I don't really use my poles unless I'm going up or down a hill that is either, long, steep or loose, or if I'm doing a river crossing. I've used them on flatland on occassions when I want to speed up or am on some "iffy" ground. For the most part though they're shortened down and strapped to my backpack until I need them. I don't really feel that they lighten my load at all. But then again, my current occupation being in the Army and in the Infantry where we carry uncomfortable rucksacks filled with 60lbs or more of junk and walking at as fast a pace as we possibly do, backpacking isn't too bad.

On top of that though, when I backpack I'm not in it to see how far I can go in a fast time but more of just out there at a decent pace admiring my surroundings and enjoying being away from the usual bombardment of information in our technology obsessed World.For the moast part though, I'd have to agree that a good number of people don't know how to use their poles and really just have them because they see the people in the magazines have them, so they must be a necessity as far as they are concerned.