This might sound stupid, but can you recommend me a good, foldable umbrella?

I just moved to Taipei and man, the weather sucks.

My old umbrella is broken, and now I’m looking for a big and sturdy foldable umbrella so I don’t need to replace it every 2 months.

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Rainstory store, 1st floor QSquare, close to the entrance to the MRT.

Self foldable, guaranteed repair, sturdy built, plenty of colors and sizes.

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Never buy an umbrella in Taiwan. They always get lost and the MRT’s lost and found will simply place it in the 愛心傘 pile. Basically it’s a pile with umbrella that you can just take in case it rains (it’s usually empty unfortunately).

Or if you are going to buy an umbrella don’t spend too much for it.

Aren’t all umbrellas foldable…?

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This must be the worst advice ever given on here, especially this year.

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OK, I can answer this one!

After much experimentation with umbrellas of varying quality, I can happily endorse a Taiwanese brand called Leighton. They make simple, compact, light, foldable, and durable umbrellas. They are not cheap (around the mid- to high- NT$600 range for my preferred compact model), but at least they last. And if there’s any problem, including rips, they will fix it, with no extra charge.

These guys have small vendors scattered around Taipei City, but the one that I think is easiest to access and quite well stocked is in the underground shopping mall directly beneath the Red Line, in the section of the mall between Zhongshan MRT Station and Shuanglian MRT Station (it’s closer to the latter; if you approach it from Shuanglian Station, the shop will be on your left; if you approach it from Zhongshan Station, it’ll be on your right).

I hope this helps.

Guy

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Your advice is to never buy an umbrella in a country that rains all the time because you can take one for free in the MRT lost and found which is usually empty?

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Decathlon.

You expect him to fly overseas and buy one?

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And then not use it in Taiwan anyway because they “always get lost”. (No they don’t, and if they do it’s user error not the fault of the umbrella’s origin.)

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I buy these, 米家自動折疊傘 - 小米台灣官網 , they’re big, push button open and close and NT$500. I find them reliable if a little heavy, my wife has broken a few of them but I’ve yet to break one so I guess it depends on how you treat them :slight_smile: .

If you tend to frequently lose umbrellas and/or have them stolen outside 7-11 then just buy the NT$99 ones in your local market and throw them away when they get wonky, or knock yourself out on https://shopee.tw/search?keyword=疊傘&page=0&sortBy=sales

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I get the “if” clause here, but really the wonky aspect of cheap umbrellas led to my quest with results detailed above.

I just hate the waste and the annoyance of having to replace these basic things!

Guy

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With you there, I buy reasonably good ones as I don’t lose them or break them, those that do (ahem my wife) should just stick with the wonky cheapo ones.

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I don’t think you’ll get @Marco walking around with a Xiaomi umbrella. :sweat_smile:

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Another contender could be the following suggestion to rely on the free umbrella pile that is usually empty :rofl:

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Yeah, that’s where I get mine from. Whenever one breaks, I usually just wait for a rainy day then follow @Taiwan_Luthiers around until he goes into a convenience store. :whistle:

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Since you’re going to be using it every day, it seems, why not get something nice?

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Yep nope.

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That . . . is not cheap. :neutral_face:

Guy

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It wasnt a serious suggestion. I dont buy expensive umbrellas because they are easy to forget. And in places like Bangkok or Taipei, it’s easy to just take a chance sometimes and grab a cheap umbrella if needed. I have two right now, a long gentleman’s umbrella from Poya and the smallest one available at the first place i passed when it started raining in ximen last visit