As a follow up to this thread , I bought and used trekking poles for the first time this past weekend. Based on the advise of a couple people in my questioning post, and hands on in a couple of local stores, I ended up with Leki Makalu Tour Cor-Tec Antishock , model 2027-06 for $99 at REI. I was leaning toward the canted Ergo Grip, but couldn't justify the extra $40. As it turned out, these grips are pretty comfortable.

What a difference they make. I did a 3 hour hike & climb up, down and around Mt Wachusett in central MA. The wear and tear on my knees was noticeably less than my last outing, where I only had a staff. The anti-shock is a real bonus. The trails were rocky, wet, leaf covered and slippery. I counted at least three times where I probably would have turned an ankle without the poles, and numerous times I would have slid during descents.

One thing I noticed, and this is probably just the way I hike, is that I tended to drag the left pole, and it was constantly banging against rocks and roots. I shortened just that one 5cm and that problem went away. I also seemed to be balanced better. It's quite possible that I could have gotten away with just one pole, but there were times, especially power striding on flat spots, that the two in tandem did work quite nicely.

Definitely a good purchase.