A or B...which one, and why

[Jbehredt]

A for me B for the wife. I bought the Bs for me and quickly realized they wouldn’t go short enough to use under one of my tarps. She likes that they take up less room in her smaller pack.

 

[Macintosh]

B for me. I have owned a dozen pairs of adjustable telescoping poles over the years, mostly for skiing, but same/same, just 3-section for trekking poles. Currently using a pair of the first-gen z poles I bought in 2015ish. Still have a 3-section set of trekkers that my wife uses occasionally.

advantages of telescoping:
*much bigger "useful" adjustment range, ie they are useable for tent pole, shooting sticks, splint, different-height people, etc, whereas the z poles once assembled only have about a 8" or so adjustment range.
*probably a bit stronger, although there is a huge variety here. I have broken several pairs of telescoping adjustable poles, maybe a bit better but definitely not indesctructible. Carbon can be wicked strong depending on construction and mode of damage. Twist locks can be incredibly secure depending on the brand/model. Many of the flick/cam lock poles I have used are far less secure than a good twist lock. If yours are slipping pull the sections apart and clean out the inside of the pole and the expansion buttons, sometimes it slips on alminum corrosion and dust/grime--once cleaned they usually stick much better.

Advantage of Z type:
*much smaller packing size. I can get a relatively light, strong pole for a tall guy that still easily fits fully inside a small daypack, a big hip pack or horizontally if needed. The way I use trekking poles this outweighs every other point that may favor the telescoping type--i.e. I mostly carry them in a variaty of packs and situations, and only break them out for special occasions (packing meat, my knee starts misbehaving, high mileage day, long downhill, etc.) I'm 200lb, 6'3", even with a weeks worth of backpacking gear the zlock poles are plenty strong--I havent ever felt like I was going to break one where I wouldnt be just as concerned with breaking a telescoping version. The breakages I've had were mostly breaking off a point or the bottom few inches of a shaft in talus, or falling full body weight onto a pole...in both cases that's going to be the same regardless of whether its a telescoping or z style pole.

(Yeah, I'm an old dude with tired knees. so what?)

 

[87TT]

Old guy with old guy knees here. I guess I use the the A type because they look like the inexpensive carbon ones I got at Costco years ago and still going strong. I only use them on packouts.

 

[displacedtexan]

A- Black Diamond aluminum.

Mostly because that's what the store in Jackson had when we got some.

No issues that have made me consider changing.

 

[shootnrun]

I've had a couple pair of type A Poles. Only reason I ever had to replace them was buddies leaving them leaned up against vehicles and driving off.. The reason they borrowed mine was their aluminum Poles bent on the way out. I have carbons and have never had a pair break. I'm certain they are breakable, but I've put a lot of weight on them and they didn't buckle. They are higher end Lekis. They are always in the side Nalgene pockets strapped against the bag and they don't stick much past the top of the frame.

 

[mrbillbrown]

Started with A and finally upgraded to B a couple of years ago. I'm an aluminum pole guy due to price. Carbon would be nice but haven't found a smoking hot deal on a pair yet. A worked fine for several years but sticking up high above the top of my pack was annoying and seemed to catch on brush and low hanging limbs. B was a great improvement due to size and compact nature fitting inside my pack with ease. Can't say one set was better than the other but always buy flip locks and not twist lock style poles.

 

[TaperPin]

Not friction only. Once assembled there is a lock tab that pulls inner cord tight and holds them together.

That’s interesting. I guess the weird shaped handle is so you grab it low going up hill and grab it high going down?