Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We purchased these TrailBuddy Trekking Poles for a hiking trip vacation to the 5 National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches and Canyonland) in Utah here in May. Previously we had an older pairs of Leki sticks, but had worn out the tips and the hand screws to adjust the lengths broke along with the spring adjustment on two of the sticks over the last 10 years - time to get some new hiking sticks ... at least I thought. You get what you pay for. I liked the clamps instead of the twist for adjusting the these sticks and they came with additional accessories for mud and river-rock hopping. Also, reviews for the most part on these TrailBuddy sticks were positive. However in reality, if you are a hiker (not a walker) and use sticks to climb and descend, these sticks are at best disposable hiking sticks. Purchased two new sets of these sticks for my wife and myself specifically for this trip. My set had the cork handles come loose within a few miles from the start of using these poles. Fortunately, I had some super glue in my first aid kit and I was able to re-glue the cork handle on to the stick while on the trail and it worked fine for the rest of the trip. Then, we started to lose the rubber end caps (preferred over the direct steel ends to not scratch/damage the sand stone trails/rock in the these parks) on our poles. The caps came off while hiking. While two additional rubber end caps are provided, we lost over 6 during our week plus of hiking and had to find replacements at a local gear store in Moab. The metal flange in the rubber tip does not hold firmly on the stick tip and comes loose or is pulled off easily on the trail - especially between rocks and boulders. Construction appears to be aluminum tubing and one of the sticks bent and was dented while being transported in our luggage despite being stored in the included case and wrapped with clothing to protect them in our checked luggage. (Southwest Airlines does not allow hiking sticks as carry on.) Never had an any problems/damage with the Leki sticks in checked baggage for over 10 years of use. Finally, the strap adjustment on the pole handles are not easily adjustable especially when converting from uphill to down hill - again, not designed for the hiker but more for a walker. These are disposable hiking sticks - one hike and trash at best. These are not even for walkers in our experience. DO NOT PURCHASE THESE TRAILBUDDY TREKKING POLES. Instead go with a name brand like Leki. Lesson leaned the hard way - you get what you pay for.