So I responded to a similar thread recently. and I have used what was called an iPole, which I can't find anymore but is absolutely identical to the X-shot 2. I am guessing it was rebranded or bought out, either way, a couple of thoughts from when I pulled it out of the dive bag after sitting for almost a year.
The pole was rusty in the contact areas where the pole collapses and also on the head / swivel/ tightening screw. I cleaned it all off just like I would a dive knife with a little rust. Sprayed it with some water, opened and collapsed it a number of times, sprayed a little WD-40, took a green scrubby pad to the rust, opened and collapsed a bunch more times (Huge difference), put a tiny bit of marine grease where the rust was, cycled it again and then wiped everything off. The head was a little more work. But same process after disassembling it as far as possible. A wire brush helped on the threaded parts. I then put it back together with a healthy supply of marine grease on the threads to try and protect it in the future.
So now that I have explained what I did, here is what I would do differently. No Marine grease on the telescoping pole, it took away too much of the friction that keeps the pole from rotating when used. Other than that, I think it worked great. I might have a little too much grease in the swivel head but overall, not a bad clean up.
So I posted this because I also looked at some of the plastic poles that you can get that telescope and lock into place and they seem nice and user friendly. While I haven't played with one, I would assume that the plastic requires less maintenance than the X-shot. Plus side for the metal X-shot is that it compacts to a much smaller size, but because the sections do not lock it tends to rotate around above water and sometimes below water (although I never had much of an issue with that when using it and really liked how easy it was to switch from forward looking to rear looking to get me in the picture).
If saving the space on packing isn't an issue then the plastic poles might be the way to go. I really like the compactness of the metal pole and as long as the swivel head functions properly it is really easy to adjust and I have gotten good video with it.
Maui Ocean Center - Shark Dive - YouTube
Hopefully that helps your decision.
Happy Diving
