Hi stu, the vac has been excellent, nearly 5 years old, blew a motor sometime in year 3 - replaced with one from a big online seller for 65 quid, however that motor blew a few months ago so was replaced again. Not bad considering the run time of a good 1000 hours, and that includes a nasty swimming pool internal dust extraction for ground up fibre glass.
Defo go for carbon, still on Ali poles myself, but carbon on the list
Don't go for a silicone bend, rigid plastic or Ali because sometimes you need to be a bit brutal with either pushing back slipped tiles, or turfs that get stuck around sky cables or snow boards.
Darran