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Outwell have been made in China for at least 8 years and prob more. They may have switched factories for cost cutting reasons. Outwell started small with an excellent quality but as the years have gone on and more people wanted them their output has massive.

In most manufacturing you expect a 2 - 3 % returns so if you are only selling 1000 units you expect 20 units back but if you are doing 10000 plus then you expect 200 plus units back. Makes sense really and add to the fact that internet forums are more popular you will see why you are perhaps "seeing" more faults now.

The old saying about if you have a good service and product you will tell your friends and if a bad one you will tell everyone  really does come true in this case.

Quite often, the people who shout the loudest about tents are those who have had a bad deal and I don't blame them, but all those who are satisfied usually sit back happy and say nothing. It pays to read proper reviews on particular models of tents rather than paying too much attention to the disappointed few then coming to a conclusion that all tents of a certain brand are rubbish

I think Pat's comment on our last trip summed it up perfectly, " it would be nice to go home & know we are using the same tent next time".

We are on our 4th Monty 6 in 12 months, had a ground sheet that wicked water, a row of holes like it had been dragged across the floor then repaired with clear glue from new, a steel pole bent at the joint & ripped two guy points off, a hole the size of a cig burn with melted material around it.

We repaired the last one as we are totally pi$$ed off with changing them but fair play to GO for exchanging without a problem each time, as also noted we are cutting 1/2" off the porch support to reduce strain on the tent side & zip.

We have a 2005 Hartford M & love it, no faults & superb quality also have a 2007 Hartford XL which is well made but the material is getting brittle.

We have 2 outwells and never had any problems.  However with any product there can always be a faulty unit so my simple advice is buy from a good local retailer who you trust and then if you are unlucky enough to have a problem it's easily rectified.

It also then means the local retailers get a chance to compete against the "big" retailers too.

Are there more quality issues or are peple just more vocal about them?  Who knows.