Ascent SL

I have used these poles for about 3 months now. I must say that I think I have noticed that my knees do not hurt quite as much anymore. The shock absorbers seem to work pretty well. The downside, I have found is user knowledge-deficit. I have had to replace my set once already. Thank GOD for REI's 100% satisfaction return policy. The problem I have seen with these, is that they can be overtightened if you do not know how to use them entirely correctly. This causes the internal locking mechanism to crack and thus you can lose one half of your trekking pole. However, if you have the saleperson show you the correct way to tighten them, I'm sure it will increase the lifetime of your poles. The other upside to these poles is that the length is adjustable. This works great for steep slopes. I have shortened the length of one while keeping the length of the other a bit longer. It makes for great stability when traversing these steep slopes. They can also act as an effective brake for glissading if you don't have an ice ax with you.

I just got a new pair of this model and have only used them a couple of times. They're the first trekking poles I've had with a shock absorption system and I like the feature. However, as mentioned in 2skinners' review, the lock/unlock, tightening system is not very intuitive and you have to be careful so you don't screw up the mechanism. For $100 I expected to be better accomodated on the learning curve. They are lightweight, that's a plus. But I'm still reserving judgment on this model for awhile.

very good for a while before issues began to arise...if it were not for the people at rei routinely fixing them for free they would likely have ended up in the trash...some of the newer replacements have fixed up some previous problems however