Recently, while at Costco, I came across a killer deal: Costco is selling carbon fiber trekking poles for $27! So I bought a pair, stripped them down (removed the strap, basket, etc.) and weighed each pole in at 7.1 oz. Although they are no longer offered at Costco, they can be purchased on Amazon.com (click here).
If you have any thoughts of using poles for hiking and backpacking, these are a great find and probably worth checking out.
I use trekking poles to help take pressure off my knees on the down hills, makes the uphills easier, helps me balance, especially on tricky trails and stream crossings. They also serve as my tarp/tent poles, monopod for taking photos and is a handy duct tape dispenser. Talk about multipurpose! Here is a review from Andrew Skurka>>
While removing the plastic basket from one of the poles, I broke the tip off. It seemed to break a little too easy, so I returned the poles to Costco–no questions asked. I haven’t used the poles in the field yet but will report on them as soon as I do.
Since I got the replacement poles, I’ve put on about 100 miles. No problems. So far, I really like the poles.