Recommendations for Cheap, plastic uke for adventures

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Czhorat

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When I'm heading out to the beach, the park, or another adventure I typically bring a little bag of juggling props.
IMG_20200419_141941.jpg

(see image for bag and contents)

What I'm considering is getting a low-cost plastic soprano uke to drag along with this stuff. It'll accompany me to the beach, parks, or a quick visit to family. I also drag the whole thing outside everyday and hang off the playset so it's ready for a quick morning juggle after a nice walk.

I've seen mixed reviews of the Kala Waterman (that dipping bridge scares me!), the Bugsgear Aqualele (I love the funky looks of this one - it's an early leader), and the Woodi. I've also seen a line of plastic ones from Beaver Creek but can't find anything from anyone who'se played them.

Anyone have tried one or more of these (or something else!) and want to recommend it? I don't want to part with the coin for an Outdoor Uke; I'd rather have a cheaper one and keep the extra eighty bucks or so.
 
I don't know of their availability in the US (presuming you are in the US?) but the flight travel series of ukuleles are really great. I have the regular soprano and it's loud, completely ABS except for the soundboard and sounds pretty good! https://flightmusic.com/product-category/by-series/travel/ and they are really cheap.

Relevant review: https://www.gotaukulele.com/2018/04/flight-tus50-travel-soprano-review.html

I find mine a little harder to play as I'm used to a Tenor but it's the perfect throw-in-a-bag uke for out and about and I have no concerns about it getting damaged at all.
 
That looks nice, but I was looking for all plastic, so if I left it out in the rain or took it to the pool I'd not have to worry about it getting wet.

My nephew already dropped on Nintendo Switch into the swimming pool; if he did the same with my travel uke I'd like to be able to fish it out, wipe the tuners dry, and play on
 
The Kala Waterman ukes are all plastic and also cheap. Judging by comments, the quality can be a bit dodgy though. Personally, I would go for the Enya Nova U if I was after a fully synthetic ukulele. It's much better quality than the Waterman and not that much more expensive.
 
I have a Waterman that I got for similar reasons. I went through three of them before I found one that sounded halfway decent. If you can find a decent sounding one, they're okay, but barely worth the price in my opinion. I got a concert; I thought the sopranos sounded worse.

One thing to keep in mind is, none of these ukuleles is really waterproof, despite being plastic, because of the tuners. If you leave one in the rain or it goes in the pool or ocean, I think you're going to have problems. I don't know if there anyone makes a waterproof uke.
 
All plastic ukes have metal tuners.

My favourite is the concert made by clearwater, korala, brunswick and probably several others. They're OK.



If any of these ukes get really hot (like left inside a car in sunshine), the necks will bend.

A cheap plywood thing is probably as good in your case. If it breaks, get another.
 
I think it depends on your definition of "cheap". Based on your description of intended use and want for some thing that sounds good as well, I'd recommend an Outdoor ukulele. Like the Enya Nova U (concert-sized) the Outdoor is made completely of polycarbonate and they come in soprano or tenor sizes. The only metal is the tuning pegs and gears.

[As an aside, if there's a chance your tuners may get wet I'd recommend putting a drop of bicycle chain lube on the gears and detuning them so you can get a full turn of the gears. Then anytime it gets wet, dry it off and re-apply]

I have a Blue Outdoor Soprano for my take-anywhere ukulele, and I'm not afraid of leaving it in my car (in Florida). I also have a Kala Waterman and the upgrade in sound with the Outdoor is worth the slight upgrade in price. It's worth a look.
 
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I completely agree with Swiftsailor98 above.

You know what is really expensive is spending any amount of money on something you don’t like the sound, feel and playability of because you won’t use it or enjoy.

In the grand scheme of things paying $100 for an Outdoor Uke is peanuts if you plan to be playing ukulele outside for the next 5 years or more. I refuse to play an instrument that I don’t like the sound of, life is way too short.
 
Bill1 said:
If you want a cheap uke, that is fair enough. However, if you are not going to get the uke wet, there is no reason to limit yourself to plastic ukes for the purpose described.

Plastic ukes may not get damaged by extremes like the hot sun, but if they get hot they go out of tune and are hard to tune.

A low cost laminate uke will do the job described and you will be able to do a set-up and stuff like change the saddle and nut material. They can take a beating and can handle heat better than plastic in terms of holding tune. You could even paint it to fit in with your juggling activities. There is a chance that you will be able to get a better sound out of it as well.
Click to expand...

I’m afraid I have to agree with the sentiment in three posts above. There’s a point below which an item just isn’t worth buying and a lot of folk here are of the view that the Waterman wouldn’t be worth having no matter how little it cost.

I really wonder how water tolerant you actually need a Uke to be. Dolphins stand up to a lot of general abuse and they’re cheap second hand. I’ve have some success with painted Ukes, with a good set up of nut and saddle plus some decent strings they can be a good beater - they’re never going to sound great but they’re good enough for the casual use intended. If I were in the Sates then a second hand painted Ohana would be on my list of potential beaters. On these cheap laminate Ukes strings and set-up make a vast difference ... but the UO should okay OK straight out of the box.

