What is your opinion of handles out of the newer materials, as compared to wood?

I mean with regard to durability?

I was slow to let go of wood handles because I was attached to the tools that had been my grandfather's, but as I get new garden tools, I'm getting a mix of materials for the handles. (I buy decent garden tools.  Best ones I can find anywhere near me, rather than cheap.)  That's for shovels, garden forks, and hoes though.  (I work shovels and forks HARD--cutting fair size roots, prying things out of the ground with them that I should probably NOT, and a good shovel is a must for me.  It has to make up for size and brawn since I don't have either.)

I have two splitting mauls.  The one with the non-wood handle, I can't swing, so have never used it.  I have a smaller maul that I can (or could, as of two years ago) swing, but it had a wooden handle, which got broken.

I'm interested in y'all's view of the different handle choices on splitting tools.

I have the X27 up at my cabin.  It's very nice, great ergonomics, but not big enough to tackle the tough stuff.

I've tried everything, and everything sucked--except a gas-powered hydraulic splitter.  The "Monster Maul" works well, but tires an old man out too quickly.  The old wood-handled "splitting mauls" work best, but I do like the new yellow-handled (fiberglass? plastic?) ones available at Home Depot for about $30, as they work well also.  

These days I cut into 16" chunks, split the small ones with hydraulics, and break the big (big to me is 25" and hard to lift) ones in half with a wedge and 12# maul.  Better living through hydraulics.  

Oh, the reason I finally bought one three years ago--

You know how when you are a kid and you play baseball and sometimes the bat would vibrate when you didn't hit the ball solidly and your hands would hurt?  That happened while splitting wood.  Deep inside my right hand it hurt bad--for more than a year.  I decided I was too old/soft/decrepit to do that any more, as it was time to split again and doing so made it worse.  As I said, better living through hydraulics.