Contributions by Daniel Nelson (2)

I've climbed on a few styles of hexes and these are my favorite. The curved head shape makes for better placements, and better opportunity to set them in a passive cam position (as opposed to the straight-sided BD hexes). The wire is a bit of a trade off over a hex that's completely on a sling (like a wild country) since it can get in the way a bit while you're trying to maneuver it into a delicate location. You can usually work around this though, and having the stiffness of the wire makes it easer to slot it in a deeper crack that you can't fully get your hand in. All around, great in my opinion.

I got these poles late season so I haven't had a chance to really beat on them yet, but so far so good. The really nice thing about them is the size. With three segments they collapse down to easily fit on the side of a pack without changing the overall profile so you're not likely to be catching on trees or hitting your head when you look up. The half powder baskets are great for sloping terrain, and I'm completely sold on the flick lock system for adjusting length. It's so easy to use even with gloves on. I can't see the purpose of buying any other type of adjust design at this point. The one thing I haven't given a great test to is the durability. That will only come with time. I could see how really leaning on them might do some damage, but you can probably say that about any pole. Overall I'm quite happy.