I did exactly as mrssanta suggests. I got a pair of clunkers from Mountain Warehouse (about £15 for the pair), and didn't worry about banging them around on rocks, throwing them downward in preparation for a bum shuffle, etc.
Then I splurged on a lightweight pair of Black Diamonds (about £90), and pretty much treat them in the same way as the clunkers, and they can take it. They weigh about 1/3 as much as the old ones. And they're pretty/purple!
But I was really happy I'd done the trial with the cheap ones to start. It took me a long time to even try
poles -- I preferred to have my hands free. But once I started using them, I was amazed at how much easier they made coming downhill, especially, as well as adding a bit of upper-arm workout on the uphill bits. But if I hadn't liked them, I would have been irked at having spent nearly 100 quid on something that lived in the closet. And you probably won't really know until you give them a good workout.