A few weeks ago I was contacted by a representative from Massdrop on writing a review for one of their upcoming massdrops. For those of you not familiar with massdrop it’s a community or social shopping network that sets up different products for ridiculously cheap prices. For example right now they have an 800 down Enlightened Equipment high quality quilt on sale for 189usd. So the prices are fantastic and the products on offer are often of the highest quality.
Being the kind of guy I am, I have no problems exchanging my time for products and doing a review as long as I can fit it into my schedule. Also it’s not unusual for me to get request to do reviews for products and companies in the USA as a lot of my visitors to this site come from the USA. (Not so strange considering I write in English and come from the USA myself).
With that said, I have known about Fizan as a company for some time as they make trekking poles that are known throughout Europe as a high quality brand. I’m not sure if the products exist in the USA, but in Italy and Europe they have been around since the 1950’s and still being made in Italy.
The timing for Debbie over at Massdrop couldn’t have been better as I was in the market for a new pair of trekking poles as I’m not completely happy with the ones I have. I was in the market for highly adjustable, lightweight, aluminum poles. (I keep breaking my Carbon fiber poles). Feeling I would be more than happy to sacrifice some weight for the added strength of Aluminum.
Weight:
Anyway, I got my Fizan compact trekking poles in the mail a few days ago and I was immediately surprised by the writing on the poles ”worlds lightest trekking poles 158grams”. I thought – bull… But to be honest they are the lightest adjustable poles on the market which is pretty awesome. (Correct me if I’m wrong here). My current carbon fibre adjustable poles weigh in at 184 grams each. These with the straps and baskets weigh 175grams. Take off the straps and baskets (which I normally do) and were down to 158grams each. Light.
175 grams with the basket and strap on. Hard to find Carbon fiber adjustable poles at this weight.
Quality
As I stated I haven’t had a whole lot of time to test these out, I have been out a few nights and walked a total of about 65 kilometers with varying weight on my backpack and with two different tents. (The MLD Duomid and the MLD Trailstar). The poles have held up well (holding the tents up) even in some really heavy wind and rain on one of my nights out.
The Fizan compacts use a three part proprietary interlocking system, that they have been using for years in their compact system without problems. I find no reason to doubt this interlocking system.
To be honest, I have no real issues with the quality here, as I said before, Fizan is a well known brand and I have had their poles once upon a time a few years back, they never let me down. I don’t feel like this will be issue with these poles either.
Looks and feel
I think these poles look good, as good as trekking poles can look that is. They are still old people sticks (joke from my book), but do what they are suppose to do. I have seen much uglier poles. They do however feel fantastic. Weight and balance and even the tiniest of attention to details really stand out. I like the feel of the straps and how small the poles pack down to due to the three part adjustable system.
The color on the Massdrop sale for these pole swill be blue and not the red that is seen in these pictures.
Size
My Fizan compacts are adjustable from 58 centimeters (23 inches) to about 132 centimeters (52 inches) maxed out. In other words perfect from any toddler sized human to about my size 190cm (6’3”).
The Fizan sticks holding up an MLD Duomid + Innertent
Specs:
Weight with straps and basket: 178grams each
Height: 58cm (23 inches) – 132 centimenters (52 inches)
Material: 7001 Lightweight Aluminum
Locking: Proprietary Flexy internal locking system
Grips: Ergonomic EVA foam grip with rounded plastic top
3 sets of removable baskets: 35, 50, and 95 mm
Suggested price: $59.99
Massdrop start date: Monday, June 5 at 6 a.m. PST.
Address for the massdrop site and sticks:
PROS:
Lightweight adjustable poles
Aluminum
Extra baskets
Cheap (to be honest, I’m surprised by the price on these.. This is cheap)
Great brand
Made in Italy
CONS:
Aluminum (You can get lighter with non-adjustable carbon fiber)
The tips on these are wider than standard trekking poles which means the pole extender on the MLD Duomid won’t work. That’s why in the picture above I use PVC piping instead of the carbon fiber pole extender.
Perhaps shouldn’t be used as ski poles…. . .
The Fizan compact poles are an excellent compliment to the MLD Trailstar as they are highly adjustable.
TO read more about these poles check out this excellent, detailed review:
[…] no baskets), which is consistent with several other reviews of these poles (see Section Hiker, UL and Comfortable, Engearment). Removing the straps saves 11g, while adding the included boots (11g ea) or baskets […]