Snow Peak

Aluminum Tarp Pole

More Solid Than Any Other Tarp Pole

Familiarity:

I've used it once or twice and have initial impressions

Size Bought:

210 cm

This SP aluminum tarp pole is lightweight and is the most solid tarp pole that I have ever used. I have a number of tarp poles, and portico/canopy poles, some of which are SP and some of which are from other manufacturers. The other tarp poles I have are steel construction, are thinner, around the same weight, and have more 'play' in them (play meaning that there is a small gap at the connection points which allows the pole to move a bit back and forth within the connection joint). These have almost no play. Also, these do not have any rust near the joints either, though I have not had them in the rain yet so time will tell, I don't expect it to show signs of rust like the steel poles that I have. One of the SP steel tarp pole sets that I own has a "rubber band" that holds all the sections together when they are taken apart. This is good because it keeps all the sections of the poles together, but also means 1) can't 'mix-and-match' pole sections to make different lengths of tarp pole depending on the situation, and 2) when the camp fire gets to close to the pole, which can sometimes happen depending on the application, I worry about the rubber melting or breaking, though not sure that would be any big loss as the general function of the tarp poles should still last even without the rubber band 'tether'. This SP aluminum tarp pole does not have the rubber tether, so can be mix and matched with other similar SP aluminum tarp poles to make 140 cm, 210cm, or 280cm tarp pole(s). This means that a bag of different of these tarp poles can be used for several different SP tarp set-ups and configurations. I currently use these poles to support a SP Land Station L and SP Takibi Tarp Octa and this has worked flawlessly. Because of not having a tether, instead these have a push-button "lock" system to keep the poles held together. The push-button lock mechanisms are very smooth and the sections go together easily and flawlessly and then they come apart easily and flawlessly and are comfortable to put together and take apart without needing to wear gloves, unless its cold outside then I wear gloves because the poles get very cold as can be expected because they are solid aluminum. Also I am not sure that the locking mechanism is 'necessary' once the poles are set up -- I do see that the locks are necessary for during the set-up process so that once a pole is locked together it can be carried without worrying about any of the sections falling off by accident. Also should mention that the rubber bottom stopper "foot" at the base of the pole and the top pointed "tip" where the tarp and other accessories attach is much more quality and durable than my other tarp poles, also the tip part is longer than other tarp pole tip parts and it had diamond bezeling to help keep the tarp, accessories, and ropes in place once fully set-up, so far I've noticed that during set-up this is convenient because it helps to keep the tarp, accessories, and ropes more in place than other tarp poles with shorter and smoother tip parts.