Canopy/Shelter

I’m looking for opinions/advice on pop-up shelters. I want something we can pop up in the backyard to shade out the sun or when camping to put over a table in case of rain. Which are good, and which are junk?

This is the type of thing I am thinking of:

I don’t recall the brand, E-Z Up I think, but I got a 10×10 at Cabelas…it works great. We’ve used it a bunch at car shows.

You will probably need better tent stakes, the ones that came with mine were pretty cheesy.

i bought one of these at Dick’s about 6 years ago. a 10′ x 10′. i don’t remember the brand but it is very useful and very easy to put up. i haven’t had any troubles with it. i think i paid around 80 to 100 bucks for it.

Many parents with young baseball or softball players would tell you they are very nice. Haven’t got one myself but seen them at games and will just say get one with adjustable legs that way when that summer sun gets to be about 4-5pm and angle is to the side you will be able to tilt the thing one side to get shade which otherwise wouldn’t be there.

Sam’s club sells the really nice EZ ups for around $200. I would say those are the best if your using it for commercial purposes.
Last year Fleet Farm had a sale on Coleman canopies which I bought much cheaper than the EZ up. For around $100, I got the 10×10 vented canopy with hubs that wont pinch your fingers, plus it came with LED lights that are a great bonus when hanging out after dark. Needless to say, I would wait for the sale at Fleet Farm and purchase the Coleman if you’re not in the trade show business.

I have an EZ-Up 10×10 and love it. I upgraded the stakes and also purchased a bug screen for it. Bought it at Blaine fleet farm. I’ve also seen em at Mills and Cabelas.

We bought one a couple of years back, it was from Sam’s Club and worked well, but I learned a couple of things I wish I’d known.

1. To really keep the sun out, you need some kind of side curtain because a lot of times the sun isn’t right above you, it’s coming in at an angle. We solved this problem with a light blanket and some of those spring loaded clamps, but since then I’ve seen models that have a drop down side curtain. Very handy when the sun angle gets low.

2. Buy one that’s bigger than you think you need. I wish I had gotten the next size up, especially if you’re going to use it as a rain shelter too.

3. Wind. Not good. Sadly, Mrs Grouse used ours to shade the kiddie pool and forgot it out in the back yard one night. And a thunderstorm came along and tied it in a triple Trilene knot with a double twist around a boxelder tree in the neighbor’s yard. I had to use the Jaws of Life and cut the damn thing off of there.

Wind. No good.

Grouse

Thanks, guys. The EZ-Ups seem to be the most common, but I wasn’t sure if they were of decent quality or if they were junk. I appreciate the responses.

I call everything with an umbrella like expanding frame an ‘EZ-up’. Before EZ-up prices became reasonable they were all put together like a tent which is a little more effort to set up. If you had to carry it a long ways a tent type canopy is an option because they weigh less. But, I would look for an EZ-up dining fly with built-in mosquito netting and probably a sun shade.