which is softer?

[PVGuy89]

I have limited poles and dont know which pole to move up to...

which is a softer pole a 15' 6' 175 flex 17.8 carbon fx or a 16' 165 ucs spirit flex 21.2 both at a grip height of 15'?

thanks.

[rainbowgirl28]

They're too close for anyone to say for sure without seeing them. Search on this site for how to flex your own poles.

I would go with the 15'6 pole though, because you will be higher above the sail piece and it would probably respond better.

[Divalent]

I have limited poles and dont know which pole to move up to...
which is a softer pole a 15' 6' 175 flex 17.8 carbon fx or a 16' 165 ucs spirit flex 21.2 both at a grip height of 15'?

Isn't it the general rule of thumb that 6 inches lower on the grip = ~10 lbs of "stiffness" (within reason, of course: probably not even close if you are gripping 4ft below the top). If so, they are about equal in stiffness when gripped at 15', but as RainbowGirl says, since you'd be gripping closer to the top of the 15'6", that one is more likely to behave more like a "normal" 185 15' pole. (of course, this analysis also assumes that the flex # of both poles puts both of them in the same spot within their respective 5 lb weight range.)

[KirkB]

Yeh, they're all the same relative flex ... within 5 pounds ... according to Jan's chart. Since you can't directly compare flexes of poles of different weights or brands, you'd have to flex-test them yourself with your same 15-0 grip to find any minor differences.

Poles with a Relative Flex of 46.JPG (12.47 KiB) Viewed 2469 times

Another thought ... not sure if this holds water or not ... is to ask the mfrs what the flex ranges are for each of the poles that you have ... then work out the MEDIAN (medium) flex ... so if yours is a SOFT-ISH 15-6 175 or a HARD-ISH 16-0 165 ... or whatever ... then you might be able to deduce their relative stiffness with your 15-0 grip. But I guess the reason why you asked on PVP was to save you the phone calls.

Kirk

[rainbowgirl28]

Another thought ... not sure if this holds water or not ... is to ask the mfrs what the flex ranges are for each of the poles that you have ... then work out the MEDIAN (medium) flex ... so if yours is a SOFT-ISH 15-6 175 or a HARD-ISH 16-0 165 ... or whatever ... then you might be able to deduce their relative stiffness with your 15-0 grip. But I guess the reason why you asked on PVP was to save you the phone calls.

The manufacturers are generally pretty close, but not _that_ close in terms of stiffness to each other. A stiff Spirit 14'170 might be slightly stiffer than a soft Pacer 14'175, or vice versa, for example, but not enough of a difference to be a safety issue (though that would be annoying if you were trying to go to the next pole and it was the same!).