Review on Experience Unmatched Stability On Your Next Adventure With Foxelli Collapsible Trekking Poles by David Carter

I'm honestly writing this review because they sent me a picture of a raccoon (big fan) asking for a recommendation. I might not have, because god knows our only value to our new AI overlords is how we rate things on a 1 to 5 system and I've been playing hard to get lately. But! This note came with a fanny pack! Its pretty dope too. Big ups for the useful swag. Anyway, my review of the poles are as follows:I would recommend buying these poles as a first time user. They are inexpensive and functional. For some unblessed reason hiking poles jump from this price to +$99 and usually hover around $150. I assume it is for weight and the quality of components but, let's be honest, there isn't $20 dollars worth of materials in any of these things. For the record I've used these poles for about 40 miles over 3 hikes thus far.Handles: I like the cork handles over that other stuffy black material that they use. It reminds me of having to sit on the floor in 2nd grade next to the chalk board and getting schmutz on my hands. I didn't come out to the mountains to feel I'm still in timeout for talking too much. TLDR I think the cork is better. It is dry however, I think I'm going to get vasoline on my hands and see if I can work it in a little bit.Straps: I'm new to poles and have been trying different techniques to make their use easier. Don't you laugh. That being said, the straps are a very basic material that has been effective so far. I am bothered by the fact that they are eternally uneven as they used the same unidirectional strap for each side. I've thought about replacing them but am more likely to just buy different poles in the future.Shaft: Pretty basic. They seem light enough to me. I'm 250 pounds with a full pack so I'd prefer to have studier construction over lightweight in this case. I've been on snow, gravel, dirt and roots thus far and haven't noticed them bend. They are in need of stickers however :)Hardware: The poles extend or retract in two sections which are fastened by a screw to pre-tighten a locking latch. They appear to be metal enough that I haven't had too much trouble with them. Cheap hardware is one of the greatest nuisances. I think that I've only had them come loose twice. The first time I attribute to user error and the second time I forcefully shoved the pole into the ground. IDK what I was doing, likely I didn't like the way a bug was looking at me. In any case, they hold pretty well considering my weight and occasional rage.Baskets: This part was a little disappointing for me. The threading for the baskets is cheap plastic and it wasn't long before I got a pole stuck and subsequently ripped the smaller of the two sets of baskets right from the pole. Now the connector piece is stuck on the pole and the basket is useless. I wish better components were used in this area. It seems obvious that people are going to get a pole stuck at some point and losing an important component which you can't switch out is a big loss. This is the area where I really felt that I got what I paid for with a cheaper set of poles. For now though, I've gone back to the rubber nubs and its been ok.Conclusion: If you are a beginner like me, its nuts to spend $200 on poles. Give a pair like this a shot to figure out what you like with this piece of equipment for serious hiking in the future, if you like using poles at all (word up to you crazy mountain spandex/trail runners only people), or if the couch is your mountain and you just need poles for the Instagram hikes that happen once a year.Personally, using poles has changed the way I see hiking and I'm glad to have these ones for the moment.Thanks for the fanny pack.