If you really do need totally water resistant then the OU is the only thing that’s going to get near to meeting your needs but at $125 for a basic Soprano they aren’t cheap - I think that they used to be a lot more reasonably priced. The OU’s sound OK, though nothing special IMHO, and just survive pretty much whatever the environment around them hands out. My own choice would be to try a cheap used Dolphin first, moderate how I treated it and then if it doesn’t survive replace it with a OU.
 
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Swiftsailor98 said:
I think it depends on your definition of "cheap". Based on your description of intended use and want for some thing that sounds good as well, I'd recommend an Outdoor ukulele. Like the Enya Nova U (concert-sized) the Outdoor is made completely of polycarbonate and they come in soprano or tenor sizes. The only metal is the tuning pegs and gears.

[As an aside, if there's a chance your tuners may get wet I'd recommend putting a drop of bicycle chain lube on the gears and detuning them so you can get a full turn of the gears. Then anytime it gets wet, dry it off and re-apply]

I have a Blue Outdoor Soprano for my take-anywhere ukulele, and I'm not afraid of leaving it in my car (in Florida). I also have a Kala Waterman and the upgrade in sound with the Outdoor is worth the slight upgrade in price. It's worth a look.
Click to expand...

I get this, and it's my concern. Part of the challenge is that none of these (with the possible exception of the Kala Waterman) are available locally to try out. So it'll be a leap of faith.

The questions become:

Are the $50 and under set nice enough that they'd be pleasant to play, or would they be just junk?
Is the Enya Nova worth $30 more than a Bugsgear Aualele or Kala Waterman?
Is the Outdoor Uke worth $50 more than THAT.

I appreciate that there is a sound upgrade, but the Outdoor Ukulele is $125 to about $40 for a Waterman. That's a big difference.

Thanks for the food for thought.
 
I was in the same boat last year, had a concert waterman then a soprano outdoor. after a bit I found that I didn't like the high action on the waterman or the sound of the outdoor (and the smaller size was a bit of a compromise)... and even though it seemed like a good idea I really didn't need the extreme "water resistance". I ended up with an enya hpl concert that actually cost less than the waterman (it was the discontinued x1m that was on summer sale for $42 shipped!). the "quietness" is tolerable. so if you're not planning to submerge it and can find one at a nice price, you might also consider hpl
 
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Czhorat said:
Are the $50 and under set nice enough that they'd be pleasant to play, or would they be just junk?
Is the Enya Nova worth $30 more than a Bugsgear Aualele or Kala Waterman?
Is the Outdoor Uke worth $50 more than THAT?
Click to expand...

Question 1: I buy or receive a lot of entry level ukuleles to review, and I'm quite happy with that. I love my more expensive ukuleles, but my "real" job is that of an elementary music teacher, and parents don't want to spend $650 on a KoAloha Opio. So I buy or receive many of the Amazon brands--looking for the instruments that can meet the needs of beginning players--good quality, nice sound, and most importantly, a good playing experience. I've bought a few of the sub $50 plastic ukuleles, and while they work as an instrument, a small increase in spending can get a really good entry level ukulele. You're not quite looking for that, but I'd just say...steer away from the Fuyxan models, as well as the Kangaroo, and so on. I'd also caution against the Waterman, and I get some pushback from that.

Question #2: The Enya Nova is a wholly different ukulele than the Bugsgear or Waterman (The last time I looked, I couldn't find any bargain Bugsgear...will need to look again). Whereas the Bugsgear and Waterman are clearly plastic "don't weep if you break it" ukuleles, the Enya is more of a "real" instrument. I like it a lot, although I know some people don't like the sound as much as I do. It also differs in that it is painted; so it is weather resistant--but subject to cosmetic damage. Is it worth $30 more? Yes.

Question #3: The Outdoor Ukulele...and are we talking Soprano or Tenor is a different instrument than the Enya Nova, as they probably have the most comfortable neck and overall set-up of any instrument I have ever played, but they are unashamedly made out of polycarbonate and or carbon fiber. Some people like the tone of these better than the Enya; I lean towards liking the Enya. But when I'm worried about how an instrument will do in the conditions, I bring one of the Outdoor Ukuleles. If you need a rugged instrument, it's a great option worth every penny. But not everyone needs that.

And in all cases, you'll need to take special care to make sure that the tuning mechanisms don't rust on you.

Finally, I am very fond of the Flight TUS and TUSL, as well as the Magic Fluke. The Flight hits about 90% of the tone of the Magic Fluke, at 1/5th the price, but also features a more traditional neck; the Fluke is the best sounding of all of these (this is all opinion), but has a really wide neck with wide spacing.

For simple "rugged" playing, I'd send you towards the Flight or Outdoor; for water, I'd probably suggest the Outdoor, and for all around playing at the best price, I'd send you to the Flight or the Enya. If you want the best sound, it's the Magic Fluke.

