Leki Micro Vario poles

My wife had the carbon fiber micro vario ones and they were fine…. until they started to fail.  Basically, after 500 miles the pin that holds them together would randomly fail to stay in place.  Usually this happened precisely at an inopportune time (i.e. when you trip and abruptly put a lot of weight on the pole).  It got worse when we were on snow in the sierra’s and given that the failure mode was ‘catastrophic’ instead of ‘the pole slips a little’ she had to stop using them when on snow and I just gave her one of mine.  I think the problem was that the pin and it’s respective hole were not reinforced with a hard enough material/strong enough, and they wore together from the impacts of using the poles on rocks.

We called Leki told them that the pole were failing in a failure mode that was absolutely unacceptable and that we wanted replacements that were fully flick locks.  Leki was very nice about it and shipped a new pair of the fully flick lock poles to an address of our choosing.

Maybe they have fixed the problem by now (1.5 years later), or maybe we just had defective poles.  But I cannot recommend that style of pole given its likely type of failure.  I think her current poles are the Carbon TI and she is quite happy with them thus far.

Just my 2 cents.

I see that Z-packs just came out with a relatively inexpensive and very light adjustable carbon pole. 6.7 oz for $50 is pretty good. I have been using the Kompdells Ultralight Vario 4 and I like them, although I have struggled with a micro-adjustment on one pole I can never get just right. They feature an aluminum section at the bottom which I think wise, as I can well imagine carbon fiber breaking when leveraged against a rock while walking. One decision is whether you prefer a three-section or telescoping pole. The sections when folded are shorter and can pack nicely; the telescopes are slightly less hassle, probably faster to put together.

Worth noting: the Komperdell warranty is three years, Z-Packs only one year.

Thanks everyone. I was interested in the the 3-section poles, but it looks like they are not as reliable as the telescoping poles. I have a telescoping pair now and love them but they need replacing. maybe I just need something lighter. The reason for the 3-section poles is for travel, but I need something that is reliable. I have seen so many Leki poles go back to the company for repairs.

Ok, so thanks to Cameron, I found a nice pair of Komperdell C3 carbon powerlock for women on sale at REI garage for $110 and they telescope down to 22″ which is a perfect compromise for what I wanted in a pole.

A little late to the party here, but I’m wondering if you saw Black Diamond’s Distance Carbon FLZ poles? These come in 3 different lengths, each with 15 cm of adjustable range.  (Sounds like you were looking at the “Z” poles, which as you noted are fixed length.  “FLZ” is their adjustable “flicklock” technology.)  The three sections of these poles are joined together, somewhat reminiscent of avalanche probes, but they deploy rapidly and can be adjusted as they wear.

I bought a pair of these for a hike along the Colorado Trail, assuming they would be somewhat disposable since they are so light.  BUT they have held up for many trips and have become my go-to trekking poles when weight savings are paramount.  I have been very pleased with the quality of these poles.

Jenny, I did see them and I was reading about how easily they break. It’s good to know that they work for you. If the poles I ordered don’t work for me, I will reconsider the BD’s.  Are they a woman’s grip or unisex?

Jenny, I just ordered those poles from REI and will compare the two and decide. They are on sale and a bit cheaper than the Komps. Of course, they are purple because it’s made for women. I wish these companies would consider other colors as unisex like green, orange, anything other than pink and purple.

I owned the older non-adjustable BD Carbon Distance poles and loved them except that they were not adjustable and I really like adjusting the height for the situation. The BD snap-in-place system is less onerous than the Komperdell screw system for sure. A quick google of reviews show that many BD carbon poles have broken in the field, and that BD has responded by bringing out a 2018 model with “greater durability and stiffness”. I know that for the oftentimes vertical off-trail situations I am now pursuing, I value the Komperdell construction with the bottom shaft of aluminum, which for normal trail use is probably less important. BTW another reason I went with the Komperdells is that mine top out at 145 cm, which is handy for my tarps.

The pervasive pink-purple girlie color thing is unfortunate.

Cameron, I did try those poles in the store but I am between sizes ( 106 cm) so I needed something adjustable. As it turned out, I went to my REI account to order the Distance FLZ poles, but in aluminum which has a women’s smaller grip and adjustable, and noticed that my Komperdell order never went through, so I deleted that order and got the BD’s.

I can live with purple.

Donna, that was probably a good decision to go with the aluminum FLZ’s.  Carbon fiber breaks, aluminum bends, and the weight difference between the two materials is not that large.  My carbon FLZ’s are unisex, but the grip seems to fit my smallish hand just fine.  As with most of my gear, I use them but don’t abuse them, so I generally don’t have trouble with breakages.  Most of the time.  Hope you find something that meets your needs.

Oh, and I replaced the rubber tips that come on the poles with the included carbide/metal tech tips.  You will find them tucked into a small pocket on the inside of the velcro strap.  Some people feel that the rubber tips make less of an impact on trails, but I find that the carbide tips are much more secure when the pole is planted and I do not want to risk a fall.

I was going to comment earlier about seeing a few carbon poles showing nasty scratches and such, as well as a couple of broken ones that were returned at my work.

I’d much rather have Al personally.  Mine are years old, and only failed when i didn’t have any baskets on, and my pole post-holed right when I slid down hill.  The bottom section bent clean in half.  I pulled off the broken end and just used the nub for a few trips afterwards. (after lengthening the pole accordingly) It never stopped working, and I actually had pretty good grip on the ground.

I have to agree about aluminum. I have been caught numerous times where the pole would flex when I needed the support from getting stuck between rocks or sliding and held fast. I thought I would try these poles but keep my clunkers. As for the tips, I prefer the carbon because its all I know. It works. No sense changing them for rock scrambles unless I know that’s all the trail is about. Thanks for the “tip” on the tips.  : )

The poles arrived today! Talk about fast…anyway, they are perfect! Very light and fit me like a glove. Fast set up, too. No more measuring slowly adjusting bottom and top poles. Easy peasy. Strap design leaves much to be desired though. Horrible. Not sure why they did what they did. I can see it breaking from the thin string it is attached to. It doesn’t even go into the handle like other straps.

Instead of shoveling the snow from my driveway, I may just take them out for a walk.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Time to hike!!