Easton carbon tent pole issue

[ckaz34]

I have a kuiu mountain star 2P. Love the tent. The Easton carbon poles failed on my recent elk hunt. The aluminum piece that the carbon slides over, to attach the sections, sucked into the carbon. I couldn’t pull the aluminum out and therefore couldn’t attach two of the sections. Really messed up my hunt.

 

[dirtytough]

Durston has had the same issues. Here is his response on a Reddit thread.

“
Improving the reliability of Easton's glue process has been a challenge, and has affected our tents and other brands. A few months ago we worked with Easton on a big update to their glue process including changes to the glue, glue amount, and how it is applied and saw a major reduction in issues. That update greatly reduced the issues, including almost all the issues gone on the pole legs, and a big reduction in issues at the top. Since then, we have seen almost no issues on the legs, a small remaining number of issues at the top hub, and a small remaining number on the short poles (which were built differently).

To address those remaining issues, we have made a few further improvements, including changing to carbon inserts for the thicker tubing at the top (which seems to be a 100% solution as we've never seen a carbon insert fail). Then we've also changed how the short poles are built to avoid the step that could cause an issue.

So overall, we are seeing 100% reliability now at the thicker tubing at the top of the tent which used to be the main spot with issues, and then we are seeing close to 100% on the legs. It is journey to investigate and solve any remaining issues, so we are not at the point of perfection yet, but we have made huge improvements with Easton and are getting quite close to 100% reliability now. In the X-Dome 2 that you have, issue reports are less than 1 in 1000 tents now.

Ultimately, innovation is very important to us which does also come with higher risk than the status quo. With the X-Dome we have a new shape, new fabrics, new hardware, and many other new things. Almost all of that is working extremely well, but when there are issues will be transparent about them, work quickly to improve, and support anyone with an issue.

If you did have an issue on your trip, the insert could be extracted by hooking it out with a paperclip and then superglued into place, so it is easy to be prepared for that. Alternatively, you can just set up the tent with trekking poles and a few guylines instead of using the tent poles.”

 

[lhopman2004]

This exact thing just happened today on my KUIU mountain star. Luckily found it before I went out but it leaves me searching for a tent on short notice for the last week of archery.

 

[UA_Blake]

Literally just had this happen to my hunting partner! Incredibly disappointing when you are 3 hours into the back country and depending on the tent for shelter! If you find yourself in this spot, use electrical tape and spare tent stakes and you can get by.

 

[evo1mike]

Broke a carbon pole on my mountain star 2 on top of a mountain the first night I set the tent up in the wild. Cobbled it together with a tent peg and gorilla tape and zip ties. Kuiu warrantied a new set of poles but it got me so gun shy on the tent that I carry a couple extra pole sections with me now and I'm not excited to set it up.

 

[ckaz34]

Kuiu replaced my poles under warranty, but with aluminum rather than carbon. I didn’t ask to switch to aluminum, but I’ll take the minimal weight penalty for a pole that’s hopefully reliable. It’s unfortunate for Kuiu that Easton has made a defective product.

 

[Nevvon]

Had same issue on second use of my tent in alaska. Kuiu replaced the poles. They asked if i wamted aluminum vs carbon. Went with aluminum. I did not feel a huge difference in weight, but they are heavier. I dont have to worry though about failure.

 

[evo1mike]

Anyone else feel that the design of the mountain star tent isnt helping with the poles? The way the poles go thru the sleeves and cross and cross back, it's so damn tight trying to get the end into the corner pocket. The force you need to put on the pole is unlike any other tent I've ever used.