Black Diamond- Trekking Pole Fail

One of the pair of my Black Diamond Carbon Corks bent.  It now requires a fair amount of elbow grease to extend and collapse it.  I’m surprised because I thought carbon fiber does not bend, it breaks.

I had a set of the Black Diamond Z poles fail at the silicon joint.  I got the exact same polite, but unsatisfactory, response.  I no longer use poles.

This button failure seems to be common.  I have a pair.  Do they fail during a hike, or when you are trying to open or fold them?   Thanks

I’ve had three few pairs of the Distance Carbon Z over the last few years. Along the way:

One pole had a failure where the internal tensioning cord attaches to the pole body (perhaps similar to Matt’s failure). This was within the warranty period, and BD covered the replacement.

One pole’s metal button rusted in a manner similar to Russ’s. This was outside the warranty period. I didn’t reach out to BD.

I broke the tip off of another pole. This was outside the warranty period. I didn’t reach out to BD.

I’ll continue to use these for fast and light endeavors, simply because I haven’t found anything better (light, collapsible, has wrist straps).

I do wish the failures like the rusted button and internal epoxy failures didn’t plague the design. It doesn’t seem like those are related to the weight/durability sacrifice one obviously makes with poles like this–seems like perhaps just poor design.

This button failure seems to be common. I have a pair. Do they fail during a hike, or when you are trying to open or fold them? Thanks

My button failure occurred while my poles were sitting in my garage. I think it was an older pole that I wasn’t using. At some point, I looked closer at it, and noticed that the button was corroded and didn’t depress anymore.

One could try to nurse some WD-40 into the area surrounding the bottom to see if it could be freed. I haven’t tried.

Arthur – Mine failed before a hike….In the broken down position, the button is in the depressed position inside the handle. When I extended the poles, the button remained depressed and stuck. I suppose I can clamp or epoxy the pole in a fixed position, but the whole  point of these poles was to be able to collapse them in a suitcase for travel.

Russ

I have one the of the early Z models (aluminum). One of the buttons froze in place long ago. I love the balance of these poles, but just about nothing else. The grips are too skinny. The little baskets are useless as baskets, but hang on brush like fish hooks. The straps are annoyingly right/left-specific and wear out rapidly, requiring annual replacement. I finally bought something else when I realized I had paid for the poles twice with all the strap replacements.

Failure at the trail is the worst considering i use them for my tent.  I was thinking of putting some of my bike chain oil on it that leaves a wax coating to keep the water off.  It will probably attract dirt and make it jam.

Just for fun, I put a little WD-40 on the corroded button, and worked on it a bit. It now works just fine. Although the visible corrosion isn’t very confidence-inspiring.

Interestingly,  I attempted to cut and paste my comments above as a 1-star review on the BD website….just got a note back after 2 days saying it couldn’t be posted because I didn’t meet their website guidelines. Just might explain why there are so many 5-star reviews and little else!

I’m surprised by how they’re handling this, although I have to say it seems reasonable to offer 40% off a new pair to make up for a product that failed well out of the warranty period.

I’m 100% with you on the fact that it shouldn’t have happened, just FWIW, but I don’t know that I would have expected much more from a brand that doesn’t give lifetime warranties.  We’re collectively spoiled by brands like Osprey and others that repair or replace our gear no matter what.  BD is the odd one out here, and while I think from a business strategy perspective they’d be better off following the industry trend, I don’t think they’re being necessarily unreasonable.

I’m still surprised though, because when one of the plastic shrouds on the clip of my Carbon Corks came off, they sent me an entirely new pair of poles, no questions asked.  So now I have two 100% functional sets of BD poles.  Why you were treated so differently, I have no idea…

@ Adam.  My observation is that a 12 months warranty for defects is pretty standard in the industry.

Osprey is exceptional because they want to be exceptional, and they focus on making packs. After a snow camping trip, I slammed my SUV rear hatch on my Osprey Aether belt and broke the buckle, sent Osprey a photo, a week later a new buckle showed up on the mail.

But back to the original post. I bought my BD pole years ago when they first came out. I have not had the failure described above. At launch, BD was pitching that the Z pole was based on the same design as their avalanche probes. I wonder if they have changed the design or the materials?  Or the contract manufacturer changed something up and the quality control/supply chain managers were not looking…..