Thread: Recommendations for hiking poles

Leki makhulu. Haven had my pair for 2 years now and never missed a beat. Pack up small, light as, comfy in the hand

I've had these for two years now. Not missed a beat. screen shot from bivouac, I got them for around 160$

The amount of times I've had a heavy pack and slipped and put crazy weight onto them or had the tip stuck and pulled/pushed them - without ever bending them is insane. Just keep on goin!

Originally Posted by No good names left

Avoid the folding ones, I've seen many get stuck in muddy ground and pull apart upon the next step

I've never experienced that. Must be crappy quality if able to do that. With the push pin locked there's no more than 5mm stretch possible with my AliExpress and previous Black Diamond z poles.

This happened in front of me 5-6 times with a few different people in a local tramping club in 1 day. Don't know if tramping poles use a different locking system.

Originally Posted by 16Tontovarish

I remember reading a study years ago that said the weight of walking poles had a negligible effect on energy consumption compared to the savings in having them to start with.
Having used both fancy poles and big sticks I can't say I really noticed a difference, so I'd just get a cheap set.

Yes, but it's noticeable how much wear and tear you save on your knees and feet with the extra support even a single trekking pole will provide. I use carbon trekking poles, most recently find just one fine. If walking under weight, so good to have. And if they prop your tipi tent up, even more so!

Originally Posted by No good names left

Avoid the folding ones, I've seen many get stuck in muddy ground and pull apart upon the next step

I have some Leki micro vario poles and you cannot pull the joints apart when they are locked to the desired length. I still prefer cam locks when hunting though as you can easily vary the height when using them as shooting sticks.

I'm with Nimrod, Manuka rakau has served many years with multiple uses.

Was looking at the leki poles. But I've avoided my usual buy the best mantra and gone with some toggle lock ones off temu.... Ha we shall see what 40 bucks gets ya from the Chinamen eh. After looking round some of my local merchants half.of them look like they're rebranding the temu/Ali ones and.putting a.massive mark up.on them. So I'll go try these cheap poles, hope they save my knees, thrash the shit.out of them and when I'm a born believer in poles and they're thrashed out I'll buy some good ones.

The first 20 minutes you will feel naked, they take a little getting used to. But the nice you settle into a rythm with them you’ll come to love em. A couple pointers, shorten the poles down when climbing up hill, use them to pull you up, lengthen them out on the down hill, especially with heavy weight, beware looping the straps over your wrists on slippery or steep ground, if you slip you won’t be able to put a hand down to catch yourself, look up Nordic walking on YouTube and utilise this technique on flat ground to get the most out of your poles. Also, on soft/er ground use the snow basket as the tips like to drive in deep and get snagged on roots from time to time, the rotation as you walk puts leverage on the tips and will start ti give them a curve which in turn softens them and ultimately causes early failure and the need to replace the tips.

@SeftonB to get the maximum from them learn the use the wrist straps properly. It's not insert hand through loop and have it over wrist. Bring hand upwards beside pole and then fingers through the loop. Before thumb goes through the loop rotate hand to horizontal and very lightly grip the strap and handle together. What it does is allow you to relax hand as the load from strap goes onto wrist. Most the better poles have an intentional twist in the strap so that it lies properly when you do this.
Jump to 1:20 https://youtu.be/ieSvlsA8R7Q?si=01bejYoB4mwaQsr_

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Flash ones will break just as well as cheap ones.
Go somewhere like H&F and check out their rack. Get a set of cheapies that you like the look of. No point snapping a flash one while you work out how to use them.

Ive found that the cheap alloy ones are actually stronger than the light carbon ones. Ive broken carbon ones.
Is alloy stronger than carbon?

Originally Posted by Tahr

Ive found that the cheap alloy ones are actually stronger than the light carbon ones. Ive broken carbon ones.
Is alloy stronger than carbon?

I like the alloy ones too @Tahr but these ones aren't cheap - they have proven to be able to take an absolute beating though
https://www.furtherfaster.co.nz/coll...ock-poles-pair

I bought these carbon ones https://dwights.co.nz/products/peak-...ing-poles-pair

As someone who has never used trekking poles before I highly rate them!

Originally Posted by Tahr

Ive found that the cheap alloy ones are actually stronger than the light carbon ones. Ive broken carbon ones.
Is alloy stronger than carbon?

Yeah, I've had these leki alloy poles for maybe 4 years I've used every day for the last 6 months while training
I'm bloody rough on gear. I can't get more than a trip or 2 out of carbon poles, especially the macpac ones there absolute crap.
Had some high end leki poles also shit out.
Can't recommend these enough
https://dwights.co.nz/products/leki-...hoC9qAQAvD_BwE

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i've been using Leki carbon folding sticks for a 5 years now, aim for 2x week 1hr-1'20" each time.
like the quick adjust to the length for up and down hill.

Prior I've had 2 pair of macpac carbon ones with the twist adjust, they started to fail and the bottom would stay behind in thick mud, also did not feel as sequere when i was putting a lot of weight on them. over the last 5 years i've come to work the sticks a lot hardr.
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