Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z

[Jeffrey Wong]

This Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z may have descended from the BD Ultra Distance. Not having used/owned both, I started another product thread. I used these for over 900 miles on the Oregon and Washington PCT. One pole "broke" 80 miles short of the end of my walk. PROS: #Compact #Stiff, no vibration. #Excellent balance. The poles responded quickly to flicks of the wrist. #Light CONS: #the grooves on the grips can hurt until after they've worn or you've filed the edges. #the straps can cut into the skin. Straps haven't evolved on trekking poles as they have on Nordic ski poles. Wearing gloves helps some. #the tip on one pole unscrewed & fell off–I have no idea when this happened. #The "Broken pole." The connecting insert at one joint retracted completely into a section turning the pole into junk. #the basket is 1.25" from the tip, close enough to catch roots and big rocks–it frequently stopped me dead in my tracks. This almost never happened with my BD Alpine CF poles whose baskets are 3" from the tip. BD needs to either move the baskets back or add a cone shape above the basket. #the divot in the tip basket, designed to grip another section when collapsed & keep the pole from acting like numb chucks, soon stopped gripping. #With the pole configured for action, the divot made the basket act like a two pronged fork that hit the back of my calves when I was tired. I'd suggest leaving the divot out of the baskets. #Black Diamond deserves great credit for its customer service. I received replacements within a week of getting home. That juiced my rating from 3 to 4 stars.

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