Training & Nutrition - What's a good Trekking pole for hiking?

Hi,
I have started doing a little hiking.
To keep doing it, I need some of those new fangled poles.
A guy I know swears by the Black Diamond Trekking Poles.
Backpacker really likes the Super Makalus.

I am thinking the antishock poles may not be the thing for me.
These will be short hikes, I want them to make life easier on my knees.
I suspect the control will be better without the antishock, and the vigorous
hiking I imagine the Makalus are designed for is not something I will be doing at all. I'll be walking softly, and slowly.

But now that I am ready to order, I'm just not sure. Does anyone here have experience with them? Thanks.

I'm kinda cheap sometimes - do you have a ski pole because if that fits you for skiing it's probably pretty close for hiking too. You just can't telescope it back to a smaller size.

I use these for hiking and snowshoeing. Cheaper than most poles I've seen lately.
clicky (http://www.llbean.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=1&catalogId=1&langId=-1&categoryId=35354&sc1=Search&feat=sr)

Hi,
I have started doing a little hiking.
To keep doing it, I need some of those new fangled poles.
A guy I know swears by the Black Diamond Trekking Poles.
Backpacker really likes the Super Makalus.

I am thinking the antishock poles may not be the thing for me.
These will be short hikes, I want them to make life easier on my knees.
I suspect the control will be better without the antishock, and the vigorous
hiking I imagine the Makalus are designed for is not something I will be doing at all. I'll be walking softly, and slowly.

But now that I am ready to order, I'm just not sure. Does anyone here have experience with them? Thanks.

I say follow your friend's advice about the Black Diamond poles. I have a pair I've been using for years and they are great. Unlike most other poles which have twist locks, it has a "flick lock". The flick lock is a little clamp that opens and you can adjust the clamp rate with a screwdriver. I've found twist locks to slip sometimes.

I don't think the anti-shock is necessary. I've gone on 8 hour hikes and my hands don't get numb from not having them. It's a preference thing but like anything else the simpler the better and it's lighter.

Here is an old Backpacker article about the poles. I don't have a problem with the ergonomics since I have one that has a slight angle which is great. http://www.backpacker.com/gear/article/0,1023,310,00.html

I say follow your friend's advice about the Black Diamond poles. I have a pair I've been using for years and they are great. Unlike most other poles which have twist locks, it has a "flick lock". The flick lock is a little clamp that opens and you can adjust the clamp rate with a screwdriver. I've found twist locks to slip sometimes.

I don't think the anti-shock is necessary. I've gone on 8 hour hikes and my hands don't get numb from not having them. It's a preference thing but like anything else the simpler the better and it's lighter.

Here is an old Backpacker article about the poles. I don't have a problem with the ergonomics since I have one that has a slight angle which is great. http://www.backpacker.com/gear/article/0,1023,310,00.html

I have the black diamond ascent poles w/ anti-shock. The flick lock is cool - makes adjusting a lot faster and foolproof- especially when you're not thinking straight from being above LT at altitude for too long.

I wish I got the non-antishock version, though. The shock mechanism is activated by twisting the handle, and it's constantly toggling itself off and on during regular use. Very annoying. I really don't think it functions that well anyways - there's no damping, so there's too much rebound, which sometimes makes for unwanted motion during dicey descents. Plus, non-antishock would be lighter.