My New Favorite Trekking Poles (Black Diamond Alpine Carbon vs Leki Micro Vario vs Zpacks UL)

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hey y'all dixie here today i want to talk to you about my new favorite trekking poles for 2021. recently during my through hike of the pinnhote trail i tested out a couple of new trekking pole brands at least new to me trekking pole brands and i actually liked both of them so i'm going to cover several different sets of trekking poles today but my now go to for 2021 is the women's lekki micro vario carbon trekking pole that is a mouthful i don't know why they get so crazy with these trekking pole names one of the pros of these trekking poles is their packability they break down more so than any other trekking pole i've had before so they're very compact and i feel like that would be good if you're traveling a lot with them also if maybe you pack them up on a long distance hike to put them in your pack and you're gonna hit your ride to town sometimes having trekking poles that don't break down as much can be more of a hazard so i like the way that these can pack down and really kind of tuck away also they're really lightweight they're about a pound for the pair so eight ounces a piece yet they feel durable i didn't have any issues with the lock slipping and i use them i believe for about 150 to 200 miles next they are extremely comfortable as far as the grips go i normally prefer a cork grip on trekking poles just because i feel like they absorb sweat well and they don't leave my hands feeling just greasy and like they never get dry like foam or rubber grips can do but these i have to say are different they kind of have a suede type texture to them but they're the most soft and comfortable grips that i've ever felt on a trekking pole and they don't give me that sweaty clammy feeling and just an fyi there is a one-year warranty on lucky's carbon shaft trekking poles and a lifetime warranty on the aluminum shaft trekking poles now for the cons because of course there are pros and cons to everything the extension length on these trekking poles isn't going to be as long as unisex or men's trekking poles because they're made for women and women are typically shorter than men so to get that 90 degree angle that you're looking for in your elbows you have to make sure that you're within the range that these trekking poles are meant for i'm 5'8 and they work pretty well for me fully extended so if you're much taller than that they may not work out well for you also if you are within that range five eight ish maybe even five nine you could get by with them but or shorter if you have a shelter that uses trekking poles to set up then it could be an issue and something that you want to double check a lot of shelters that set up using trekking poles recommend having more height than these women's lekkis can offer but that is true of the tarp tint stratosphere elysium that i used and also the z-packs triplex but i set both of those up using the women's lucky trekking poles and they worked fine but of course if you like having more headroom then they might limit you a little bit on that but i didn't really notice a big difference and finally they are an expensive set of trekking poles coming in at 200 lucky does make a specific men's version trekking pole but i don't know that they have the same comfortable grip so if any of you men have used those or even women let me know if they've got that suede-like feel and they just seem to fit perfectly in your hands all right so if i was taller or for some reason the shelter i had needed longer trekking poles and for whatever reason i couldn't use the women's lucky trekking poles then i would go back to old trusty my black diamond alpine carbon cork trekking poles i use those trekking poles for over 5 000 miles i recommend them they're just a good solid set of trekking poles they've been very dependable and i never had any issues with slipping from the locks again i like the court grips so those feel comfortable in my hands also as i talked about before they keep my hands from feeling slimy when they sweat and it's just a set of trekking poles that i've really loved and with those you don't have the same extension length height issues that you have with the women's lucky's and the only real con in my opinion to that set of trekking poles is that they are also a bit on the expensive side at about 170 dollars per pair another pair of trekking poles that i tested out on the penn trail is the zpax ultralight carbon fiber trekking pole i feel like that's much more straightforward they're really lightweight one of them weighs 7.2 to 7.7 ounces depending on what type of grips you get they've got cork and they've also got foam so the foam are the 7.2 and the cork the 7.7 one of the interesting thing about the z-packs trekking poles is they offer them individually and i've never seen anybody do that before so for an individual poll you can get it for 59 or for the pair they're 99 and i thought that this was a really cool option because i know some people just want one trekking pole kind of as a walking stick yet more lightweight some people might not be trekking pole enthusiasts yet they have a shelter that sets up using only one trekking pole so in this instance it would make sense for you to just get the one trekking pole and it's nice because if you only want one trekking pole you're not paying for the pair and then having two when you're only taking one out on trail i use this set of trekking poles for a little over 100 miles or so i didn't notice any sort of slipping from the trekking pole and it seems like a pretty decent pair of trekking poles that are also more on the budget-friendly side of things as for the cons of the z-packs trekking poles they didn't feel quite as sturdy to me and they almost had a little bit more of a vibration than some of the other sets of trekking poles that i've used and of course i didn't perform any strength testing on these and you know i can't back that up with an experiment or numbers but it's just something about the way that they felt again i didn't have any issues and i think that they would make it just fine for a lot of miles of trekking but just compared to other trekking poles that i've used for thousands of miles also the locks on this set of trekking poles are plastic so while i still think if one were to snap off partially you could still operate the lock and figure out a way to make it work that is something that made me a bit hesitant but again they are on the budget friendly side of things and you usually get what you pay for finally if you're looking for a set of trekking poles that's decent for under 25 dollars then you might want to check out the cascade mountain tech aluminum trekking poles i got a pair on amazon for 22.99 and i carried them with me when i did the pine mountain trail at the end of last summer with my whole budget gear set up that was less than 500 dollars and as i mentioned the pros they're very lightweight and i liked the cork grips on the trekking poles again that's a personal preference but they are available in court grips and then as far as the cons go i did have to do a little bit of surgery on them before they were ready to go i had actually started testing them out on another hack and i noticed they were slipping on me a lot so once i got home i tightened up the screws and that made the locks more firm and i didn't have any more problems with them slipping when i was on the pine mountain trail so i used them for about 40 miles or so and i would say that they're definitely good for a beginner set of trekking poles all right y'all that is all i have for y'all today on trekking poles and some of my favorites and my new go-to's for 2021 i love to hear about y'all's favorite trekking poles if you want to leave in the comments below your go-to pair and why you really like those it might help some folks who are trying to decide what trekking poles they should get thanks for watching y'all and we'll see you next time
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Channel: Homemade Wanderlust
Views: 56,518
Rating: 4.9702601 out of 5
Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Dixie, Camino, trekking poles, leki, black diamond, zpacks, budget
Id: hHR9tdKo4BE
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Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)
Published: Wed Feb 03 2021
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