I bought this umbrella for my elderly mother who has difficulty in using umbrellas in the rain and especially the wind. The umbrellas she has used in the past always fold back in due to the severity of the wind and this unbalances her on her feet.
The Totes Windproof Umbrella in compact and by pressing 1 button opens and closes itself. The difficulty we did have was when it arrived new it is stiff and we had to open and close it more than 50 times to make it open fully with the spokes to completely opening. You do have to prepare yourself for the quick sudden shooting sound that occurs when you press the button to activate the mechanism and it does sound like a gun being shot at first! Also it is advisable to hold with 2 hands when opperating the button as the force of it does take you by surprise!!! When pushing the umbrella back to a compact size you do need to push down maybe using a hard surface like a table or the ground as trying to push down with your hand as described in the instructions would give you a muscle strain!!!
Although my mum is in her 80's she was game to try and give it a go and now that I have shown her she is fine with it!