Having had a demo of the Elite poles, and as a fan of Gardiners, I can give you an idea of the poles from a Gardiners fan boy bias...
The pole is strong, robust and as light as you would expect from a CF pole.
The size of the clamps restricts the closed length of the pole yes, but the pole is a bit cheaper than an SLX.
In summary, it's a reasonably priced CF pole, that will do a good job for you.
They are not a direct equivalent to Alex's poles, so its unfair to comapre them as such.