Originally Posted by
Shifty
Warranty, a better tent maker will, fix or replace. To offer this the tent is made to higher standards of design and workmanship. This usually translates to better performance during use, where you don't want failure. Zippers are a high fail component, better tents use better zips.
This, especially, is worth it.
My most recent tent purchase was an REI. It got flattened by strong winds. The only permanent damage was one of the poles, and the tent was still very usable for the remainder of the tour. I got a replacement with basically no questions asked. They practically didn't care.