I own two big umbrellas, which can easily and comfortably shelter two adults from most of the rain. And I had owned several big umbrellas and small umbrellas in the past, but now I was looking for a small one that I could could carry with me every day in my backpack, in case it rained – which, if you live in London like I do, rain can happen on any day, even if the day starts off bright and sunny!

So I went online and decided to start searching for long-lasting small umbrellas for men, that could be considered strong enough to not be broken with only a small and weak gust of wind. I ended up going to Amazon and, of all the umbrellas listed there, I set my eyes on a Balios umbrella.

From what I read, Balios is a british brand and I thought if there were people that understood weather better than most, and if these people made umbrellas, then british people would be the best to choose from when it came to buy umbrellas. So I went for it and bought it.

The design of the Balios umbrella really attracted me to it. It’s sleek, modern, “manly”, and at £16.99 it looked like a great bargain. I mean, the umbrella looks more expensive than it is, no doubt about that.

I used it the first time when it was raining continuously, but the rain was “tiny”, just a bit more than mist (sorry, I don’t know how else to describe this type of rain). Because I didn’t stay under the rain for too long, I thought it was a good umbrella, that it had done its job, so I was very satisfied.

Thing is, the second time I used, on my way to work in the morning, when I got to work I was very wet, specifically on my shoulders (I was wearing a backpack) and hoodie. It was only when I looked inside the umbrella that I saw that… it was wet! How does an umbrella get wet on the inside?? Never have I had an umbrella that became wet on the inside! And it’s not that it was very windy or heavy rain, it wasn’t at all!

So, my advice is this: the Balios umbrella is good looking and sturdy enough; it does have a button to open it up automatically and if you click it again once it’s open, the top of the umbrella closes and then you just have to pull it down to fully close it. But I wouldn’t use for too long, even in “tiny” rain or if it’s too windy. You should be ok for a short walk though. Would I buy from them again? Hmm, I’ll probably keep searching to be honest.