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Sep 23, 2023

Best Patio Umbrellas

We tested nine patio umbrellas available at Amazon and Home Depot, including

We tested nine patio umbrellas available at Amazon and Home Depot, including models by Grand Patio, Hampton Bay, and Outsunny

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Summertime and the livin’ is easy. The weather is warm, the flowers are in bloom, and the days are long. What's not to love? Downtime is extra nice when you have a patio for relaxing, dining al fresco, and socializing into the night. To create a backyard oasis, you’ll need patio furniture, including a patio umbrella to block the sun and keep falling leaves and debris from plopping into your salad, wine, cocktails, and mocktails.

The best patio umbrellas can stand up to the wind and are adjustable to give you more control over the direction and angle at which to throw your shade. We weighed these factors heavily in our lab tests.

While we didn't assess the canopies, they can be made from various materials, including cotton and polyester. But Sunbrella, a durable acrylic performance fabric solution dyed for colorfastness, is a premium material that may be worth the extra cost because it requires little maintenance and lasts longer than other materials.

The right patio umbrella for you depends on your personal budget and the size of your patio. Whichever you choose, remember to properly clean and store it so it lasts many summers.

We focused on cantilever-style patio umbrellas that feature an offset base that sits off to the side and out of the way. Our market analyst selected a broad mix of models available at Amazon and home centers, such as Home Depot. The models are at least 10 feet wide, a size that comfortably covers a sizable dining table or average lounge area. Prices range from $86 to $600.

CR's test engineers rated each patio umbrella for how easy it is to assemble, and adjustability mechanisms, such as crank lifting and tilting.

All the patio umbrellas were easy to assemble and proved to be quite rigid. "Stability is an important consideration, especially given the size of the canopies involved," says Bernie Deitrick, lead tester for patio umbrellas. "We found that when each umbrella is properly installed and used, none were more or less stable than others."

Ease-of-use factors, including adjustability, put the top-rated models above the others in our comparative ratings.

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We investigate, research, and test so you can choose with confidence.