That's where I'm at, summer of 2020.
 
Choirguy said:
Question 1: I buy or receive a lot of entry level ukuleles to review, and I'm quite happy with that. I love my more expensive ukuleles, but my "real" job is that of an elementary music teacher, and parents don't want to spend $650 on a KoAloha Opio. So I buy or receive many of the Amazon brands--looking for the instruments that can meet the needs of beginning players--good quality, nice sound, and most importantly, a good playing experience. I've bought a few of the sub $50 plastic ukuleles, and while they work as an instrument, a small increase in spending can get a really good entry level ukulele. You're not quite looking for that, but I'd just say...steer away from the Fuyxan models, as well as the Kangaroo, and so on. I'd also caution against the Waterman, and I get some pushback from that.

Question #2: The Enya Nova is a wholly different ukulele than the Bugsgear or Waterman (The last time I looked, I couldn't find any bargain Bugsgear...will need to look again). Whereas the Bugsgear and Waterman are clearly plastic "don't weep if you break it" ukuleles, the Enya is more of a "real" instrument. I like it a lot, although I know some people don't like the sound as much as I do. It also differs in that it is painted; so it is weather resistant--but subject to cosmetic damage. Is it worth $30 more? Yes.

Question #3: The Outdoor Ukulele...and are we talking Soprano or Tenor is a different instrument than the Enya Nova, as they probably have the most comfortable neck and overall set-up of any instrument I have ever played, but they are unashamedly made out of polycarbonate and or carbon fiber. Some people like the tone of these better than the Enya; I lean towards liking the Enya. But when I'm worried about how an instrument will do in the conditions, I bring one of the Outdoor Ukuleles. If you need a rugged instrument, it's a great option worth every penny. But not everyone needs that.

And in all cases, you'll need to take special care to make sure that the tuning mechanisms don't rust on you.

Finally, I am very fond of the Flight TUS and TUSL, as well as the Magic Fluke. The Flight hits about 90% of the tone of the Magic Fluke, at 1/5th the price, but also features a more traditional neck; the Fluke is the best sounding of all of these (this is all opinion), but has a really wide neck with wide spacing.

For simple "rugged" playing, I'd send you towards the Flight or Outdoor; for water, I'd probably suggest the Outdoor, and for all around playing at the best price, I'd send you to the Flight or the Enya. If you want the best sound, it's the Magic Fluke.

That's where I'm at, summer of 2020.
Click to expand...


That's a great roundup.

looking around, Walmart has the Bugsgear in red for thirty bucks, and purple for 35. That's tempting.

In any event, thank you so much for the thoughtful comments. I've been looking at Magic Fluke for a long time, but they seem pricey for what they are; if I'm going to spend that much coin, I'd probably add a bit more and get something from Bonanza.
 
Czhorat said:
I'd probably add a bit more and get something from Bonanza.
Click to expand...

I know the Bonanza folks pretty well...and I don't consider HPL to be waterproof (I think that's where this all started). But if HPL is a factor, I'd recommend Pete Mai any day of the week (or any wood for that matter). The other HPL option (if that's where you are going) is Enya, which can have some good prices.

My next Bonanza will be specially made for teaching...borrowing ideas from Matt Dahlberg's Kanile'a ukulele.
 
I have a Blue Enya Nova I'd consider selling. Send me a PM if interested.
 
Bill1 said:
If you want a cheap uke, that is fair enough. However, if you are not going to get the uke wet, there is no reason to limit yourself to plastic ukes for the purpose described.

Plastic ukes may not get damaged by extremes like the hot sun, but if they get hot they go out of tune and are hard to tune.

A low cost laminate uke will do the job described and you will be able to do a set-up and stuff like change the saddle and nut material. They can take a beating and can handle heat better than plastic in terms of holding tune. You could even paint it to fit in with your juggling activities. There is a chance that you will be able to get a better sound out of it as well.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, having tried Ukantor's Aiersi pineapple Uke. It's a really good instrument for the price of a couple of beers. For the price of a single Outdoor Ukulele you could get five, and use them for juggling.
 
You can find YouTube reviews or performances of various instruments that may at least give you a basic idea of sound. You do have to take them with a grain of salt as some are just hawking an instrument.

These are honest and trustworthy with lot of valuable info and a playing demo:

https://www.gotaukulele.com

I agree with many here that I would avoid going too cheap. If the playability and sound are questionable, it will not be fun to play.
 
I've taken my Makala concert out to the beach a lot. I'm not a plastic ukulele fan. Unless one plans to submerge their ukulele or leave it sitting out in the pouring rain all the time a cheap laminate is the way to go in my opinion. I recommend the Makala, it just keeps on playing. But regardless what you get, if you plan to take it out to a salt water beach, it isn't the wood that is going to be the problem, it is the tuners and all those plastic ukuleles have metal tuners.

corroded tuners.jpg
 
Makala Dolphin (or Shark, but the Dolphins are friendlier) :)
 
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