Neso Tents 7' x 7' Beach Tent with Sand Anchor - Portable Sun Canopy Shade with Patented Reinforced Corners - Perfect for Beach, Camping, Picnics & Outdoor Adventures

We’ve used this now on 5 separate beach trips. It holds up well to wind as long as you get it as tight as possible. If there’s any give & you’re working against the wind, your stakes will collapse. It is super easy to set up & very light weight. However, I’m not sure it will last more than a few seasons as it’s already showing signs of wear. Bummer!By far....the BEST sun shade I've ever owned. I've owned umbrellas and pop up canopies. But, hands down, this wins all around best choice. The concept is so simple, yet so effective. The fact that you can use beach sand for the anchor method, means you're not toting extra weight or additional supplies to secure this on the beach. It's easy to carry, super lightweight......I'll say that again, SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT. No more sweating your balls off carrying some big, cumbersome, heavy sun shade. Literally, my 5 year old could carry this in one hand. Don't think the low total weight makes this a cheap product. The poles didn't bend or feel weak or cheap. The material is stretchy and seams are well made. The wind was whipping and this thing held up fine. However, if you're an idiot, don't buy this. You want to set the "front" towards the wind (even though most of the time I was at about a 45 degree angle from the wind. Set it up facing the wind (for the most part) and it'll stay up all day. Guys umbrellas were blowing over, people's pop-ups were caving in on the sides, but ours held fast. Set up and take down is soooooo quick. Again, best sun shade by far in this category as well. Aside from all this, it looks bad ass. As soon as we'd set it up, people would start looking and pointing at it. You'd see them grabbing their smartphones to google the web address that's printed on the side. Think about it....you see a family walk on the beach and in a matter of a minute, they've got a sun shade up and functional. Worth the money. Best experience I've had ever with this. You won't be sorry.Let me further elaborate on some specifics:Set up: Spread canopy on the ground (I found aligning/stretching out the front two anchors generally was all I needed to begin). Fill these two anchors with sand. Make front taught, but also realize you want to leave a slight angle on each anchor for best support (not straight out to sides, not straight in front). Then, with the front semi-set in place, do the same for the two back anchors. Then, lock up your two poles and place one under each of the two front corners. I found about 10-12" in was ideal (tee hee). From here, it simply takes some minor positioning of the anchors and poles, but by no means should send you into a 10 minute positioning rage. In a mid to heavy wind, it helps if you bury the anchors in the sand. If you take a break from sipping your beer, you may notice that the anchor bag shows signs of dragging in the sand, this would be an indicator that burying the bag is needed. But remember, dig the hole where the bag was, not where it is or behind it, as this will loosen your setup. Again, common sense, dig hole, drop bag, cover.I did notice throughout the day that I had to make a minor tweak to a pole position or two, but I simply very slightly angled the pole AGAINST the direction it looked like it was going to fall, and voila....instant magic - a stable structure. Some reviews are blowing this up - but again, I am willing to make a no-brainer adjustment if necessary in between beers or building sandcastles. This "trade-off" of tweaking doesn't even register on my radar as it happens so infrequently and it's so minor.......compared to watching the plastic washers and spacers bust or crack off the old-style canopies in a heavy wind, killling small children as a rogue wind lifted a four-legged metal spider off the ground, or have the metal bars on the old-style just bend altogether. How many messed up, broken canopies to you see next to the trash cans on the beach? It's like a freakin' cemetery sometimes.Also, if you have a few beach chairs or little kids, this is a great little setup. It is the perfect height to fit your chairs underneath, a cooler, wagon, and small beach mat. If you're expecting to mingle while standing, or have a rave keeping your hands in the air like you just don't care, then go to a club. I also found the way the anchors spread out, creates a buffer for "your area". And, the fact that the anchor lines are black (contrasts most beach sands or other backgrounds), plus the overall really unique design that draws your eyes down to the anchor points, I have a hard time believing this will ever be a tripping hazard, unless you're drunk, trying to tan in the moonlight, or a teenager texting while walking, or a combination of the three. People on the beach also apparently feel you want to "see all that", so