Evening, I'm looking for a Decent Hiking Stick / Pair? at a Reasonable price and I've looked at loads & still don't know, So if anyone can help?.
Cheers
Stay Safe
Cheers
Stay Safe
Hiking Stick help
- Thread starter Forest fella
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What do you mean by a 'hiking stick'? Are you looking for a telescopic metal one (or two) and if two are you considering Nordic walking poles?
Or, do you mean a wooden walking/trekking stick?
Or, do you mean a wooden walking/trekking stick?
As a bad hip sufferer, but no longer, I’ve used a few. If at all possible use some Hazel poles, but if you need the convenience of fold down, for convenience I got on very well with these Trekology ones. These don’t have the screw tightening of my originals, but use the clamp system. On the poles I’ve used, I don’t like the clamp system for walking tight paths or through brash because they catch on stuff and you have to tug them out. It breaks the stride and gets annoying.
So, my ultimate pole would be a tri collapsible with screw tightening in as light a material you can get.
So, my ultimate pole would be a tri collapsible with screw tightening in as light a material you can get.
Yeah I looked at those? I thought they looked like briar catchers / Pocket shredders. that being said I'm torn ''lol'' between the Folding and 1 piece sticks due to strength & play.
I don’t know if it’s of interest but I have a pair of old skool Leki Instructor carbon fibre poles I don’t use. One of the cork handles has been nibbled slightly by a puppy a few years ago, but otherwise they’re in good usable condition. Very light and strong poles, I don’t use them because they don’t telescope down much and for my use I wanted small rucksack carry.
Can‘t find any google images of the model, but the newer ones will give you an idea.
Can‘t find any google images of the model, but the newer ones will give you an idea.
Cheap or rather cost effective poles that are highly recommended by gear reviewers are mountain king super trekkers. UK company and supposedly UK made too. Good features include very comfortable straps, light and extended handle grip for when climbing a steep bit and need to drop your grip down the pole.
I got a pair when it was twist lock but I noticed in a magazine review recently the photograph showed it was now a clamp system. BTW the clamp system is actually more secure than twist lock. I've had twist lock loosen as I put load on a pole once. I fell forward when the lock suddenly failed when my weight was on the pole. The clamps are very compact too.
Modern poles that get the best reviews despite their very high prices are the ones where they fold like tent poles with just one clamp for minor height adjustment. I've never tried them or the pacer poles with the heavily moulded habd grips.
I got a pair when it was twist lock but I noticed in a magazine review recently the photograph showed it was now a clamp system. BTW the clamp system is actually more secure than twist lock. I've had twist lock loosen as I put load on a pole once. I fell forward when the lock suddenly failed when my weight was on the pole. The clamps are very compact too.
Modern poles that get the best reviews despite their very high prices are the ones where they fold like tent poles with just one clamp for minor height adjustment. I've never tried them or the pacer poles with the heavily moulded habd grips.
There are various things to be considered, chief amongst them how durable it is and how well it will bear your weight over time without weakening or fatiguing, worst thing to happen is if it were to suddenly give way. I use a stick as an actual walking aid on a daily basis wherever I go, which is different from one which would be used only on an occasional hike, what you certainly don't want with the collapsible type is it telescoping on itself when you least want it to.
I am using cheap as chips ' The FitLife ' poles and I have hammered them to report so far, surprisingly, they're doing well through being used mostly for hard pavement pounding - yay nordic walking and recently out on the moors where they also served as a bog prodders. Early on I bent the lower section on one of them when I got it caught in something, to just bend it back. But they are going to be 'improved' now I have discovered what needs improving, mostly comfort items pertaining to the grips and 'wrist' straps, one traction item - softer compound tips as the ones supplied are in my opinion too hard to cause the tips to on occasion slide on hard pavement to lose a power stroke, but also one safety item - reflective tape for country lanes at night.
Got mine as I have a bit of an iffy hip, to find they do indeed help with that, to find when I get a bit of a rhythm going, it's like using an full body arc trainer.
Got mine as I have a bit of an iffy hip, to find they do indeed help with that, to find when I get a bit of a rhythm going, it's like using an full body arc trainer.
I have seen an article where they measured the energy consumption in walking with and without sticks. Sticks are useful, they save you some energy at a certain speed or you can walk faster. That depends on the terrain though, stone fields and bramble do not favour them.
A Kis Fokos or boar spear are more stylish walking sticks.
A Kis Fokos or boar spear are more stylish walking sticks.
On the clay/grass hills around here a good stick is a necessity - hazel, ash, thorn - my current favourite is made from yew root 
If you're using a walking pole, or even worse, two walking poles, you're assumed to be a towny tourist!
If you're using a walking pole, or even worse, two walking poles, you're assumed to be a towny tourist!
Well I'm a Forester born & bread and I have got runner's Knee at the minute and with No disrespect I didn't want to use my late old mans walking stick or a hospital style stick when I'm up in the fields & woods making the most of the nice weather, that I help out locally while on furlow with patrolling the trackways in and around my neck of the woods now, due to fly tipping and the like.
Sorry FF, that wasn't a gibe, just a statement of how the locals react to people walking the fields and hills around here. The missus often uses a walking pole and took up Nordic walking a few years back although I did cut her a new hazel stick a few months back and she's using that at the moment
No probs cheers, Yeah we have the same view and what a sight it is when looking out over the fields, let alone the roads.
Still if it gets people out of the house safely and there socially distanced mainly due to there sticks / poles are up to there shoulders mostly.
Still if it gets people out of the house safely and there socially distanced mainly due to there sticks / poles are up to there shoulders mostly.
Is it some weird form of german humor, I don´t know, but you do quite often mock people for their choices of doing things.
I used to carry them for camping back when I used a tent and later a tarp that used trekking poles for support. I started off using them for walking I got fitter and more agile so stopped needing them but still carried them on my pack.
One of the last straws over using them was when I somehow got one stuck in a hole and ended up somersaulting over the top of it and landing on my feet with no more damage than a slight stretch of my wrist of the hand holding the pole. I felt lucky not to do more damage since my wrist was in the strap. There's times and terrains you use the strap on and terrains when you don't. People don't realise that poles are not always great at stabilising you on difficult terrain. They're not always the solution.
One of the last straws over using them was when I somehow got one stuck in a hole and ended up somersaulting over the top of it and landing on my feet with no more damage than a slight stretch of my wrist of the hand holding the pole. I felt lucky not to do more damage since my wrist was in the strap. There's times and terrains you use the strap on and terrains when you don't. People don't realise that poles are not always great at stabilising you on difficult terrain. They're not always the solution.
