We use the poles in a somewhat unusual setting - that of effecting entry and exit into the water while scuba diving off very rocky shores with active surf. It’s easy to get thrown off one’s feet when geared up with heavy tank, weights etc, and the poles have been a game changer- eliciting a lot of comment from fellow divers having a harder time than we did. That being said, near the end of a solid 2 weeks of diving , a pole slipped in a pothole and the plastic clip snapped, with the resulting dropout of the middle section. I retrieved the pole and kept the parts - and was pleasantly surprised to see the list of spare parts on the website. A few days later, when back home, the new section arrived and replaced the broken part, and now I’m ready for the next aggressive shore dive…!