Buy the Biggest You Can Afford

Posted by Koren on 6th Jul 2015

This giant spinner comes in its own storage bag. It includes a ground stake, a three piece pole and the spinner parts (3 sails, 3 small poles (one for each sail) and the main rotator ring on an "L" shaped metal rod), and a one page instruction sheet.

They're very easy to put together:

1. Slide a small pole into the side of each sail, ensuring it's in all the way to the very top.

2. Insert a sail's pole end into a black rotator hole, and then pull its bottom pre-knotted bungee cord's end through the hole below, and next to, where you inserted the pole. You'll need to stretch the cord to slip either 1, 2, or all 3 knots through, and then ensure it stays by pulling up so a knot is caught in the slit.

3. Repeat for the other 2 sails, skipping every other hole so they're all evenly spaced.

4. For each sail, take its side bungee cord (pre-looped), slide its cord through its loop so you have a noose you can place over the adjacent sail's side knot. Tighten this noose so it won't come loose.

5. Repeat for the other two sails. Be careful now: if it's windy, it will begin to spin! I'd place it on the ground until the pole is ready.

6. For the pole, you must first get the ground stake into the ground at least halfway - 1.5 feet. Use a 6 inch piece of board placed stop the ground stake to protect it when you strike it with a hammer/mallet to get it into the ground.

7. Once in place put together the pole by snapping the graduated pieces together.

8. Once done, take the spinner (again be careful of spinning sails), and insert the metal end into the corresponding hole atop the pole, and then lift the entire piece and place the open end of the pole over the ground stake.

9. Stand back, and away; it should begin spinning if there is the least bit if wind.

Now, it really is beautiful when it spins at a uniform rate, (as promised in this item's description). But in my case, there seemed to be no "Governor". It spun according to the wind. So the faster the wind, the faster it spins, and that created a problem (I quickly found out).

Remember the bungee cords, those elastic cords? Well, when the sails spin centrifugal force pushes them outward, away from the central hub, but the bungee cords hold them in place. However, when the centrifugal force is greater than the strength of the bungee cord, the sail's pole lifts out of its hole on the central hub and, well it basically self destructs. But wait, this is really a good thing, for without this "self destruct mechanism" it would spin so fast it could actually break, tear, or even seriously harm someone.

Now at first I had only pulled one knot through on the cord holding in each sail's pole, and the spinner would self destruct in a 5 mph wind. I had to pull all 3 knots through for it to hold up better where i have it - now it only self destructs when wind speed gets near 15 mph (not the 20 they stated).

The question is, do these really have governors to restrict the spin? I don't know because mine spins according to wind speed; totally unrestricted!

Do i still like it? Of course, it's so beautiful when its spinning, and the rainbow sails are bright, colorful, and make a statement. I bought this as an Anniversary present for my husband and myself. The date: June 26th, 2012. On our first anniversary SCOTUS struck down the main parts of DOMA. This year, on our third anniversary, SCOTUS ruled in favor of nationwide Same-Sex Marriage. It's fitting that we display the Rainbow to our neighbors, especially since most of them know that we're a Same-sex couple, and that we've been together for over 25 years.

Another big plus is because of the Storage bag: you can take this spinner to family gatherings - picnics and the beach - you'll just need something in the ground to put the pole over.

My only regret? I wish I had bought a larger one!