this anchor system at least puts them at some sort of distance where you can't see their pulse through their clothes.Take down is a breeze. Take down the poles (10 sec), dump the bags (20 sec), give it a shake, shove it in the bag. I found it was also really easy to rinse off after use.Seriously, just leaving this review makes me want to go use my Neso again.Exactly what I needed to stay cool at the beach. This shade tent is perfect, provides enough shade for me when solo, could probably fit 2 people in chairs but probably too small for 2 people laying down. Can still get tanned under it so wear sunscreen. Really easy to setup and it does help to check wind direction and put up facing the wind. Will probably order the Grande for when more than just me at beach. I love the white, it stands out and I can tell where my spot is from the water. EVERYONE on the beach seems to have the blue so I wanted a different color. I’ll preorder additional poles to prop up the back as well.I'll be honest, when I first bought this I had my doubts. I needed it for 10 days in Oahu in July. It is notoriously hot and breezy in Hawaii in July. I pitched the tent 6 times during the trip on all aspects of the island.First, the necessary particulars.Depending on wind conditions, the deeper you bury the sandbags and poles. Period. If there are any bad reviews based on construction, they simply did not bury deep enough.1) BRING A SMALL SPADE OR SHOVEL!!! It's a must to dig deep. I simply used the shovel from my kid's beach toys.2) Always, aim the front of the tent into the wind. Otherwise, your tent WILL blow over.3) If in windy conditions, have a partner help you lay the material flat on the sand first. Put whatever you can on top to keep the material from blowing away.4) Then begin filling the sandbags to maximum capacity. The heavier the better. Once all four bags are full, stretch them out to make the material taught. In doing so, this will give you a pretty good idea of where the bases of the poles should be dug.5) The tennis balls on top of the poles should be about a foot from the corner of the front material. Now by my experience, if the wind is anywhere close to between 15-20 mph, then the poles need to be dug as deep as the first joint in each pole. The closer to the joint, the better, Any wind 15 mph or lower, the poles can be dug just halfway to the first joint. Once the poles are dug, insert them and slide them under the material with the tennis balls placed one foot from the front corners. Stretch out the sandbags to keep tautness on the pole to prevent it from blowing over, or have a partner hold the poles in place as you fill in the holes with as much sand as you can. Build up the sand around the poles too.6) Once the poles are strongly in place, then begin digging holes for the sandbags as deep as you wish to go. In windy conditions, the deeper the better. Make sure the lines are taught, especially in windy conditions. Bottomline, if in wind, a partner is a must to erect it correctly. In low wind, I did it myself in minutes.Below were my windiest experiences:1) Lanikai Beach. This was the windiest day with intermittent gusts up to 25 mph with rain and black clouds. Weather in Hawaii never lasts long, but the Neso tent held its own. There were times I thought the poles were going to bend or snap, but nope, it held strong.2) Kahala beach. Winds were 15-20 mph with occasional 25 mph gusts. The sand was not quite deep enough where I pitched so it required minor adjustments but never did the structure collapse.3) Sunset beach. Winds 10-12 mph at sunset with occasional rain. It held strong as long as the above rules were followed.So 5 stars all the way. It was bomb-proof and I received many compliments on the structure. For the money, this will last a long long time. For those "structural engineers" that claim this is shoddy, they must have gotten their degree from a crackerjack box, as this is not rocket science. THE WINDIER IT IS, THE DEEPER YOU MUST DIG.Enjoy, and hope this helps.Our carrying bag broke within two uses, otherwise we love this shade!I spend a several weeks every winter in the caribbean & need to limit my sun exposure. Until now, I have always used a beach umbrella, but they are difficult to use in Caribbean winds and the shade area they create is relatively small. This product solved both problems. Plus, it is small enough to pack in a suitcase & only weighs 4 lbs. I had an issue with a seam splitting in the bottom of the carrying bag, and even though it was past the warranty period, Neso sent me a new bag - outstanding service. Watch the video they have for great suggestions for setting up in wind. I find rocks plus sand fill work better than sand alone in high winds. I use hiking poles as 2 additional poles to increase the shade area. I highly recommend the product & the company, Neso.We are a family of 3, beach lovers and tired of buying umbrellas and we were tired of throwing it away at the end