I used these poles extensively last winter over eight weeks in Scotland and North Wales. I rate them as very effective walking poles, especially good with gloves as grip not too thick and adjustable wrist leash large enough to go over chunky glove wrists. The powder baskets are effective, and make them much better in soft snow. The adjustments are great, no twisting nonsense and can be easily tightened up if needed. These are so much better than internal camming design poles such as Leki in my opinion. I had no issues with the bindings freezing up- although I would recommend separating the poles whenever they are wet to allow the inside surfaces to dry overnight. These fitted quite well into my rucksack when ice climbing but are longer than the compact model which costs more, but they do have a greater expansion range. Obviously they cost a lot less than the carbon models, but do weigh more but I would imagine this in only an issue for ultralight alpinists as it didn't bother me at all in use or carrying.