Gardiners service is exceptionally good and their poles are brilliant. My 4 yr old SL-X35 still works fine and my two year old SL-X22 is excellent.
I know several windies and they all try my slx's and say "wow they're light" then I tell em I paid something like £500 and £300 respectively and they say "how can you afford that?" I say "how can you afford not to?"
Light, rigid and strong. What is not to like about them?
When I was on ladders I had the lightest triple I could get - folk said I was mad using a DiY ladder for professional use. But I just added swivel feet and ladder mitts and changed the ladder every two years.
My ladder is so good it's ten years old says one windy - so what? I'm a fat geezer and I can do over a 100 ladder climbs a day with mine - if I used yours I would be gasping at 80 cuz it's so heavy to carry.
Same principle.