Friday, October 5, 2018

Gear Review - Black Diamond Hiking Poles

While hiking the Long Trail we had lots of time to try our hiking gear, this is the start of the reviews of the equipment we purchased for the trip. I will state what we liked or didn't like with the equipment.For the most part I was happy with everything we decided on, there was of course the regular research we conducted prior to the purchase of each piece.
Todays review is on the Black Diamond Pro Trail Shock trekking poles. I was one of those people that really didn't think that a hiking pole was a necessity on the trail, the truth is I couldn't have been more wrong. We completed some preparatory hikes in our area and the trail was quite groomed and even in the rough areas it wasn't bad. With this small exposure to the trail with hiking poles it became clear that these would be something that I would and will take every where. Now the Black Diamond poles were on the expensive side but I decided on these based on the fact that they were going to be completing double duty as hiking poles by day and tent poles by night. They had a foam grip that seemed to stand up well with no deterioration during any of the hikes. They did have straps that showed some wear just after hiking 100 miles which was disappointing. I am happy to report there was not an issue with the FlickLock system at all. I am over 200 lbs and would exert this weight and more on the poles at any given time with no problems at all.  There are shock absorbers built into the handles that worked well for the first part of the trip, it was about 50 to 75 miles in that it was noted that the shock absorbers had begun to stick in the compressed position. With nothing on the trail , water was added in hopes that this would help which it did for a short time. Once back in civilization some WD-40 was purchased and this was applied to the shock absorber. After this was applied we didn't have any issues at all. My wife also used this type of trekking pole with the same results. Over all , Very happy with the product and would recommend this to others that are planning to purchase  hiking poles.





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