This works great on the beach. I have used metal ones in the past and they rust, break, and are heavy to carry. The metal ones also scratch up your umbrella poles. This is made of a very strong plastic and very light weight. Because it's plastic NO rusting and No scratching up your umbrella poles! I've used it in all types of beach sand from Florida with very dense shell peices all through out the sand to Lake Superior in the UP of Michigan which has lots of rocks in the sand. It holds up under strong winds also. I've used mine for about 5 years and it has never broken. I'm going to buy another one only because I like to put up 2 umbrellas at a time.
