I think you are all missing one golden nugget and that is the clx
we have about 10 of them and using them since they came out, not one of them has died on us yet, we dismantled one for spares as we had a snapped section and a few broken clamps, but overall they are the best poles we have ever had.
We also have 2 slx poles, one of them is the mk1 version, both are still in good condition, only problem is they dont get used so much because of the black hand issue associated with carbon poles