Aluminium tent poles - long term experiences?

I've not had big family tents but the 3 backpacking type 2/3 man tents I've owned with aluminium poles have been problem free - the aluminium poles were all fine when they failed in other ways (fabric, stitching etc) 

we had similar fractures in poles from a lightweight vango tent.  10 years of regular use and strong winds.  I put it down to metal fatigue.  thin-wall aluminium, bent, stressed, open ended. got to be a hard life!   I bought new pole set for not much and the tent has been used for another 5 years since. 

Also since bought a larger family tent (Robens), with aluminium poles.  The tube walls are much thicker and some sections are pre-bent, so I expect them to last as long as we want them to.

Depends on the tent pole design, but lets say that if it's got curving  poles in sometihng like a tunnel or geodesic,  and bending stresses on the ends of the tubes it won'r have a long life

I have a Phoenix Phreak, 1980s vintage, with quite substantial aluminium poles, designed to stay rigid rather than flexible. The poles look a bit corroded and 'not so shiny any more' in places, and I've had the internal bungee cords replaced a couple of years ago, but are otherwise perfectly functional. I expect the fabric to fully give up the ghost before the poles do.

we had similar fractures in poles from a lightweight vango tent.

I guess the other thing is not all aluminium and not all poles are the same quality.  We had an old north face tent (from when they were still good), a Hilleberg (you'd expect to be A1 quality) which was a tunnel (didn't actually retire this one, sold it for more than we'd originally paid for it at about 15 years old).  

I have a Saunders Spacepacker that uses a curved, sectional aluminium pole. It's  approaching 50 years old. The only visible deterioration is that the elastic cords that suspend the inner have gone "baggy". The poles look as good as new. 

I had an 12 year old Macpac Minaret - it saw my ML training, huge storms and hundreds of nights use. Poles fine. It was UV damage on the fabric that killed it. I have a 14 year old super light Alpkit Delta, and while it has had a lot less use than the Macpac, it is still well over a 150 nights in and a few storms. No issues.

I have 4 more tents at home, including a couple that had a past life as outdoor centre / DofE store tents. All 5-8 years old. All fine.

I have been in charge of 4 different kit stores full of well over a couple of hundred Vango, Wild Country/Terra Nova, Vaude, Robens and MSR tents since late 1990's. The only cracking issues where when user error occurred - poles not slotted in fully, tents being fallen onto, someone who connected poles by waving them around until they snap in etc, and one duff batch of Wild Country/Terra Nova. We saw a few tents properly flattened in wind or users falling on them, but that was poles snapping (at joints and elsewhere) usually.

I agree the thin walls and bending pole design of most tents will lead to fatigue.

I would suggest that combination of cheap Chinese OEX poles and previous user is blame. I would happily buy many tents with ally poles and not give it a second thought.

As for now, wrap ends in tape and crack(!) on.

ive had several crack over the years, one set was almost certainly salt water ingress and corrosion as it was largely used for sea kayak camping. The others were a mixture of various activities but again, use on beaches etc. 

Interestingly none of the cracks led to failure. The first batch were replaced by wild country as it was then, foc which was a surprise and a nice one. Later ones Terra Nova customer service rules applied.

Solution was to whip the pole ends up and forget about it

I would buy another tent with alloy poles

Terra Nova Quasar now 30 years old and no issues with the Easton alloy poles. 

I have had easton pole fracture like that.

That was a rough night on Arran, i was just glad we didn't float away.