TrailBuddy Trekking Poles Review (2026)

Who it's for

Buy this if: First-time pole buyers, day hikers, and anyone who is not yet sure poles are for them and does not want to find out at premium prices.

Skip this if: Gram-counters and long-distance hikers, who should pay a little more for the Cascade Mountain Tech carbon poles, and anyone who wants a lock mechanism with a replaceable-parts ecosystem behind it, which is what the Black Diamond Trail Back is for.

In practice

The rubber tips are not for the trail

The TrailBuddy ships with carbide tips and a pair of rubber covers over them, and most new owners leave the covers on because that is how the poles arrived. On dirt, roots and wet rock, rubber skates. The carbide point underneath is what bites into a slope and holds when you load the pole on a descent — it is the only part of the pole that touches the ground, and covering it turns a traction tool into a walking stick. The covers exist for pavement and polished rock, where carbide is loud and scars the surface, and for storage, so the tips do not shred your pack or your car seats. Pull them off at the trailhead, stash them in a hip-belt pocket, and put them back on for the road walk out. The two sets of baskets that come in the box follow the same logic: the small mud baskets stop the tip sinking in soft ground, the wide snow baskets do the same in snow, and neither belongs on a dry rocky trail where they catch on everything.

The strap is the reason poles exist

The second thing nobody tells a first-time buyer: you are not supposed to hold the grip. Bring your hand up through the strap from underneath, then down over the top of the strap onto the grip, so the strap runs under the heel of your palm. Now the strap carries your weight and your fingers only steer. Done this way, poles take load off your knees on descents and let you push through the strap on climbs, with your hand relaxed. Done the usual way — strap dangling, grip clenched — your forearms burn, your hands go numb, and you conclude poles are not for you. The TrailBuddy's straps are padded and adjustable, which is all a strap needs to be; the cork grips are the other part of this, because cork takes on the shape of your hand over time and sheds sweat better than the foam or rubber on poles at this price. Owners in the comments we read raised setup and learning curve once, and this is almost certainly what they meant.

What the price buys and what it does not

Three things on the spec sheet are the right call. 7075 aluminum is the standard alloy for poles that need to bend rather than snap when they wedge between rocks; it costs weight — the listing puts each pole a little under 10 oz — and it buys the durability that a first pair is for. Lever locks (rather than the twist locks on most poles at this price) can be opened with gloves on, tightened with a visible screw, and do not slip under load the way a worn twist mechanism does; the three sections adjust across a wide range, roughly 24 to 54 inches, so one pair fits anyone in the household. Cork grips are a feature that usually appears at two or three times this price. What the price does not buy is a parts ecosystem: Black Diamond will sell you a replacement lock, tip or basket for a decade; a budget pole is replaced, not repaired. Durability came up once in the comments we read, and the honest frame is that these are poles you would not be upset to lose, which for a first pair is the point.