@Jo Jo, I couldn't quite believe you said this, because it certainly hasn't been my experience with twist locking mechanisms over the years. While both sets of poles I now regularly use have flick lock mechanisms, I used twist lock poles before that. So I dragged out an older twist lock pole, and compared a number of common actions. I didn't find any discernible difference when adjusting the length of the poles and collapsing them. I would expect someone who has a low grip strength or suffers from arthritis might find the twist lock more difficult, and might recommend they consider a flick lock in those circumstances. But I certainly wouldn't be recommending that for something as superficial what seems to me an indiscernible difference in time it might take to collapse the pole before walking into an albergue!
I remember committing, in some dark past, that on my next camino I would liberate a set of Pacer Poles and see if they were really as good the claims made for them.
.)You're welcome to try mine Doug.I remember committing, in some dark past, that on my next camino I would liberate a set of Pacer Poles and see if they were really as good the claims made for them.
That and reconsidering whether the benefits of a water bladder outweigh bottles should I see a thirsty koala on the way.
(ps - the Pacer Poles will be returned, so Pacer Pole owners need not have more than their normal level of paranoia about them being stolen
Gerard, that is a generous offer, but I leave in a couple of days, so its now too late for this trip to take you up on it. I will just be a nuisance to some unsuspecting Pacer Pole user that happens to cross my path.
Really happy with my carbons, but then I've never tried alloys. I get the feeling that some folks think carbons will snap under pressure, and alloys will only bend, and can then be forced back straight, albeit damaged.
You seem to have confused the noisiness of the Pacer Pole devotees with them actually being in the majority. Let me assure you that they are far from that. Not that Pacer Poles are a poor choice - I don't think that. But you will find that when it comes to voting with money and purchasing them, Pacer Poles users are still a tiny minority of pole users. I don't recall seeing one set of Pacer Poles in all of my pilgrimage walks in Europe, although, as is clear, there is a vocal minority here that advocate loudly for them.
I had and after about 1000km still have no-name carbon poles. Were advertised as lightweight, have cork handles. No problem. And I accidentally did step on them in the middle while both ends were resting on higher place, like on a pole bridge. Nothing happened to the poles, no bends, no damage. I'm more than on the heavy side.
