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Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > Black Diamond Carbon Fiber Flicklocks > Rob Patterson > Long Term ReportBlack Diamond Carbon Fiber FlickLock Poles - Long Term Report
Product description: The poles are two part collapsible pole with a carbon fiber lower and an Aluminum top, mated with Black Diamond's patented FlickLock mechanism. The poles take both an included climbing basket or an optional powder basket. My poles adjust from 108 cm (42.5 in) to 141 cm (55 in) without any slippage. For a more detailed description see my Initial Report. Field Conditions In the past six months I have used the poles with and without baskets for a number of day hikes and some overnights, as well as while cross-country and alpine skiing. The poles have seen about 30 days worth of use, and temperatures have ranged between -15 C (5 F) and the low 20's C (68+ F). It's been a weird winter, with long dry spells followed by periods of intense precipitation. My take on the Poles: Let me start off by saying that I absolutely love these poles, and that since I've talked about the poles performance for hiking in my Field Report, I want to focus my Long Term Report on how the poles work for winter sports. And for winter sports, I've found the poles to be superb, with a nice, light, precise and ready swing, well adapted to hiking or skiing. While the poles lack an anti-shock feature, they provide enough protection on rock and soil (the carbon fiber lowers have a nice damp but firm hand, vibrating to reduce the shock of hitting a rock), and on snow and ice. The poles have been very good, offering a nice degree of cushioning when poleing aggressively and yet biting aggressively into whatever's underfoot. I have found the lack of an anti-shock feature to be really nice on uphills, downhills, while skiing and for stream crossings, as the spring action of an anti-shock pole means extra work in those cases (and the firmer feel of the poles helps with my balance) - although I did find myself wishing for an anti-shock feature when hiking across longer stretches of flat but rocky ground. While I found the poles lack of adjustability to be a bit of an issue in the warmer months when packing them, I did not find it to be as much an issue in the winter, where I have other bulky stuff like skis or snowshoes to bring along as well. That said I would not want to take these poles alpine or ice climbing as they still don't shrink away all that well. I have found the dual-density rubber grips to be comfortable (albeit somewhat sweaty) barehanded, and to be sized to be used with gloves. With gloves, I have found the grips to be comfortable with anything from a poly-pro liner to the heaviest expedition mitt in my collection. The top of the grip is covered in rubber and is perfectly sized to 'palm' on uphills. I have not developed any signs of a blister with these poles despite some high mileage days (37 and 41 km, 23 and 26 miles). On very steep uphills I find it is reasonably comfortable to hold the poles by the FlickLock mechanism, but the poles could benefit from another, lower grip. Just as a FYI, the rubber used in the handles, while sticky, can get to be slick when wet, so I make sure to use the pole straps in the rain, but have not found this to be an issue when used with leather palmed gloves. The pole straps themselves are brilliant. They are easily adjustable through a ladder-lock tensioner that easily allows them to be shrunken for bare hands and expanded for heavy gloves and mitts. But the best part of the handles is the pole straps, which is a wide piece of braided nylon tapering towards the ends. The wide area where the pole straps contact my hand are both soft and supportive, like a good cross-country ski strap taking much of the force from leaning on the poles. I have found the FlickLock adjustments to be both very easy to adjust and very secure once snapped down. Probably the most useful trick I have found for snapping them shut, is to grab the handle with one hand and the FlickLock with the other, and use the handle to twist the pole until the FlickLock engages. While I have experienced no issues with the FlickLock's needing to be retightened, I was able to collapse one pole by aggressively pole planting on it for about 20 minutes, so I would not recommend these poles for someone looking to use them for Skate Skiing. As far as the tips and the baskets of the poles go, I have found them to be no better or worse then anything else I have tried. If I had to say something, I'd say I liked the concave metal tips, as they make for very secure placements on rock, ice and snow with minimal skating. The powder baskets have offered a bit more flotation on one or two heavy snow days, although the teeth on the uphill side of the standard baskets are very nice for going up hill. As for other features, the screws that top the carbon fiber lowers fit any standard camera mount and make a pretty decent (albeit short) monopod, I've used it with a 7 lb (3.18 kg) SLR camera and lens with no issues. Only thing to be aware of is that if the lens one uses has very heavy fount elements, it sometimes has a tendency to swing around the pole and unscrew itself, but for me it is not much more signigagant then with any other monopod, and personally it is really a very minor complaint. Durability wise I have tried to abuse the poles, but they still look fairly new. This is despite torking the pole in trapped placements, using it to beat back tree limbs, fencing, and numerous encounters with rock. The only thing worth noting here is that when using the poles with metal edged skis, I found it to be worthwhile to tape the bottom 3-4 inches (9-12 cm) with some kind of tape, as sharp edges do scratch the poles (I found electrician's tape to work very well). The poles have taken on the usual scratches of outdoors gear, and I have found the carbon fiber lowers to be fairly scratch resistant overall and to be a nice balance between flexibility and rigidity. I found the poles to be a solidly built piece of gear, but like anything else, they have their limits. Things I Like:
Backpacking Background: I'm an avid backpacker, and have hiked through most of Canada. Because of a number of factors I tend to use heavy to mid-weight gear but am looking at moving towards lightweight backpacking. Thus far, I've always used tents, and heavyweight backpacks. I also am an avid white-water paddler, long distance canoeist, and in the winter ski downhill, cross-country (skate and classic), climb (rock and ice), and with luck this winter I'll learn to snowshoe. Read more reviews of Black Diamond gear Read more gear reviews by Robert Patterson Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > Black Diamond Carbon Fiber Flicklocks > Rob Patterson > Long Term Report | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||