Trekking Poles / Balance Poles

Anyone used the FA Ibex Ultralight Carbon Trekking/Running Poles? What’s your opinion?
I read through the previous posts regarding trekking poles but no mention of these.

I prefer the Black Diamond FLZ carbon poles and use more as a balance pole than a trekking pole.
BD are obviously a lot more expensive.

I havent used the FA carbon poles but can recommend Naturehike for well priced and lightweight trekking poles. I have this one and it works https://www.naturehike.co.za/collections/trekking-poles/products/carbon-aluminium-trekking-pole In my research a year ago Naturehike came out tops in terms of the price to weight ratio

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Fizan makes great poles and are lighter than most carbon offerings. Cape union mart stocked them but I see they are the manufacturer of their K-way ones now.

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Thanks Gerrie. The price is good and so is the weight. I might give these a go.
Is that grip foam or rubber Gerrie?

Thank you.

I haven’t given the FA Ibex a try, but have been fairly happy with the Hyrax so far. Which seem to be a carbon/fibre glass mix. A bit cheaper, apparently the same weight. Not much to say to be honest. Works, hasn’t failed me yet, nice length as a tent pole as well. Wish it was a bit lighter, would have preferred a cork grip, and the adjustment on the strap is not the best. But the strap/grip setup is the same on like 70% of these I find. I do like having the long grip though, ability to shorten the pole up hill without fiddling.

If the ability to packup small is not a huge issue I think I would still give the Hyrax a proper look, more substantive looking grip and strap to me. Fizan makes good stuff as well, but personally not sold on twist locks. The long hiking communities always seem iffy on them in terms of gumming up versus flip locks.

Going to throw in two random options. If you wanted to save a crazy amount of money. Decathlon MH500. R270, 240g, 7075 aluminum and a full length grip. Not the best of anything, but crazy good deal there.

Bit more expensive but even with shipping and import off amazon the Cascade mountain trek carbon poles seem like a good deal. Great rep, two poles for less than the price of one BD. Issue would be no local rep.

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@stu I am not completely sure whether it is foam or rubber. Would almost think it is a dense foam. I dont have any issues with the handle material after using the pole in summer, winter, wet and dry

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Thank you.

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Hey Stu, I frequently use these on mid to longer distance mountain runs and haven’t been disappointed yet.

Very satisfied with the price vs quality of these - I’m rather clumsy and have dropped them accidentally from some rocky heights a few times (and held my breath thinking that they will definitely get damaged) - but no dice! Would definitely recommend.

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@Dene_CPT Thank you so much.

Hi Everyone. Thanks for all your input in this thread. It has come up just at the right time for me.

Based on the above feedback out of the following which would you go for?

  1. Cascade Mountain Tech Trekking Poles - Carbon Fiber Strong @ R1,771.04 for two.
  2. K-Way Expedition Series Aconcagua Ultra Carbon Trekking Pole @ R1598 for two
  3. Nature Hike ST06 Carbon Aluminium Trekking Pole @ R1398 for two.

Or are there better options at this price point?

My bias for buying local (honestly, Jeff Bezos doesn’t need more money) and definitely preferring clip-locks over twist locks leaves the Nature Hike poles as the only option. Curious as to why the First Ascent Hyrax isn’t on your radar?