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My walmart poles lasted a good couple hundred miles before i trashed them a few days ago. My biggest complaint was that the straps slipped once wet, and the twist lock system is not my favorite. They still did their job and I did get my money out of them. I fell pretty hard on a downhill during some rain earlier this week and bent one of the poles pretty badly. Now I have an excuse to "upgrade" to something a little nicer. Thanks for the heads up on those cascade mountain tech poles, I might check those out.
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I have the Cascade poles and love them. I finally upgraded to those after to sets of wally world poles, which served their purpose and now lend them to friends. I originally got the poles for the sole purpose to pitch my hammock tarp in lean-to mode and then used one and then started to use both while hiking. I am so glad that I started to use them because of the benefit of balance while walking and the assist from stream crossings to downhill. I would say that the biggest difference I notice is weight and the comfortability. Just starting out i would recommend to get a cheaper pole so you know if you are going to use them or not. After you use them and know what a difference poles make then go ahead and invest in a nice set of hiking poles.