The Badger Overnighter Oval Umbrella

Equally many of you will be aware of some of the controversy surrounding this company, with rival companies doing their best to rubbish the products it sells.Like many others I am wary of buying goods by mail order and especially when the price of those goods is so apparently low. Therefore, like many people, I have reserved my judgement on this firm and it’s products.

In the end I needn’t have worried as when I, like many others, actually got my hands on some of their stuff at the NEC I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of many of the products.

One item in particular caught my eye and that was the Overnighter Oval Umbrella.

In terms of angling shelters it could be argued that we have never had it so good with the current market awash with all manner of different bivvy systems. They are available to us at all manner of price ranges with each system having its own advantages and drawbacks.

Amongst short session anglers and those who prefer a mobile approach to their style of angling, umbrella systems have remained very popular. Also, they are often a practical answer on waters where dome-type bivvies are banned.

The development of the oval brolly with built in storm sides brought an additional degree of shelter and comfort and these have remained popular despite being expensive with an average price of around £ 120.

However, Badger have broken the price barrier in a big way with their new oval brolly – so what’s the catch?

Ready for a clip-in groundsheet

It is quick and easy to erect, the whole process, including pegging out, is done in the matter of a couple of minutes. As with all these system the centre pole is removed once the brolly is up and pegged out leaving loads of room underneath.

To aid stability the brolly is provided with fitted storm-caps on the two centre top ribs and good quality storm poles are available from Badger at £ 13.99 a pair.I have chosen to add a further pair of storm caps to the ribs that are above each of the storm sides and these can be bought as an extra for £ 9.99. Fitting these is very simple and only takes five minutes. Although not essential by any means, they are a useful extra.

We had a lot of fun subjecting the brolly to the hosepipe test to check for water tightness and after half an hour of blasting the brolly on full pressure the only sign of water ingress was at a couple of points where the elastic sheaths have been fitted to house the tips of the brolly’s ribs where the stitching hadn’t been sealed. The amount of ingress was only a drop and it is right on the outer rim and therefore shouldn’t affect anyone. The problem is the same on any brolly that uses this sheath system to house the ends of the ribs. Needless to say that a quick wipe of seam sealer cured it! I don’t want to overplay this point as in reality nobody would be affected by it and I’m just being super critical.

An interesting little addition is the fitting of three ladder lock points on the skirt of the brolly, which will allow for the fitting of a clip-in ground sheet at some point in the future.

I feel that this product will be a big seller for Badger as it really does provide a quick and convenient shelter option for the session angler at very reasonable cost.