First of all, these are great poles for the price. I left my originals propped against the car and drove away without retrieving, hence new poles. I wanted ones that set for short heights and used the shock cords inside to stretch for break down for transport, rather than those that broke into pieces. I read all the reviews on these which seemed true. There were problems listed about setting up the poles and not holding the set size. Setting up was tricky, I made a blood blister on my index finger trying to pull far enough to engage the button to hold it all erect. Watching the YouTube video on these poles helped. Second, the size setting is to open the clasp, choose height in cm. Close clasp and tighten the nut by hand to hold. On one of my poles that works perfectly, the other gradually compresses through using it and putting pressure. Now I try to remember to reset both poles at every use or one will be about an inch too low. Next, I have very small hands. The cork handholds have a ridge for your thumb and the fingers below. That ridge just doesn't fit my hands. If I hook my thumb above ridge, my fingers below never quite get comfortable and if I put all my fingers lower that changes the angle of my hand so that I can't just relax and allow the wrist bands to hold my arms steady. I'm fooling with one or both most of the time. I mostly do short hikes as I live in big city so not a huge problem, but with average size hands it should be just fine.