Maybe I'm just getting old, but I honestly can't remember a hotter summer than the one we're experiencing now.  Of course, I'm not so sure I don't say that every year.  The point is, that when the sun is baking outside, finding a prime piece of shade is crucial to staying cool and protecting ourselves too.

My family has a 10' x 10' portable canopy which we tote around anytime we frequent the beach, the park or any other outdoor venue where we'll be for an extended period of time.  This canopy works great at providing a vast amount of shade, but only when the sun is directly overhead.  Once the sun starts to sink in the sky, so does the amount of shade we receive from our canopy.

EzShade is a UPF 50+ Sidewall that attaches to your portable canopy so as to block 99% of UVA and UVB rays on one side.  I recently had the chance to review this summer time item.  Keep reading to learn more!

The EzShade UPF 50+ Sidewall from Solar Eclipz is an extremely lightweight and portable curtain that attaches to one side of your 10' x 10' canopy for superior protection against the sun's harmful rays.  Now, instead of chasing the shade, you can immediately make much more of your own in conjunction with your portable canopy.  The EzShade is extremely lightweight, weighing in at only 20 ounces, and comes complete with its own travel sack for easy storage and portability.

Not only will the EzShade protect you and your loved ones from a greater amount of the sun's rays, it can also act as a wind shield thanks to the adjustable pocket along the bottom.  This pocket is made by attaching the hook and loop tape pieces together in whatever length you'd like and then adding any number of items inside the pocket so as to weigh the EzShade curtain down.  Just because it's windy outside, doesn't mean that the outdoor fun has to end!

When I received the EzShade, I was very excited to get out our own 10' x 10' portable canopy and start setting it up, but I was disappointed at what was required.  Before you can ever use the EzShade, you must actually adhere hook and loop tape in EXACTLY THE RIGHT PLACES to one side of your own canopy.  "Starting from the center of your EzShade, peel the backing from the loose hook strip and attach it to the center of the interior sidewall of the canopy.

Remember to work from the center of your canopy outwards...  Press firmly to ensure that each hook strip adheres fully to the fabric.  Avoid touching the sticky side of the hook strips so as not to interfere with adhesion.  FOR BEST RESULTS WAIT 8 HOURS BEFORE USE."

That's where I have to admit that they lost me.  Although I love the idea of the EzShade, I do not love how the top portion of the curtain is designed to adhere to your canopy.  I also do not like how you are supposed to set up your canopy, carefully and precisely attach the hook and loop tape to your own canopy material and then wait 8 hours for it to cure.  In my opinion, this just isn't realistic, at least not for me.

I would rather the EzShade come with metal grommets and clips along the top so that attaching the top portion of the curtain would be as easy as clipping it temporarily to the canopy material.  This way, if you want to move the EzShade for any reason, it couldn't be simpler to do and there wouldn't be any setup to have to complete before using it for the first time.

As you can see from the pictures above, I attached the EzShade to my canopy using only the side straps and found that very little of the top was left exposed anyway.  This is still a great solution to creating your own shade in conjunction with a 10' x 10' portable canopy and I recommend using it.  I'm happy knowing that with the EzShade, the amount of protection and shade our canopy can provide just DOUBLED!  Now anytime we tote our outdoor canopy along, we'll make sure to bring the EzShade too!

Additional EzShade Products: