UKC

I wonder if anyone else has had any experience of problems with tent poles? I
got my Terra Nove superlite voyager in 2012 but for various reasons it has
only been used for 12 nights.
I was surprised to see one of the poles split at the end as although I
appreciate that they are light weight and there is doubtless a price to
pay for that it had only been used for 12 nights and I thought I had treated it with care.
To cut a long story short Terra Nova reckon that type of damage is caused by
people not assembling the poles properly and as a gesture of goodwill they have offered me a new pole for £40 or a complete new set for £84.
I am a bit nonplussed by this turn of events as I had not expected to have to
buy a new pole after 12 nights use. It seems rather an expensive way of camping
and I don't think it's financially viable for me to buy new poles at this rate. I put a lot of thought into which tent to buy as they are expensive.
What worries me is I can't think how I could be more careful in future.

Apart from this problem it is a nice tent.

I did wonder if anyone else had experienced these problems or if I had just been unlucky?

I am bemused by the whole business, if I'd used it a lot more or if I'd treated it roughly
I could understand it but I am very surprised it could fail after the sort of
treatment I have given it.

In reply to j99:

Yes, this has been covered before and is exactly my experience of their tents. I've had 2 quasars going back a bit, and loved the design, but the poles kept breaking. To begin with they replaced them free of charge but then became very reluctant to do so and blamed me for not assembling it properly. The cost of the poles was just not worth it so I reluctantly changed make. There have been many people who have had your experience unfortunately.

In reply to j99:

I split the end of a pole by not having it fully seated - certainly my error and not a product fault. I just cut half an inch off the end and smoothed it over - it has been fine ever since. As long as you can cut enough off to completely remove the crack and then smooth the end so there are no significant stress concentrators without making the tent too lob-sided I think it should be OK.

In reply to j99:

Sadly, the poles are crap and the tent does not stand up to much wind either. Twice now our Voyager has blown down with damage to the poles. Really embarrassing that the £38 Colman tent our kids were in just next to us stood up to the last storm whilst we sheltered under a boulder.

On both occasions Terra Nova have charged us full price for a set of new poles. Shameful.

In reply to j99:

My Ultra Quasar was destroyed in a strong wind. Fortunately Uttings stood to the poles and that makes them a wonderful company I'll always try and buy off. I just hope TN reinbursed them.

In reply to j99: Sounds like nothing much has changed in 14 years...

Ended up with a trashed Ultra Quasar back in 2003 (not that surprising, six weeks pitched at 5000m+ followed by trying to camp on the Cairngorm plateau in a Winter storm) and TN were rather unhelpful and initially wanted to charge full retail price for a new flysheet and poles.

In theory, I really like the general design of the Voyager (3-pole, semi-geodesic, single porch) however I've never bern totally convinced by Terra Nova's implementation. Back in the early 2000's a friend had similar issues to those Mike just described.

The North Face Tadpole (one of my current tents) is a much better version, a bit heavier but cheaper. Unfortunately TNF discontinued it

Unfortunately, I think we all know what the solution is - bite the bullet and buy Hilleberg!

In reply to j99:
I got the impression from here that Terra Nova had had a dodgy batch of poles, an ex employee of their's (he said he was, at least), came very close to saying as much.

MY Quasar was bought in the late 90's and pole wise it seems as tough as old boots. The poles haven't snapped in calm conditions, and have been fine in gusting 90mph winds too.

I'd be tempted to contact Scottish Mountain Gear (IIRC) and get them to make up a replacement set of poles for you.

Edit 1. Terra Nova put in my tent instructions not to let the pole sections 'snap' together, due to this causing damage to the ends, so if you've been doing this when assembling the tent, that could be the reason? Oddly, this helpful tip has apparently been omitted from later instructions.

Edit 2. Here's somewhere it's possible to get replacement poles from. https://www.scottishmountaingear.com/repair-service/pole-repairs

In reply to Foolow Mike:


I have an ancient (so old, it was when the Wild Country brand was used for all the tents) Voyager and a slightly newer Hyperspace which have been fine through a lot of use (apart from one case on the Voyager, caused by my own carelessness).

I wonder if the tube wall thickness has been reduced on the newer tents, making them more at risk of this sort of thing. Certainly the modern tents are a lot lighter and the weight saving must have come from somewhere. If so, they have gone too far.

In reply to NathanP:

It was happening in the late 80's throughout the 90's.

In reply to j99:

Unfortunately yes, it is a common occurrence. And the excuse is always to blame the user for not putting the poles together properly. Strange how users only do this shortly after buying TN tents after years of correctly assembling poles on other tents.

In reply to j99:
Sounds like the creaky Nomic thing. A known issue but they've done the sums, spoken to the lawyers and decided that it will cost them less to deny it / blame the user than replace them all. Poor show.

I've returned 3 TN / WC tents in the last few years due to QC issues, although in my case it was stitching rather than poles. A mate had similar issues with stitching (coming undone after a weeks use in fair weather) and was told he had mishandled the tent and it wasn't a warranty issue.

In reply to j99:

I've also had broken TN poles on several occasions - one of which was due to a drunk falling on my tent at Hardhurst Farm in the Peak. Most annoying.

My solution was to buy a new pole first time, keep the old broken pole and then cannibalise sections of it next time a breakage occurs. Its quite easy to re-thread the elastic yourself although you do end up with slightly rainbow coloured poles if that bothers you.

You could try asking on UKC Sales and Wanted if anyone has an old pole for a fiver and fit the new section?

In reply to DaveHK:

It's bad business in the long term. For my part, based on bad reputation on newer TN tents, I didn't choose same brand when my 20 yro Ultra Quasar needed replacement.

That said, I think the ultra light trend is to blame too. The newer poles are very light, thin - and fragile. Thereby the equipment is more prone to small 'user errors' like not pitching a tent perfectly (which sometimes is impossible due to the nature of our camps).

In reply to Stefan Jacobsen:

Agreed. Similarly a couple of years ago when I was looking to replace my mountain tent, I ended up not buying one of the TN tents after seeing the number of pole issues they had. The way they tried to blame user error / misuse in pretty much every case just walloped home the final nail in the coffin for me. Similarly looking at MM tents last year I steered away from TN for the same reason.

Stu

In reply to Phil1919:

Certainly was - 1994 quasar in my case and the poles have split numerous times.
Got the same guff from WC and then TN about not snapping the poles together, which is something I can safely say I never do as I look after my kit.

To the OP. Get shot and buy another make, unless you're happy scanning the for sale ads for replacement poles ever few days/weeks/months...

In reply to j99:

Sadly yes, it does seem to be a problem, though the bigger problem, as others have said, is the refusal of the company to engage with it. I have had a standard Quasar for some time and love the design and usability (except for the tiny porches which I have a habit of burning when cooking), but the poles are poor. The last one collapsed on a still, sunny day in France for no apparent reason. They had always been assembled and taken apart carefully and only I ever used the tent. Terra Nova always refused point blank to accept any responsibility and I had replacements made up at my own cost by Scottish Mountain Gear who are, in my experience, excellent. When looking for a lighter and more versatile tent I did briefly consider the Voyager, but discounted it because of the number of reports I encountered detailing problems with poles and the indifference of Terra Nova to what is clearly an issue. I have since transferred my loyalties to Hilleberg and to Lightwave, so far without disappointment. All tents will let us down occasionally, but customer loyalty is not infinitely elastic. John.

In reply to John R:

Thanks to all those who have replied with their experiences. I had no idea I would get so many replies from people who have had the same problem. If I had realised this I would never have bought Terra Nova. If I ever manage to replace it I'll look at Hilleberg. This was a lot of money to me, I gave it considerable thought, and I genuinely thought I had bought something good quality. I can't pull out the money to do that at present but maybe Scottish Mountain Gear will be able to fix me up with something more reliable pole wise to be going on with.
I reckon there's something in the making stuff "too" lightweight. I wouldn't have expected it to last as long as my 41 year old canvas tent (or my 20+ year old Saunders for that matter) but I did expect more than 12 nights. I reckon that makes it not fit for purpose and I have the unpleasant feeling of having been ripped off.

In reply to j99:

Continuing to sell the tents knowing they've had so many problems with the poles doesn't really seem right to me. And they can't keep saying that not enough care was taking pitching it.

In reply to j99:


There can be. But I switched from Terra Nova after too many problems like this, and the poles on my Nordisk are much lighter but have so far survived for longer than any of the TN poles - they even failed to get the permanent bend that TN poles do after strong winds (though I suspect that's down to luck!).

In reply to j99:

I would echo all of that. Irrationally, perhaps, I would have liked to buy TN again, but the twin problems of pole quality/durability and complete lack of interest in what I would regard as reasonable customer service made my decision pretty simple in the end. I cannot speak too highly of Scottish Mountain Gear and the poles I have had from them have been way more convincing than the originals, so that may give you some encouragement. Hilleberg are not the lightest, but the quality is hugely reassuring and well worth the extra effort to carry in my view (as well as the substantial investment). Good luck with what you have got and sorry to see you added to the growing list of disappointed TN customers. John.

In reply to j99:
I think in general with most geodesic tents its worth trying to ensure the poles are fully snapped in to place before bending them.

I have a terra nova ultra quasar and whilst I wasn't impressed with the pegs, the initial stitching that failed or the seams that came unstuck after 5 or 6 years, the poles have been fine and are now still in use (with a different outer) 10 years later.

I did damage some poles on an earlier more burly tent from another manufacturer in the way you describe and I'm fairly sure it was from not assembling them properly prior to bending. I just made do with some finger tape to fix up the crack and the poles went on to last a few more years.

In reply to all:

Wow, this thread is quite something. Like pretty much everyone else here, I had a Quasar which had endless problems. Initially they replaced the poles free, then started to charge for them. They also came out with that same bullshit about not snapping the poles together when pitching. WTF. Like I'd snap the poles together on a £400 tent with a history of pole breakage in the wilderness.

In reply to the person that suggested this was a recent phenomenon.... it isn't. Mine was a Wild Country Quasar, not a Terra Nova, and it still had the same problems. Back in those days the in'ernet wasn't really available to see quite how many other people were having the same issues.


plus ca change

Shame really. Great design, shit manufacturing.

In reply to CurlyStevo:


This has to be a piss take surely. Or do you work for TN?

Do you really think that isn't patently obvious to everyone?

You do work for TN don't you?

And the tent pegs are designed to go into the ground sharp end first.
Once the poles are in the sleeves, place the tent on the ground with the flat side facing down and the dome bit facing upwards.
Be sure to open the zips before entering the tent as the mosquito netting mesh is too small to permit the passage of a 80kg human being.

In reply to j99:
https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=644015&v=1#top

Lots more of the same.

Terra Nova, the walking dead of the tent world.

In reply to j99:

Had a tent pole break twice, on a 1992 WC Quasar - first time replaced for free, second time had to pay full (which I refused).

In reply to strawbale:

One of my quasar poles split a lifetime ago, I just taped it and have continued to use it with no problems.

In reply to anyha:

I taped mine too, but as it broke very close to a connector it's twice as long now...
The flysheet disintegrated in 2007, so only using the inner in our garden, for visitors.

In reply to j99:
I've seen this time and time again. TN must know how much they are pissing off their customers. I bought a MHW Trango 2 about 14 years ago. My mate took the piss calling it a Wendy house, but I got a laugh every time he went back to TN for new poles.