2 steps backwards/Bauer 2s knee gaurd review

[SnackDubs]

Knee guards are by far one of the most subjective pieces of gear in a goalie's bag. It's a constant struggle between protection, bulkiness, and comfort. In the grand scheme of things, knee pads can help prolong your career. Companies such as Bauer and Ccm introduce new materials in the knee landing of pads in order to soften to blow. Arguably a knee guard's job should be to soften the blow more then it should be to protect. I personally don't get hit in the knee area but it's nice to have them just in case. a goalie is an extremely hard position on lower body: from ankles to knees to hips, we all are at an increased risk of injuries especially because of the butterfly style most of us play. In fact, your much more likely to be injured by overuse of knee tendon from dropping down into your butterfly rather than getting a shot to your knee. I find I only get hit when in a scramble position, however, most goalies are going down nearly 100 times a game. Though the knee guard plays a small part in the impact absorption (more so the 1.5-2 inches of HD foam and plastic on the knee landing) but  it should still be one of the main features in a knee guard. I wanted to make this clear before the review so I could communicate my thoughts on knee guards. Though many are looking for just protection, I think it's very very important for a knee guard to provide comfort and injury prevention. Even though thigh guards had their issues, there are many that are very heavy duty and do the trick against hard shots. A knee guard offers a unique opportunity to provide a junction between protection and injury prevention

Actual review

I judge knee guards on the following

protection- 

I haven't been hit a lot but when i have it has hurt. Protection is similar to that of a warrior x senior. Bauer took away curve composite and replaced it with normal plastic.  

curve composite and new foams would be beneficial. 

Landing:

you are landing on vent armor, hd foams, and poron xrd. All impact absorbing foams. However, vent armor is extremely hard and actually broke down really easily. This makes sense. Vent armor is supposed to protect against a puck or stick, not repeating blows over and over again. Many claim the statistic that your knee is absorbing up to 3x the weight of your body when dropping down. In that case, poron will actually harden up and not provide a comfortable landing. This leads to wear and tear on your knees and is easily the worst part of the pad

durability

wearing down after 7 months of 5+ ice times a week. Not bad but they won't last you over a year. Once you find something you like, especially knee pads, you want it to last for a while and not replace it because you might not have the chance. 

conclusion

these knee pads come in at 90 dollars.

Currently, the most expensive knee pad is the warrior x pros, and used to be the koho 589. in the example of the koho, alot of resources went into that and you could justify buying those for 150. Carbon fiber, and great knee landing. My question is why doesnt bauer do the same. Bauer should offer two models of supreme. one similar to the 1s/2s and one that retails for 120 or 130. I wish they would just invest and make a good product. They have so much technology yet used none of it. No curve composite in their top of the line knee pad (literally their most protective material). Many think that the old black and yellow supreme knee gaurds were some of the best of all time, so at this point, they are just missing layups. Just because you put marketing things like flex armor doesn't mean it makes the product better. Thoughtful changes have to be made.  It's just frustrating in seeing such a good product being dimmed down and sold at the same price. It's just lazy and frustrating. I wouldn't recommend these at all unless you liked the 1s. Even then I would recommend 1s over 2s.