Longevity of a pole has more to do with the way it is used, the working environment and the way it is cleaned/maintained/serviced than almost anything else. We have clients who have two year old SLX poles that look barely used and yet they are in use everyday and others with identical poles that are almost worn out in 12 months. The biggest wear factor on any pole is trapped dirt - keep this to a minimum and the pole will last.
Balancing time taken looking after the pole and time using the pole is a personal issue with some clients telling me that they would rather carry out no cleaning/servicing/ maintenance on a pole and replace more often compared to other clients, such as one I was talking to this morning who cleaned out his pole completely every single day - these type of clients have a nearly brand new pole after 2 years.
Balancing weight and durability is always an interesting issue for the manufacturer. All carbon fibre poles wear at much the same rate, but this apparent wear can be slowed down by increasing wall thickness. Downside is this makes the pole a lot heavier and more flexible at full reach. By contrast, reducing wall thickness will make the pole even lighter, but reduces durability. We have spent many years working on this to try and get the best usable balance. It is very easy to engineer a heavy durable pole, it is much more tricky to make it as compact, lightweight and rigid as possible which is what most modern window cleaners are now demanding from their carbon fibre poles.
I have a prototype pole that I am using currently which uses a new high-tec carbon fibre material that has allowed me to reduce the wall thickness of each section to just 0.7mm. This has given me a pole that is 35ft long, only 32mm in diameter and weighs only 1.1kg. This is the lightest telescopic pole I have ever worked with and is quite amazing - however I suspect its durability will be comprised as it will still attract the same level of wear as any other carbon fibre and has a thinner wall. I will work with it for a year or so to allow us to assess aspects of it for future pole technology.
At the end of the day there will be a decision for all clients whether to go for a heavier pole or a lighter pole along with their individual characteristics. The choice will often depend on their personal and business priorities.
