I live in the UK, so I have some experience of rain and using umbrellas. I like the idea of arriving home and not getting the floor soaking wet. However, most of the problems it describes are not problems I experience. My umbrella problems:

* Walking in the wind - when it's blustery, I get blown all over the place. Even if the umbrella is strong enough to withstand the wind, it's difficult to walk with one.

* I frequently lose my umbrella, which is why I wouldn't pay more than £5 for one. I often leave it on public transport or at someone's house. At work, people also have a tendency to 'borrow' my umbrella permanently.

* If I'm walking anything more than a mile, holding an umbrella the whole way can be annoying, but I don't want to be an uber-nerd with an umbrella attached to my head. I want something that does the job of an umbrella for the price of an umbrella but looks like a hat or coat.

Failing that, I'll stick with a £5 umbrella from the supermarket.

The things that do the job of an umbrella while looking like a hat or coat are actually just hats and coats.

A quality cowboy hat, sou'wester, or fedora (an actual fedora, not a fashion-accessory trilby masquerading as one) made of water-resistant fur-felt, oilskin, or leather, and a prairie duster, slicker, poncho, or trench coat, made from similarly waterproofed materials, cover just about every use case where umbrellas fail.

The umbrella is actually not much use except when you are just walking from one sheltered area to another, and don't need to actually do anything in the rain. For that, I can ignore all of the minor problems with cheap umbrellas, because I consider them as semi-disposable convenience items.

If I ever thought I needed a truly fine-quality umbrella, I'd spend that money on a nice hat instead.