[TenTec] Orion's Woes

[Toby Pennington]

Looking back over the past two and a half years of the Orion being on the market has been interesting and educational.    

The Orion has not been ever completely fixed with all functions working properly since it's first started shipping in March of 03.  The Orion is a excellent performer with great felxibility,  and I am sure Orion 2 will be stunning to say the least.  

However,  I think much of the controversy over the past weeks and months have resulted from releasing a product which was not ready for market,  and still is lacking in certain respects.  There would not have been so many returns for credit if the Orion had worked well from the beginning or shortly thereafter,  and therefore maybe the tougher return policy would not have had to be implemented at all.  TT is reacting in the only way they can to protect their bottom line by putting restrictions on returns and reviews.  Not to say this is right or wrong,  but it is reality at this time.  

I have owned several pieces of TT gear including the Omni 6, opt 3 and the Corsair 1 and 2, plus a couple of pieces older than these, and of course the Orion.  But this is the first TT product that I have owned and operated that was so problematic.  Wonderful when it was working well,  but terrible when it was acting up or some hardware problem popped up and had to be returned for a fix.  It is not unusual for a company to put out a poor product at some time in it's history of manufacturing, and to my knowledge this is TT's first. 

It would make more sense to me to not repeat these mistakes,  and get Orion 2 as near perfect as possible before release to the public.  Do the BETA testing BEFORE the product is released and get the rig right from the get go.  Who wants to wait for two to three years for their rig to work good after they have bought it.  This whole concept is flawed of putting a rig out to be fixed down the road for a year of two.  

Think about it!