Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You can spend a lot of money on hiking gear--including trekking poles. But as I got into the game, I realized that the value of hyper-expensive gear just isn't there for me. I could buy $250 trail shoes, but I've found I get just as much "wearability" out of an $80 pair. (If you're a professional trail runner, your mileage may vary!) The same thing applies to these poles. I studied all the "best" options, but because I was planning to spend a good bit of money, I was proceeding slowly. One week, the weather was nice and I wanted to get out, so I decided to try these as an interim solution. Great reviews, low cost, Prime shipping--what did I have to lose? They showed up, I adjusted them to 50 inches and tightened the locks per instructions...and I've never looked back. I seldom hike more than 10 miles in a day, with most walks being in the 6-mile range. So I don't know if my attitude would change if I were thru-hiking the PCT, but for my use, these are comfortable in the hand and on the wrist (adjust the strap as directed), they take normal abuse well (they're walking sticks--they get banged into things), and the locks have never slipped on me. (Though, admittedly, I don't adjust them constantly. I set them and leave them alone.) In short, these do everything I want trekking poles to do, for about a third of the cost of the poles I had been considering. After my wife borrowed mine, I bought her a pair, too--and later bought a third pair for a young friend of the family. If I wasn't happy with mine, I wouldn't be giving them to others. Oh, and none of us has lost any of our tips yet, but I've noticed replacements are pretty inexpensive, so I may buy some just to keep on hand. But so far, there's no sign that they're a problem.