Sean, my brodex 18ft ally pole is brilliant, i feel its the brush's that let them down as they weigh in at around 500g, i use a gardiner super lite 250g on my brodex 18 ally and its brilliant. Doesnt feel much heavier than my clx 18 And its a lot more rigid than any carbon pole you can buy.
They defo need to upgrade there brush's though as it makes all the difference IMO