Good pole bad hardware - Kelty Strider Hiking Staff

The pole is lightweight but strong enough to hold up on the trail. Conveniently collapsible until the lock breaks. There is a weak plastic retaining mechanism that keeps the tensioner nut and sleeve from falling off into the pole. It utilizes a plastic snap ring that is held in place at the end of the threaded shaft in a groove. The shoulder of the groove snapped off and the tensioning parts came off in the pole. Once in the pole I was only able to dig them out with a dental pick. I was able to reassemble the mechanism and it will work as long as I'm careful to not unscrew the poles too much. If I do, I just have to use the pole without being locked together since I don't carry a dental pick with me for my back country dental work. This becomes a bit of a problem when the point of the pole gets hung up in the ground and comes apart as I'm using it. I contacted Kelty and they said this is not repairable. I plan to either glue the lock in place to where it provides a slight press fit into the pole or to try to glue a plastic washer onto the end.