My black diamond aluminums finally both broke and the cork was shot and chunking apart. Sweat eats the cork. Had used em a lot and hard, bent one, before the breaking.
So I grabbed the sissy Stix Elites last fall after the BDd died. So far I love them, positive locks that actually don't collapse with my fat ass falling on them , so far, but just one season on em so far. I do like that they collapse a bit shorter than my BDs do so they don't snag stuff when on my pack as easily.
Anyway, I'd recommend SS so far. My buddies Costco carbon ones certainly worked but they were noticably louder in use. Sort of a rattle, and they were pretty new, just the way they r made i suppose.