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My son is to the point of needing a series of poles and the cost will likely need to be covered by me. He is a 5'9", 148 lb sophomore who jumps 12' (on occasion in practice) on a 13-150 Spirit. He is now out jumping his pole. I recently noticed the pricing on Gill's Pacer 1 pole line. His Spirit was close to $600 shipped. If I were to drive two hours to Gill I can get a 13-160 Pacer One for $360. I know they are listed as beginner poles but I've read some good reviews on them compared to standard poles. One big downside is we'd lose length and weight selection (1 foot and 10 lb increments). I've got an eye open for used poles but no luck yet. What are your thoughts on building a series of 13' Pacer One poles for a vaulter like my son? If money wasn't an issue, he'd already have a bag full of Spirits but I don't have $2000+ to spend.

JH, it's a bad idea to buy a series of poles that only go up in increments of 12" and 10 pounds at a time. The usual increment is 6" and 5 pounds, and for good reason. It will be needlessly hard for your son to go up to a 14 foot pole from a 13 foot pole (and from a 150 to a 160). He will find it very frustrating. Your son is no longer a beginner - he's now becoming an intermediate. Yes, PV is an expensive sport!

Besides Gill, you should also consider ESSX poles. They're based in Ft. Worth TX and are used by Sam Kendricks (currently USA's best male vaulter). According to their website, a 13-7 ESSX pole is $500, and a 14-1 pole is $525. They have all the 6" and 5 pound increments you need for your son's grip and weight. This pole brand used to be considered a beginner or intermediate pole, but Kendricks has now proven that they're also VERY good for elites.

Their website is http://www.ust-essx.com/. I see Kendrick's pic on that page, with a PR of 5.86. Actually, he cleared 5.92 a couple weeks ago, and he's currently the outdoor world leader for 2016.

I'm not trying to promote ESSX over any other brand, I'm just trying to give you wider options, and to help you in preventing a costly mistake by buying him the wrong pole. You still need to do your due diligence on all available brands and purchase options.

I think getting used poles will save you a lot of money, and you can sometimes find good deals on Pole Vault Power, in the Sales Forum. Or you can post your own "poles wanted" ad there.

Good luck to you and your son.

Kirk

You should not buy a new pole or even three new poles for your son at this point in his development. Chances are better than not that he will move through the pole(s) you buy in a matter of weeks or months (as he grows and improves) and then you are back where you started except for the money you spent on the now-useless poles. Look into renting poles or joining a club that has lots of poles for member use. If you do buy, check the Sales Forum here for used poles. Then when your son blows through them you are selling used poles that were purchased used and hopefully won't lose as much money in the process. Good luck! Yours is a good problem to have.

Darth Vaulter's advice trumps my advice!

Kirk

I appreciate the feedback. I'll continue to keep my eyes peeled for used poles and I'll look into the rental option. Our school has a few poles that we aren't using so I'll see if I can offer them up as a temporary trade if possible.

I wanted to reply back to this post to give a review of the pole we ended up getting. After a good deal of searching, I decided to buy a new 13-160 PacerOne for my son. My goal for the PacerOne was to use it as a transition pole as he continues to improve this summer. Even though the pole hasn't seen a ton of use due to his overall progress (now on a 13-165 Skypole), he feels it's a good pole to jump on. I compared the weight to that of his 13 150 Spirit and there was very little difference. With it being a Gill product, it gave me comfort when comparing the flex progression to the Skypole.

The low list price on the pole plus a mass order discount put the price in line with used poles. Overall I'm happy with the decision.