After a few years of using BD's Trail Compact poles (one of their more basic models) I decided to "upgrade" to a carbon fiber pair with cork handles, so I bought the BD's Alpine Cork Carbon, and just for grins, I weighed them, fully expecting the spiffy cork/carbon variety to weigh several ounces less. I was in for a surprise - they weighed exactly the same - 1.175 pounds.
Over the years I've worn-out lots of poles - Komperdells (I think most of the REI house brands are made by Komperdell), Leki, and BD. I even wore out a pair Walmart poles - once you put a decent tip on them, like a BD pair for $5, they're not half-bad. Leki's are good quality, like BD's, and they have an iron-clad warranty repair/replacement policy, much better than BD's. What I don't like about Leki is their tips and internal expander mechanism are vastly overpriced. Fortunately, BD tips and baskets are interchangeable with Leki's. My biggest gripe with Komperdells is their baskets - they fall off easily. However, if you invest $10 in BD tips and baskets, the Komperdells work well, if not quite as study as others.
Overall, the BD's tend to slip a bit less (sorry, but they all can slip as even the screws on the flick-lock mechanism loosen/tighten over time). I prefer the BD's overall, especially their padded wrist strap, but after it frays/begins to fall apart it gets dicey.
Other suppliers are using a flick-lock mechanism. I saw some at Walmart recently as well.
If you're in the market for them now, look at Sunnysports. They're having an excellent sale on the BD's.
