Companion forum thread to:

CAMP Xenon 4 Pole Review

i heartily applaud BPL for this type of review ... instead of burying it like other mags/sites

this tells me what NOT to buy, which saves me money and headaches

Fizan poles then.
Will be interesting to read OMM Kamleika Race Smock review

this is the first time i see "Not Recommended" rating in a BPL review. I thought "Average" was the lowest.

CAMP seems to make a lot of good stuff, too bad they blew it on these poles. I've been happy with all the other CAMP products I have: axe, crampons, belay gloves, windshirt, some carabiners and quickdraws.

The BD poles are certainly a nice alternative, although hard to justify at full retail compared to the Fizan or GG LTs even. I found them on sale and have been happy with them.

Edited by brawa on 11/02/2011 09:55:55 MDT.

"the lightest crappy trekking poles in the world!"

As someone who's 6'6 240 and actively looking to buy a set of poles, thank you for the review and letting the rest of us know what the cons of this set is!

-mox

Excellent review Danny. Ever since we developed the BPL pole stiffness test, I've used this on many, many poles. The original Gossamer Gear Lightek poles (now discontinued) were the most flexible I ever tested with just over 9cm of flex in the test. Most have been less than 5cm. But 15?!? Wow, that is extremely flexible. Thanks for the info.

For comparison, a chart is included in this review for those that are interested:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/gg_lightrek3.html

This is what I expect from a review. Call it like it is. Light but not really made for trekking either. Thanks Danny for saving us from possible injury, not only bodily, but financially too!

Doug, nice to see you around.

Thanks for posting this review. Very good info. I especially like how all the qualitative observations are supported so well with the BPL stiffness test. 38cms of flex (before becoming permanently damaged) is nuts.

Thanks for the review Danny. I'll know to avoid those particular poles in the future. Since you guys get these products free, sometimes I wonder if the reviews are slanted, but it has been my experience that the reviews in BPL are accurate. Based on your earlier review, I ordered the Fizan Compact poles from a company in the UK. I have been very happy with them. A friend of mine told me he wished he had got them instead of his expensive carbon fiber poles.

Ouch! I had to wince at those photos of the failures. I would love to be a fly on the wall at Camp product development when that comes across their desk. I think it is a fair review too. Trekking poles are one item that has a real safety factor: if your pack fails it is one thing, but a broken pole at the wrong time and place could have catastrophic results.


I know there are fixed-length carbon poles out there-- is anyone making fixed-length aluminum poles? The alpine ski industry has cranked them out for decades. They are more robust than most hikers would demand and could be lightened a great deal.

Actually I think (I might be wrong), but BPL gave the original SPoT unit a not recommended,