This is a tricky review to write. The rods themselves are nice. I ordered five in all. Three were 88-144 inch and two were 48-88 inch. The problem is the hardware -- both the wall mounted support brackets, onto which the rod connectors are rested, and the hardware that attaches them (that is, the screws and the hollow wall anchors) are poorly engineered.
The piece that is screwed to the wall is too short. This is part of the problem, because once installed, with the rod support brackets in place, it becomes obvious that the part anchored to the wall only goes half way up the main connection. The result is that as soon as any weight is added to the rod, it pulls forward, putting strain on the top screw, which then pulls from the wall, no matter what anchor is used.
I tried the supplied anchors, but they are too short, and also a very brittle plastic that really doesn't have the correct properties for this particular job. Additionally, the screws are too short. Not liking what I saw after installing one support, I used much better quality hollow wall anchors and considerably longer and heftier screws for the other two brackets. Nevertheless, as soon as any weight was added to the rod, the bracket, pulled away from the wall.
There is a certain Swedish company that makes a similar design of a bracket that goes on the wall, and then the rod is attached to the bracket. The difference is that the part attached to the wall covers the full height of the bracket, and the rod is then attached in a way that puts the weight below the anchoring top screw, not above it. The pressure forward is therefore avoided, because the weight goes down, not out and down.
In all, the real problem with these Umbra rods is the mounting hardware -- and even if better quality anchors and screws are used, the basic flaw of the weight pulling in a way that puts stress on the bracket remains.
A re-engineering of these rods to have a bracket that supports the full size of the end unit, and supplying quality hardware both in size and heft would resolve the issues.
Until then, unless you will be using these for light curtains (that is, sheers -- not drapes), or generally very light weight drapes, I can't recommend these rods.
Too bad, because they do look very nice. However, I returned all five rods because short of adding additional supports that pull upward, to counter the downward tension, there is no way to really install these effectively.
| Productafmetingen | 139.7 x 13.03 x 5.72 cm; 566.99 gram |
|---|---|
| Itemgewicht | 1.25 Pond |
| Stoftype | metaal |
| Door fabrikant aanbevolen maximumgewicht | 22 Pond |
| Finish | Nickel |
| Montage vereist | Nee |
| Aantal stuks/onderdelen | 1 |
| Batterijen vereist | Nee |
| Accessoires/onderdelen | Dubbele gordijnstang; montagemateriaal |
| Gegarandeerde software-updates tot | unknown |
