Rainy days are only fun or romantic when you stay in your cozy home with loved ones without having to travel to another side of the city. The worst is when you get caught in the rain and up getting drenched or stuck under a shelter.
But even when you’re prepared, it can still be annoying. Your umbrella keeps you out of the rain. How well it does that depends on how badly it rains. Define bad? Try using an umbrella when it rains sideways. And when you get out of the rain, the umbrella keeps dripping endlessly. And the wind. It toys you by turning your umbrella inside out.
If you pack a raincoat, your shoes might still get wet. And have to deal with slippery floors. All these annoying details is a step towards a more pragmatic me. I want the world to see me as the romantic who loves a nice cuppa, sitting by the window. Reading a book while the rain patters on the window pane.
Well, maybe I’m not as romantic as I thought. However, it is always delightful to see products that try to get rid of some of these annoyances. KAZbrella Compact falls under this category.
The campaign calls it the “Patented Drip Free Umbrella” and that got my attention. Of course, the marketing side of me started gearing up the skeptic engine to shoot down marketing spin.
Wonder if this is for you? Read on
(No, of course I’m not trying to get your attention for the rest of the article. I only want to help. :p)
What is it
KAZ Designs designed the original KAZbrella in 2015 as a patented drip-free umbrella that prevents you from getting wet on a rainy day. It uses a clever reverse folding mechanism to keep the dry part of the umbrella outside when folded so it will always be dry to hold and not drip all over the floor.
It keeps the wet part of the umbrella inside, and collect the water in the umbrella instead of letting it drip down.
As much as I hate being dry, rainy days are the exception. KAZbrella Compact is a smaller version that you can bring wherever you go. The original KAZbrella is great if you are one of those people who would enjoy carrying a huge umbrella singing in the rain. But not all of us are Gene Kelly and we prefer to keep our umbrellas in our bags instead.
What problem does it solve
Who would have thought that staying dry would be a problem in an age when men struggle to turn me on? Isn’t it called global warming? Why is it getting wetter? Most importantly, it is raining so suddenly and so heavily in recent times that I’ve been caught out with just my phone and my trusty umbrella in my bag in the office or at home.
Luckily my phone and I are both somewhat waterproof. But unlike my phone, I’m not that immune to the shame of walking back into the office dripping wet. Nah, I don’t care about that colleague that says, “Oh, you finally got wet!”
The puddles of water I left in the office will make her slip and regret her words. I just feel bad for creating more work for the cleaner. Imagine if we had a drip-free umbrella!
This is where KAZbrella tries to solve a common problem. Dripping umbrellas. We won’t need to have a place to keep our wet umbrellas and let them drip dry. We also won’t waste plastic bags that are used to carry wet umbrellas indoors.
Another pain on rainy days is the distance between you and the car. Who said the longest distance in the world is standing before someone you love and they are oblivious to your love?
You are right next to your car. Your umbrella kept you dry and you’ll stay dry in the car. Perfect. Except, the moment you close the umbrella and you stepping into the car, it rains the heaviest. It happens to me all the time! I probably pissed off the rain god by staying dry, and getting into the car was the perfect opening to kill my mood. Ironically, by getting me wet.
KAZbrella’s reverse folding mechanism lets you close the umbrella in confine spaces. This means you can step into the car and close the umbrella while you’re in the car. And the drip-free design of KAZbrella means it won’t wet the inside of the car.
Now, if only we had drip-free shoes…
Who is it for
This umbrella is designed for everyone for their rainy situations. It might have been designed for the British weather in mind.
If the KAZbrella Compact is designed and developed in the world capital of rain, then I think we can be sure that it has been pretty thoroughly tested. In fact, it is probably designed by people who are the most familiar with rain and its inconveniences.
We know EVA raincoats are a thing nowadays. But umbrellas are equally convenient. Especially one that can withstand strong winds and is easy to open/close without water dripping around.
On every rainy day, if I had to go out for errands or work, I bring a plastic bag with me. So, I can put in my wet umbrella and not make the floors a wet mess. No plastic bags would look good and they are not friendly to the environment, either. Guilt finds me and asks me to find a new solution.
And some bags get tiny holes in them and I become an indoor rainmaker. I’ll be lucky if I was carrying the bag. If I chucked the plastic bag with the umbrella in my bag… I’m not going to talk about the nasty surprise of opening my bag and finding it wet.
I had given it a thought as to how we can improve the design of existing umbrellas. But I’m not one of the smart ones, nothing came to mind. Didn’t expect to have met KAZbrella Compact which fulfilled my long-held ‘fantasy’.
Is it innovative
The original KAZbrella is innovative. Look at the number of copies that have sprung up. There is a demand for an inverted umbrella because it solves a pain point many people face. KAZbrella Compact steps it up with a several more innovative features besides being a smaller version of the KAZbrella.
Both the KAZbrella Compact and its larger counterpart Compact Plus come with the patented locking mechanism. If you read our articles enough, you know what we think of patents. We want to see proof of patent ownership. Saying something is patented is a marketing trick that we dislike.
This locking mechanism clicks tight to prevent the canopy from flopping open, and this in turn prevents rainwater dripping out. I would assume you have to keep it upright. Turn it upside down and water will still drip out.
The KAZbrella Compact is dry to hold, as mentioned earlier. It keeps the dry part outside so you can hold it without having your hands get wet. It calls itself wind-friendly, meaning you are less likely to have the umbrella turn upside down when the wind blows.
It also opens in confined spaces. We talked about this in detail earlier so I won’t elaborate further here.
Is it worth it
When I get excited about one product, I tend to pay higher than what it’s worth.
KAZbrella Compact is selling at $59 on Kickstarter. We’re not sure if the price remains the same after the Kickstarter campaign ends. You have a choice of 5 colours, black, peacock blue, saffron yellow, racing green, and maroon.
Inverted umbrellas and reverse umbrellas sell for around $20 to $40 on Amazon. They are cheaper and readily available for shipping. KAZbrella Compact should ship in December 2021 and cost a bit more.
Is it worth paying that extra bit for KAZbrella Compact’s features? That is your prerogative.
Personally, I would pay more partly because KAZ Designs is trying to improve people’s quality of life and the imitations seems to be leeching off their innovation.They definitely deserve our support and the price different is not that great compared to other Kickstarter projects we’ve seen.
Are there any alternatives
Yes. KAZbrella has been out since 2015 and there are many copies since.
You can find many inverted umbrellas and reverse umbrellas on Amazon. Many of them are large umbrellas that iterate based on the KAZbrella design. For example, this Sharpty Inverted umbrella sells at $24.99.
We did find the LANBRELLA going for $25.99 that is the closest to the KAZbrella Compact.
Of course, raincoats are an option too. We wrote about an EVA raincoat before.
Conclusion
Umbrellas are nothing complex. But a user-friendly one can save your day. KAZbrella is a good choice. But it is not the only choice. Umbrellas or embracing the rain, your choices are wide open. You can even choose to dance in the rain holding a closed umbrella and we won’t judge.
The world is full of crazies anyway.
In fact, we are dedicating one-fifth of our products of the crazies. Stay tuned for some amazing Black Friday products. You might fancy some of the quirky ones. 😝)
Hi, I’m Rainee.
I’m a reindeer that identifies as a bear. I’m the Critical Bear that does standup comedy.
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