Lewis N. Clark Umbrella Review
Cons: More metal joints make it slightly less durable than more expensive models with fiberglass
Manufacturer: Lewis N. Clark
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Lewis N Clark is an umbrella that you will be stoked to take with you on your myriad travels and adventures, urban, suburban, and even out in the wild.
Performance Comparison
Rain Protection
The Lewis N Clark provides decent rain protection, similar to other compact models in this review. It is pretty hard for a telescoping umbrella to compete with fixed shaft products for depth and diameter. In our OGL Rain Test, a few raindrops hit us above the elbow and at the upper thigh.
The lightweight and slightly more open canopy (when compared to the fixed shaft umbrellas) does make this product catch the wind a bit more quickly. However, that is a cost that is balanced out by the compact size and ultralight weight of only 10 ounces.
Ease of Transport
The Lewis N Clark is a top-scoring compact umbrella in this metric. It is as lightweight as the trekking models, even at an affordable price point.
Impressively, despite the durable structure, the Lewis N Clark weighs just 10 ounces. This makes it small, light, and easy to throw into your bag and, pull out in a sudden downpour.
Durability
The Lewis N Clark is impressively durable despite all of its moving parts. It has sturdy metal ribs, a 3-fold chrome-plated steel shaft, and lightweight and flexible fiberglass tips. This was a feature common to the more durable-but-affordable umbrellas in this review: the fiberglass bends back into place much better than metal, so having fiberglass for the whole frame of the umbrella is best, but the tips (the third and outermost leg of the collapsible models) are the most important. The frame of the Lewis N Clark is rust- and corrosion-resistant, and the sleeve is mold resistant.
In our OGL Wind Test, the Lewis N Clark could handle winds up to 40 mph, which was very impressive. It inverted easily around 15 mph. Importantly, the umbrella was harder to close after withstanding the 40 mph winds, and the joints on the ribs were tweaky. After opening and closing a few times, the hinges sorted themselves out and it performed normally again. If you're looking for the best durability, check out the simpler, straight shaft umbrella.
The Lewis N Clark has a unique button that opens and closes the canopy. This feature functions well; it is tight and smooth. However, with heavy use, this adds more breaking risk than a simple auto open feature, and certainly much more risk to long term durability than a straight shaft, manual umbrella. Tension on the button for the auto close feature leads us to question whether that can grind down and become unusable--but realistically this seems to be durable enough to otherwise outlast the umbrella.
An interesting and related side note: when closing the button to collapse the canopy, if we then decided to redeploy manually (without collapsing the telescoping shaft and hitting the button again), the canopy would not lock into place. Additionally, if we wanted to deploy the canopy manually, the shaft would not extend and the canopy would, again, not lock into place. This makes the product heavily reliant on that button for use. We were grateful it seemed smooth and durable, but concerned for the longevity of those features.
As with most umbrellas, there are reports of breakages, but mostly, it seems, practically out-of-the-box. This indicates that failures may be due to manufacturing defects and less due to design flaws or wear and tear. Going beyond the excellent performance in our several months of testing, we hear rumors of this product lasting for years compared to a mere handful of months for bargain drug store models. The Lewis N Clark is an otherwise "ordinary" umbrella that outlasts and outperforms drug store cheapos, and threatens to dethrone the much more expensive trekking rain shelters if not for a few simple features like the 2/3 metal canopy frame.
Ease of Use
The Lewis N Clark is an excellent, versatile umbrella. It was easy to deploy and collapse due to that awesome dual-function button (many buttons deploy but do not collapse). You still have to collapse the shaft manually, but we loved that we could "remotely" collapse the canopy, especially in crowds. This allowed us to make a graceful dismount from a busy city street, without having to wrangle the canopy through a busy crowd to grab the runner and collapse the canopy by hand. The rubberized handle feels nice in hand and provides a solid grip when wet.
We did feel that the canopy is a bit slow to deploy, and hesitates a bit as it clicks into the open position, but it was always smooth and remained unchanged from the beginning to the end of our testing period.
Style
The Lewis N Clark is not a fashionable accessory, but it does come in a variety of colors, and the quality manufacturing is recognizable, especially in the way it holds up and doesn't get bent easily. It is neat, tidy, well-made and durable, which improves style points: no one likes the look of a half-broken, lopsided umbrella.
But if that's not stylish enough for you, it is also compact, so you can hide it in your backpack, briefcase, purse, messenger bag, shoulder bag, etc. The Lewis N Clark is a standard compact design that will fly under the radar: it isn't too flashy - unless you buy a bright color.
Value
The Lewis N Clark claims to be one of the "#1 selling travel umbrellas online." Our research supports this claim as a very popular travel model, and our tests confirm that it is an excellent choice for your various rainy escapades. It's price is more than fair for its performance, and we would readily recommend this model to our friends.
Conclusion
The Lewis N Clark is simple, light, and compact. It looks like a fairly standard, store-bought umbrella, but it holds up and performs far better. It is well-made and easy to use, with no-frills, and it that provides some of the best rain protection for its compact size and low weight. And priced low, there is no wonder this is exceedingly popular among travelers.
— Lyra Pierotti