What is the difference between "Police Grade" batons and "Economy Grade"?

[djturnz]

A Police Friend of mine is selling me one of his batons because he doesn't carry them anymore.

He told me it is the long one, so I figure it must be 24" or 26".

I don't want to get into whether or not a citizen can legally carry a baton here since no one knows for sure.

The reason i ask is, if I decide I like the baton, and decide that I will carry one, I'd like to get a shorter one. Probably 16"or18" so that it is easier to carry.
The one he is selling me is a Monadnock. I was looking at the "economy" batons in the shorter lengths and wondered what the difference was. What makes a Monadnock or ASP "Police Grade"?

[MarcS]

Better quality construction and materials. the monadnock is my personal favorite. The cheap ones will bend very easily.

[rwilson452]

I would consider the Monadnock batons the gold standard in batons.

Better quality construction and materials. the monadnock is my personal favorite. The cheap ones will bend very easily.

[gf45acp]

Quality of construction and material. I have used the cheap ones, and gave them up for ASP's.