of each holiday (Save the planet and all...) We did not use the bag it comes in as we were travelling with only hand luggage. The poles fitted nicely in the hand luggage and the thick and soft fabric folds however you want. We used our back pack to carry it to and from the beach.At first we thought it would be oversized but when we used on the beach we found it to be perfect, however you do need a good space and also it blocks the view from whoever is behind you. Once you understand how to use, it is quick and easy to set up. You can change the length of the cords securing the tent making it easy to adjust as the sun moves and the shade changes position and it gives a great protection from the sun.Easy to clean as the fabric or the poles don't hold any sand.Returning home we washed in the washing machine and line dried the fabric and wiped down the poles.Fabric and poles feels of good quality materials and we believe it will see many travels on its life.We really recommend this tent and will definitely continue to use it.Great concept but... 1. you need lots of space and 2. low / one directional wind. On crowded beaches we found it was impossible to set up due to sheer size. When wind was gusty / changed direction it was a nightmare and collapsed on so many occasions we gave up. Yes we tried with 2 and 4 poles and adding a ton of weigh to the bags but to be honest I think the canopy either needs vents for wind to pass through or the poles need some sort of anchoring or cross bracing. It's fairly meaty to carry to / from the beach so the bag could've come with a simple shoulder strap rather than unnecessarily long draw string... bag also tore after 3rd day. Concept good, execution needs a V2. We'll persist on non wind days because it was expensive but I recommend only with a bit of a health warning... all above meant as constructive criticismUsed this on our recent holiday to Corsica and our lovely big shade drew lots of admiring attention from other tourists.Ok some practical stuff - I had a medium-sized suitcase for our holiday and this fitted pretty well without taking up too much valuable space for clothes and shoes! It's got a carrying case and strap which made it super easy to get to and from the beach. The first day we were on the beach it was quite windy and we hadn't filled the sand anchors with anywhere near enough sand, so it wasn't very structurally stable inititally. Once we filled them till they were virtually bursting at the seams we were sorted and the shade held up in the wind pretty well. It's definitely a two person job to put up though, I'm not sure it would have been very easy to put up on my own. It provided a much more shade for two people than most of the parasols we saw people with on the beach, and it packs down much smaller than a parasol too. The beach we were on wasn't particularly crowded, but if it had been the shade might have been a bit of a challenge as it has quite a large footprint due to the sand anchors needing to be stretched out from the main fabric shade.I didn't give it 5-stars because I don't think it's particularly good value for money. I could have made one myself with relative ease! Essentially it's a large piece of lycra fabric with some reinforced eyelets on each corner. There are cords coming off the corners and the 'sand anchors' are constructed like drawstring bags attatched to this cord (also made of lycra). The two aluminum poles are very similar to tent poles and have a small 'foot' at the bottom and a high-density foam ball at the top a little smaller than a tennis ball, which you stetch the fabric over.We like the wild beach kind of holiday, and always found the need for self-made shade to hide under during the peak harmful sun hours. After years of trying different pop-up tents and umbrellas, we finally decided to splurge on this rather expensive item, and we're so happy we did.It's super compact, easy to setup and pack up again, has minimum parts to assemble, and very cleverly designed. You really do have to stretch it while it's flat to make it work the best!The material is pleasant to touch, and super easy to fold back into the carry bag. The poles are stable enough to stay upright even in mild wind, although we had some troubles with the side wind, but nothing a few more stones in the bags and digging the poles deeper into the ground couldn't solve. The pole positioning can really affect the stability and the amount of both the shade that it creates and the space under it.We really did like the airiness of the shade this tent provides - you still get all the breeze, with all the protection. The material also blocks out the UV, and it's a massive added bonus.We also used it to extend the cover on the boat, and didn't put it down for the ride back, and this tent held up - so bonus points for durability!Overall, it's a fantastic piece of holiday equipment, and is an absolute must have on wild beaches. It's not cheap, but it's worth every penny.