley area (I am near the NE Extension interchange for Allentown) I’d be happy to let you take one or both of my older CC’s along with you on your trip to try out.

Just lmk!

Regards,

Rob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Cookster,

We bought the Sun Ninja for our 1 year old granddaughter when she came to stay with us at our beachhouse last year. We used it at least half a dozen times.
Everybody loved it for its coverage, ease of use and the ability to stand up to the Outer Banks wind.
Highly recommend!

I've not used the Neso, but of the ones you have looked at, it's where I would go. I like the ability to make it more of a lean-to, which can be useful depending on the direction of the wind and the strength of the sun.

I have used one like the picture below, and I like them a lot, particularly if small children who might want to sleep are involved. They are available from different makers. Some have a floor like the unit pictured, and some do not.

I have the Neso and it doesn't work as well as I was expecting. YMMV.

Issues - any wind will make the sandbag anchors useless. I even tried rock. The only thing that works are stakes but then you need somewhat firm ground. Beach sand was not good enough.

If you have firm ground and/or there is no breeze, then the Neso works okay. But I would opt for something like Artie posted.

Again, ymmv and you may have better experiences. If you were local, I'd give you mine.

Yea, go to rule number one. Bring a sand scoop/shovel and when you think you have enough sand, add more. I live in Ormond Beach and we are at the beach constantly. Lots of high wind days. Last year when I bought my first one I was disappointed too. Then I remembered their instructions. Point into the wind, sand then more sand, stretch theX tight. Rocks are actually worse that sand because for a given shape you can’t beat wet sand for the weight. Plus it will rip the bags. There is a learning curve. Once you get it, you get it. I can set it up now in about 5 minutes and all it takes is occasionally adjusting the poles as the wind shifts.

If you put as much sand as possible (it’s more than you think) and it’s still not enough the next trick in crazy wind is to dig a small hole and drop the sandbag in that.

The LL Bean type work best under the wind conditions of the Jersey Shore, and that's under low wind conditions only.

Shibumi should come with ear pro. They are popular, but anything more than a gently breeze and they are loud as hell. I prefer the classic 10' x 10' E-Z Up with the refillable sand bags clipped on each leg.