Definately not operator error with one of my xtreme poles, it had just worn thin on one side for some reason 10 months old pole using it snapped, religiously stripped it every few weeks washed it retaped and dry ptf sprayed it, now I just expect around 12 months then I’ll get a new pole.
£700 for a pole that lasts around that time and makes the money it does for us I can’t be bothered stripping it too much now as long as I don’t hear it getting gritty, only thing I can think of with others not snapping sections is they don’t do as much work as some of us so the poles don’t get nailed as much as none of us know how much work each of us do!