Cascade Mountain Tech Aluminum Quick Lock Trekking Poles - EVA Grip

Sturdy, but screw may require some locktite. Strong and sturdy, but latch (pole) does come loose and slides, tension screw turns and looses tension (lock). Great deal for price. Handle texture is different.

Here are the bugs: 1. Thumbnut for lock is clear plastic over "brass", the plastic taking the pressure against the clamp. This part will deteriorate from UV, which means it will break before too long, and the plastic probably has a different coefficient of thermal expansion than the "brass," which means it is likely to separate at either high or low temperatures. If you want to replace it with a metal one, as I do, the screw thread is M5. It would have added probably 5c to the cost of mfr to use an all metal thumbnut. 2. The bottommost (lowest, thinnest) section has a taper on the last one inch or so of tubing. This means that the tightness will be different when fully retracted than when extended at all. This seems to be due to the mismatch of tubing diameter to what the tip assembly needs. Probably saves 5c of material on the tip assembly. 3. The wrist straps use a rubber friction block that comes out of its retaining hole when you try to adjust the strap length, making it a very tedious and annoying process, which you really don't want to have to deal with when you're hiking. Nylon strap retention has been a solved problem for the past 50 years. 4. If you try to keep the spare tip items in the bottom of the supplied bag, the poles cannot fit. In defense of CMT, though, other manufacturers' products are exactly like this too, and not just in this price range, but also much pricier ones. At least CMT offers spare parts for when that thumbnut finally fails.

We have many of our walking paths open all year around. Ice build up can make for a challenging trip. My wife and I use these poles for our hikes on trails and frozen lakes. The carbide tips dig in nicely. The adjustment clips hold even below zero in temp. Next year we will use them to snowshoe with, as we are building our own shoes. The delivery was quick, the product was reasonably priced. Well don Cascade Mountain Tech!

I bought these poles many years ago. Yesterday I actually used them for the first time! [That's just how I roll!!] I was hoping to be able to walk and not aggravate a fickle hip. I walked along paths that had no significant elevation changes. I walked for about 40 minutes. When I got home I could feel my legs .... it's like they had just had a work-out! And my hip survived without ANY issues at all! I am in shape. I 'do' the treadmill (walking) every other day. My legs never felt like this before. Accomplished might be the word! My upper body also noticed, though on a smaller level, that it had been challenged as I walked the path. I love these poles and will use them more than the one time!! [What brought me to this site is the fact that as I walked the path, the bottom portion was loose to the point where, with each step, the 'foot' would move a half inch or so before it was 'seated.' Since the poles had been in the closet forever, I didn't know why this was happening or how to fix it. (I am a DIYer, so was thinking about glue? tape? hmmmmm) And then I watched the video. Turn the thumb screw! How simple! I have now fixed my poles and didn't need either the glue or the tape! ;>) ]

We use these poles for our clients we guide in Yellowstone N.P . They have held up well, as good as some other poles we've paid twice as much for.

I recently purchased two pairs of these polls for my eight and 10-year-old daughters. They are lightweight, durable, and easy to use. The girls were comfortable adjusting the pole lengths on the fly. My only complaint is they are a bit long when not in use stored on their packs.

I've used carbon fiber poles for over 10 years, but wanted to have aluminum poles to use in rocky terrain where there is higher risk of snapping them. These poles seem comparably well built to the much more expensive ones I've had, the grips are very comfortable, the locks are easy to use and I like the adjustability. And not only is the price amazing to begin with, they come with lots of accessories that are nice to have for use on just about any kind of terrain.