Helinox Passport TL Series

Our take The Korean company DAC, parent of Helinox, has long made some of the best tent poles on the planet—so it’s not surprising that their tech works great in trekking poles. Thanks to a patented alloy (called TH72M), these collapsible poles are strong like aluminum and light like carbon fiber. But unlike both, the alloy is flexible, which allows the poles to bend slightly without snapping. It’s not much, but some testers felt unstable when weighting the bend-don’t-break poles. The poles fold into 15-inch-long segments, and included hook-and-loop straps keep them bundled neatly together.

Trail cred “The small packed size meant I didn’t think twice about stashing these poles in my carry-on luggage,” says a tester who took them to Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge. “Plus, the wrist straps are exactly what you want—simple, comfortable, and easy to adjust.”