When you are in the market for a brand new garden parasol, you might be surprised by the prices that they are available for. The cheapest ones are often available for as little as Ј15 or so – and this is referring to the proper, full size parasols that are suitable for a table built for four people.
At the other end of the scale you have garden parasols that are sold for something in the region of a hundred pounds – perhaps even as much as two hundred pounds. So what is the difference? You are probably thinking there is no point splashing out a couple of hundred pounds when just fifteen would do the job – but there is more to this than initially meets the eye.
For starters some parasols are bigger than others. While a two metre one (measuring across the widest span of the parasol) is fairly standard and easily available, you can also get parasols which are as big as three and a half metres across.
Now obviously if you have a bigger garden table you will want to have a bigger parasol to go with it. This alone will entail spending a bit more money. If you try and cut down on costs and get a smaller parasol to use with a big table, you will have two problems to contend with. Firstly you will find that a small parasol might actually look a bit silly with a big table! But secondly and certainly most importantly the parasol itself won’t be able to cover the people sitting around the table.
Of course this is always a little bit ‘hit and miss’ anyway, depending on the position of the sun. But the larger the parasol is, the more likely it is that more people will be covered by the position of the parasol. In this sense you will certainly appreciate paying that bit more for a bigger and better parasol when you start using it. Don’t be too tempted by what appears to be a bargain!
The other thing you need to bear in mind is the quality of the parasol you are buying. They should be treated to prevent fading by the sun, and also to prevent UV rays coming through and affecting the people sitting underneath it. But needless to say this may not be the case with a cheaper model. This is just one more reason why you can see the benefits of spending a bit more on a decent garden parasol, instead of getting the cheapest one you can find. As with everything you can buy very cheap if you want to – but it probably won’t last anywhere near as long if you do.
Of course you don’t have to go for the most expensive parasol either. Sometimes they will be designer items that are perhaps priced higher because of this. But regardless of how much you end up spending, it is usually wise not to pick the cheapest one of all.