MSR Gear Reviews 23

DynaLock Explore 3-Section Alumunium Backcountry Poles, after about 2.5 season of use the poles developed cracks in the aluminum pole sections at each lock point. Fortunately I noticed the cracks before the poles broke at best ruining a day in the backcountry at worst causing injury or worse. My first attempt to resolve the situation through customer service offered a 15% discount to replace the defective product subsequently the company offered to replace the product which is appropriate given the defect which was hopefully a one off incident. Inspect your poles for safety.

Tent broke the first time I used it. Can't get anyone to answer emails or phone calls about warranty.

The flysheet and the floor covering of the tent disintegrated and fell into small pieces!
However, on the frequently asked questions and documentation page, regarding the lifespan of the tent, it says that "a well-maintained tent, used occasionally under normal conditions, can last for many years".

In correspondence with customer service, they tell me: "There is no maximum lifespan... Longevity on current tent models can generally vary from 10 to 15 years, but initial degradation may occur as quickly as 5 years, from the time of manufacture...".

When purchasing, I would have appreciated such informed information, concerning the possibility of the tent deteriorating so quickly (less than five years in the case of mine - although it was carefully stored and aired regularly). This would probably have influenced my choice in relation to budget/sustainability... 

Surprisingly, I have another MSR tent, the Elixir 2 model, purchased a few years ago as well, which shows no degradation (same use, same quality of storage). How to explain this???

Many people on online forums testify to anticipated degradation of MSR tents.  I think that some models of the brand have had quality problems in manufacturing. Too bad this was not communicated, leaving people to try to renovate their tent themselves, after the warranty period and without any commercial gesture (compensation/replacement/renovation products offered). 

Customer service did not answer my questions and systematically deletes my comments published on their site...

This is detrimental for the MSR Brand... Personally, I don't think I will repeat a purchase for an MSR tent, because there are too many uncertainties...

Hubba hubba 2 tent. Fantastic until I needed service. Broke the skeleton frame. Could not find a replacement in Australia from anywhere. No support from MSR anywhere. Found that MSR out of business. Found a complete duplicate tent from China for about 1/8 the price. Almost as good. 800gms heavier but a fraction of the price. My belief that paying for a great brand was shot to pieces. The cheap clone is great. My commitment to brands got nothing but grief unfortunately.

worst service ever

sent my hubba hubba (2 pax) tent "to check" because it broke with normal wind conditions. didn´t get warranty from them and they also stole one part of my tent, after charging money from me.
The customer service is really unfriendly and unhelpful. For me it´s a 100% scam.

Never buy here anything!

I wrote an email to have parts replaced that were damaged on the MSR Elixir 3-person tent. Michael M., a warranty service representative, emailed me back within a few hours and provided me with all the necessary details. I provided him with an email with the information requested and he replaced the parts and sent them to me. He went above and beyond to ensure my request was taken care of and provided extra information to assist in the future. Thanks a million for your promptness, professional nature, and timely responses.

WONDERFUL customer focus, my Reactor burner unit had an issue, in less than a week i had a new burner unit at my door.

So glad I went with MSR, wont ever look past them

Msr pocket rocket 2 made in Taiwan thought this company was a great brand initially supposedly made in the USA ?? Lie number 1 ,after reading many reviews and seeing thousands of msr youtube Reviews which now seem to be bought and paid for I'm pretty irritated. On its second use the one pot arm snapped off pocket rocket number 1 , pocket rocket number 2 snapped at the collar , with sitting a 100ml titanium pot of water on it . I wish msr would stop lying about where there stuff is made . Overpriced Chinese trash tents as in plural we bought 12 for use with my backpacking club , the hubba tents leaked from every seam the first night on the Appalachian trail, every single tent ,like all of them leaked not just one , one ripped apart at the bottom during the first use in a thunderstorm and every night after we had miserable time ,Not happy would be an understatement ,when looking at the tag on the tent itself I see that it's made in communist China 🇨🇳 what happened to made in Seattle guess that is where its designed i guess what a shocker hardly worth the hefty price I paid for this 🗑 trash at Rei , No longer will Msr or Rei get any of my clubs business and we will be sharing our experience elsewhere. Don't walk away from msr run from it !

I invested €736 in the MSR Carbon Reflex 3 V4 tent for long distance treks. Unfortunately after the first night in the tent, the floor and the upper canvas tore in several places. In addition to having been very annoying during the rest of our trek, our tent is now no longer usable because it is no longer airtight and has become very fragile.
When I returned, I called the after-sales service of the Hardloop site. I requested to benefit from the legal guarantee of conformity since the tent did not conform to the description given on the site. It was said to be robust and ideal for long-distance treks regardless of the terrain. However, it didn't even hold up to normal use overnight.
Unfortunately the Hardloop site turned a blind eye to my request. I also contacted the MSR France reseller as well as the official seller in the United States who unfortunately reacted in the same way. I was clearly scammed by this website but also by the MSR brand.
I am still shocked by their reaction since MSR is a brand that was more than recommended to me when making my choice of tent.

My whisperlite backpacking stove just broke on the fourth day of my 8 days camping trip in autonomy in Patagonia. I was in very bad conditions.
Not worth the money for the poor quality

I ordered a couple things from these guys and a month later I’ve not received my order. I emailed the shipper in Singapore and the email was returned as undeliverable. No response from MSRgear.com either. I was ripped off.

Cascade warranty have my tent, have proof of delivery and now saying they dont have any record of it! Look up the address from royal mail and to my surprise its the same place as instructed to send it too. Constant push backs and ignoring emails. Delivered 2 months ago!

Tent poles broken in multiple places, all the seams falling apart, pretty much disintegrated. Do not buy the Hubba Hubba. Worst tent ive ever owned with little use with a hefty price tag id rather build a shelter out of bin bags and use my hiking poles. Prob last longer too!

