pete75 wrote:
I don't think it matters much if the tent is made in China, Peru, Egypt, England or Estonia if that happens. If it fails it's failed regardless of where it was made.
We've certainly had good reason to trust our made in China Decathlon tents and I think a lot of people trust their made in China Terra Nova Quasar tents in very extreme conditions. The Chinese are not stupid people and making a decent quality tent is hardly beyond their capabilities.
There's nothing magic about Estonian tent makers or innately terrible about Chinese ones: it's a matter of the effort put in, and if I ask a Chinese factory to make a tent that's a bit like a Hubba Hubba for £25 the result will be different to if I ask the same folk to make a tent a lot like a Hubba Hubba for £250.
One clear difference between a Chinese tent made for e.g. Terra Nova is you've got a clear avenue of redress if it isn't up to scratch, and a very good idea of what to expect. If, OTOH, you buy from Quality Chinese Tent Corp on the interweb you don't know whether the "not stupid" is spent on making a high quality item or shifting stuff for cash flow.
The thing is you don't know. As a case in point, Crux have a good reputation so clearly use a supplier with some Clue, but the reason the door design changed on the X2 was a batch arrived with a different door design, and they had little option to accept it as s fait accompli. Can't see that happening to Tarptent or Hilleberg, though that the new design (a straight zip down the middle of the porch to replace a Quasar-like arrangement) was deemed okay shows that the factory weren't cowboys, even with a somewhat cavalier attitude to turning out
exactly what they'd been asked for.
Pete.
Often seen riding a bike around Dundee...
