technically no difference,both are short poles,it all about length,whips are a fixed length,top kits arn't they're either eth same length as the other pole sections or cut back to suite the elastic used.pole section length is dependant on the makers & how many sections make up the poles desired length two poles off the same length might have a different number of sections therefore differing lengths of those sections the less the section count the longer the sections,the more the section count the shorter the length of the sections (inc top sections)