I had an MSR tent that has seen very limited use and was produced within the last six years start to the laminate at key points in the fly. On the same trip this past weekend a pair of MSR TR3 trekking poles had a major issue when on my return trip I saw that a plastic Lexan cap on top of each pair had either broken completely through exposing a very sharp piece, that for the life of me, I have no idea what it does and I use to work in the industry, poke through and damage a glove. The other trekking pole cap is beginning to have the same issue after only 3 to 5 uses.
I called MSR which are used to have the best warrantee in the industry, and they told me that oh your tent is going to break down that’s just part of the issue. I explained that I’ve only used it a handful of times and I’ve been away at med school so this has been a temperature controlled closet after I meticulously take care of my year for the last four years. They told me that I could send it in for warranty repair but that they would do just basically what I can do at my home. When I asked if that would void the warranty they said yes. So I said basically you’re just telling me to do this myself after paying $450 for a tent and they said we don’t make that fly anymore so you’re Just out of luck. In regards to the trekking poles they stated that they don’t make these pair anymore so they can give me a significant discount of 20% off a new set of trekking poles. I said no these are covered under warranty this is a defect that is well known on the Internet. The head of warranty who I was speaking to told me you’re right but you’re not gonna get your trekking poles in a timely manner without taking this offer. Basically I’ve never seen a company outside of mountain hardware right after they were purchased by Columbia do such a horrible job making their customers buying extremely expensive backpacking gear feel like they have to beg for forgiveness to get treated well.

One of the worst customer service experiences ever! I have been trying to deal with an expensive tent that failed on first use since June of this year. The experience has been consistently terrible, demoralising and stressful. I thought a company selling such expensive products would care about their after sales customer care but this is not the case at all. As with the other 1 star reviews on here I would definitely avoid buying anything from this company.

Just got my new MSR Elixir 3 tent and discovered that one of the zippers are missing “teeth”. Most likely this will be an issue over time, as it is in a place where there is tension on the zipper. I was offered a repair, but that is not ok, as it is a fail from their production. Poor customer service. My next tent will not be from MSR

I bought an MSR "Pocket Rocket" camping stove which served me very well until one camping trip the metal stem became loose while I was boiling a pan of water. It overbalanced and spilt, causing a severe scald on my foot. My holiday was abandoned. After three weeks of limping, bandages, hospital visits and pain killers it finally healed. I sent eight e-mails to MSR who passed the buck to "Cascade Designs", who, I was informed, are the "parent company". I sent a costly registered letter to their CEO in Ireland. No reply. More phone calls and still nothing.
After a bit of digging it turns out that the Pocket Rocket I had bought was a production anomaly in that it had only two screws to secure the stem. All later models have three. That is why it became loose and tipped, causing so much inconvenience, expense and discomfort. The two screw version of the Pocket Rocket was never withdrawn from sale and the faulty products were allowed to remain on the market.
I bought mine from "The Climber's Shop" in Kendal. Hardly a word of apology from either company let alone any offer of compensation.
The MSR website, besides containing lots of worthy sounding sentiments about "engineering solutions for a healthier world", used to have customer reviews of the Pocket Rocket, on which at least four other people had expressed their safety concerns about the loose screws. Shortly after I had contacted MSR about the matter, the reviews suspiciously vanished. Over a year on and I still haven't been compensated for my pains.
It's a shame that a highly successful international company, who's very name trades on their reputation for the safety, should treat one of their customers so disgracefully.

The main pole in my Hubba Hubba 2 person tent was unusable after only 4/5 times of light use. The silver connector had disappeared into the black pole as the rubber washer had come off on not one but two poles. I was shocked considering the price and the claims that it was built to go into the wilderness in all weathers etc. Thank feck I was only in the new Forrest. Had to spend one night outside and got badly bitten.

I have contacted them via the route on their website but heard diddly squat back. Reading the other reviews this seems to be standard. So, cheaply made, badly designed, overpriced with zero customer services in sight.
They should be done for false advertising.

If buying from MSR please be aware that their warranty is garbage. I mailed in 3x msr dragonfly fuel pumps in august 2020. Called in sept and oct to check on progress. Said they hadn’t got to it. Called in November and they said they would only replace one. I said ok, asked if I needed to do anything else, said no. Come January 2021 I call again, 6 months later and the guy said oh we forgot to mail it out. No apology, no follow through and no communication. I have always bought msr, but I will be buying from others no.

If you need an overpriced defective product which will break sooner then you count to 3, and totally inexistent customer service go ahead, buy MSR. Or buy similar quality product from AliExpress and save half of a price. You most probably won't get good service but same with MSR.
One of my pole connectoros have died on a 3d day of use with no reason I can see. I just packed it and unpacked on a next stop. Connector wasn't there anymore. If it's user error then you should be really careful with it, they are super fragile. And there's no included repair package which you can find nowadays even in cheapest Chinese tent.
It happened almost a month ago. MSR was notified. Then when I returned I brought tent to the store where I bought it, they also contact MSR. No reply to any of inquiry.
Overall I happy with a product, a made a hot fix with a duct tape and it stood well even in the harsh wind. MSR pocket rocket worked also well. That's why 2 starts, not 1.

PS. Updated it to 1 because find out that this company doesn't provide you any warranty at all. A lot of complaints on that point in FB reviews and other publics.

I ordered this tent online, having only seen the reviews and demonstrations on the MSR site. I was not disappointed. The tent is everything it claims to be, lightweight and very easy to put up and pack away. I managed to put the thing up in less than five minutes with no cursing, something my daughters were amazed about.

The whole thing packs neatly into a compression sack; I'm looking forward to years of adventures with this tent.