I've just bought a new carbon fibre pole from Brodex. It's the Hydra 31ft for £323.00 + vat.
Just used it for 2 weeks so far.
What do you think so far?
The Hydra pole is certainly very stiff and feels substantial.
At first it was a little ponderous to extend due to the lacquer on the sections, but as it beds in it's been getting a lot smoother - I wonder how quickly it is going to wear though?
It feels heavier than the quoted weight of 2.6kg indicates. It would feel heavier if you used the extremely heavy tubing they always supply - (why advertise as a lightweight pole and supply something so heavy to increase it's weight?)
The collapsed size is reasonably short - no where near comparable to the slx though.
I bought it because I couldn't wait any longer for the SL-X to come in - and with not even a hint of when it may be available I had no idea how long I would be expected to wait either.
I would say though for the money it is a fantastic pole though not the class leader their sales people seem to think it is.
I would never waste time using a fiberglass pole - it's false economy in the end and may well ruin your back prematurely.