Our problems our Exped Orion started long before our trip to Ireland and Scotland but did get progressively worse during that trip with rips in the flysheet and corroding poles.
The patch on the flysheet can be seen below, we ended up with another before the end of the trip. Its obvious the old flysheet had faded considerably compared to the new one so I suspect the material had been weakened by UV despite being covered with an old tarp when pitched all day in the Tasmanian sun. Even that wasn't without problems, the old tarp wore holes in the tent flysheet underneath.
I have had no reasons from Exped as to why we had a multitude of problems with the tent in only two years. My theory is that most outdoor gear is getting lighter and lighter and so durability despite new 'wonder' materials is nothing like it used to be. Couple this with an estimated 16 weeks use of the tent in the last two years, which I would imagine would be much greater than the average use of a backpacking tent.
It will be interesting to see how long the new one will last.
