Otentik Beach Sunshade - with Sandbag Anchors - The Original Sunshade Since 2011

I finally got to try out my new Otentik Sunshade today, and I was really happy with it. It was easy to set up, and provided nice cool shade on a hot, humid Florida beach day. I love the cool breeze unimpeded, while keeping the beating sun off.I bought the medium size, and I actually went to the store in Leland Fl. As an aside, if you live close enough, it is definitely worth the trip. Leland is a beautiful little town, and a tourist destination with lots of interesting shops and restaurants... but I digress. Renee and her husband really did a great job explaining everything about the shade from manufacture to setup. They are great people with a great small business, and I hope they do well. I felt very comfortable buying this product after seeing the materials, and realizing how seriously they take customer service.I have a few observations to make after actually using it.1.) It has no problem staying up in a breeze. The key is really stretching it out, putting lots of sand in the bags, and facing the wind. Bury the bags if the wind is strong. If you can't get it to stay up in the wind, it isn't the shades fault!2.) I found the perfect shovel to fill the bags: a clear plastic food service ice scoop from the local restaurant store for $6.00. Sturdy, light, easy to use, and pretty cool looking (see pix). This would be a nice item to offer on the site as an add on.3.) Someone mentioned in a review that it was hard to get the poles into the bag with the shade. The poles now come in their own little bag which is very slick, and slides right into the bag with the shade, no problem.4. In all fairness, I have few criticisms. One is that the poles are made of steel, not aluminum. They are coated to last longer, but they are heavier than aluminum and will eventually rust. I would like to see them offer aircraft grade poles as an upgrade. I will pay extra for them.Another is that the ropes are pretty short, and I would have a hard time burying the front bags without pushing the poles far into the sand, which would leave less space under the shade. In other people's pix they look longer than mine.My last criticism is that there is a big seam running the length of the shade, and it's not in the middle. It looks like it was the end of the roll of cloth, so they just stitched on a new roll and kept going. This detracts from the smooth flowing appearance of the shade to a degree. I'm sure this saves some money in manufacturing, but I don't like being the one who got "shorted". I didn't see this until I set it up.These criticisms would not stop me from buying again. Overall, I think it is much better than other competing products out there.

This is simply one of the best sunshades out there to use at the beach. I was a little skeptical about how it would work or how it would hold up, but we love it, and we're on our second season with it on the Gulf coast of Florida. I can't make it through a day on the beach without someone walking up — usually someone with a heavy metal frame shade that they're struggling to keep up on a windy day — and asking "what in the heck is this shade? Where did you get it??"It takes a few tries to get the hang of putting it up right, and it definitely requires getting used to the fact that stiff winds are actually no problem for it, no matter how much it seems to be buffeted around or pulled taut around the poles. It's quite simply an entirely different beast than the usual umbrella or pop-up shade. My favorite things about it are how easy it is to set up once you get the hang of it, how durable the stretchy fabric seems to be, and how it's fairly flexible to adjust during the day as the sun moves around thanks to the two poles. (or get some extras and have four)I always wash it out real well and then let it dry at the end of a week before rolling it up and putting it away. We've never had any trouble with the seams or the fabric ripping or anything like that. I highly recommend this shade. Great value and it's simply the best thing to use at a windy beach.My tips: stretch it out on the ground as wide and taut as you can and bury two adjacent sandbags first. Dig out the sand and put the bag in the hole where you got the sand from. And then stretch out the two opposite sandbags on the other side before you bury them, stretching it out as far as you can. Seriously, you cannot stretch it out too far! Ideally, you've got the four sandbags buried and the shade pulled nearly flat on the ground with no slack in the cords. Put the poles underneath on one side (facing the wind preferably) and just pop it up. NOTE: You don't have to force the poles waaaay down into the ground like a normal umbrella. You need to shove them into the sand a little bit, but you don't have to get them a foot into the ground or anything. I bent a pole one time just forcing it way too hard. (Once it bent and flexed at the joint a few times and stressed the metal, it was toast after a few more times putting it into the ground. Suffice it to say, I learned my lesson. The poles are plenty strong enough, I was just doing it wrong. And Otentik ended up replacing that pole for me.) The poles just need to be enough into the sand that they won't flip over, but the pressure from the shade on top of the pole (this is why you pull it really taut on the ground first) helps keep the pole from ever falling down. I also recommend always trying to set the side with the two poles pointed into the wind. That will help the shade inflate like a sail and keep it up in the air!

Pros and Cons review. First I love the fact that it weighs next to nothing to carry to the beach. Setup is easy and takes about 5-8 minutes with two people. Most of that time is filling up the sandbags. I got the large version and because the sandbags have to be spread out pretty far for the tent to be tight, it takes up a lot of space. This can be good and bad on a semi busy beach like in OCNJ. I got some dirty looks because our bags were so far spread out and taking up what looks like more space then it should for our shade. But... the good thing is it creates a nice space for you and your family that people have to walk around and not kick sand on your stuff when they are walking by. Again double edge sword. As far as the tent itself as long as the wind is blowing toward the front where the poles stand it works great. When the wind shifts you need to move poles so they are always facing into the headwind. It took me a few days to figure this out, but when I did it worked great. It was the only sail shade type tent on the beach that made it easy to see when you were coming back in from the water, or walking back from the shore house with more supplies. Overall I love it and would recommend it for something different on the beach. I do like the square canopy types but after all the research I did this seemed like a better choice for longevity. Read so many bad reviews on the canopies breaking in high winds and the mechanism failing after just a few uses. This tent works well in high winds, and even if it does fall over, there is nothing to break, you just have to put it back up, and make adjustments to the poles. It is very sand resistant and shakes off the sand and goes back in the carry bag very easily. Overall great product. A little pricey, but you get what you pay for and the material is very high quality. I expect it will last many summers on the beach.

al principio tenia mis dudas sobre este producto, pero la verdad estoy muy satisfecho, la calidad de la tela y el diseño es genial, como todo lo nuevo tiene su curva de aprendizaje para utilizarlo y mas en condiciones de viento fuerte, per el montaje y desmontaje es super facil, y el transporte es facilisimo. yo pedí otros dos tubos de soporte para tener una mejor estabilidad, en resumen muy buena compra.