I bought this before going to the beach, thinking it would still be cheaper than the ones sold by the shore. That was my first mistake. Almost exact copies are sold for $9.99 at the beach, I paid more for this once shipping and handling was taken into account. It worked fine and kept my umbrella from blowing away. In fact, my parents, who have a metal umbrella anchor, kept having their umbrella blow away while my plastic one held fast. But the third day I used it, the plastic handle broke as I was putting it into the sand. It still works for holding the umbrella, but I am mad that it broke already. Also, because I have a very skinny umbrella, the plastic side bulges out when I tighten the screw to hold the umbrella in, so I'm just waiting for that to break as well. I'm going to duct tape the handle so I can hopefully keep using this holder, but if you buy it, be very gentle when putting it into the sand, and I would recommend it for thicker umbrellas.