"Who made the older Abyss OTB boots that have the reliability problems?"

not sure, but I think it was the first group put out by NB

The original company was OTB Footwear, LLC formed to produce boots for the military - supposedly, the Abyss and Odhin were designed for the Navy Seals ("Over The Beach" - hence, the name).   All of the reviews were very positive for the first several years.  I bought my first pair direct from them (and still use them).  Then in 2010, they apparantly sold the rights to produce to ? New Balance? I guess - at that time, OTB was bacisally selling thier remaining inventory - first pair I bought was $115 + Shipping;  the pair I bought via the 2010 close out was $69 + - somewhere about that time, the reviews started to go downhill - either at the end of the OTB production, or the beginning of the NB production.