I'm reluctant to buy a pole in the winter as I feel that's when it gets hammered with grit through the pole and on the sections,this last couple of months after most jobs it's been full of it inside the pole and polehose.The metal clamping points on the extreme they did were a real benefit of prolonging the life of the pole they cause a bigger ridge at each section making grit very difficult to build up,on a clamp anywhere pole the grit builds up during each job and literally eats away at the sections especially in the winter months. IMO this will shorten the life of the pole drastically as all the other poles I've had have been ruined due to grit build up at the sections causing them to split before the true end of there life,is this the reason for re introducing it in half the time you need to buy another one. I've not heard a good reason for changing the pole back to clamp anywhere on the sections,I really can't see it being needed on any work with a pole so light and easy to use its a bit like saying here's an extreme but you also need to buy a mini pole for downstairs when you don't coz the extreme poles are a complete up and downstairs pole coz they are so light and easy to use.