What Knee Pads Do You Wear?

[Chenner29]

On 10/14/2018 at 9:07 PM, ULTIMA said:

Though they are on the 2nd year of the life cycle, I'll likely be tracking down the Bauer Vapor 1X Od1n knee guards for purchase and use. Though the Warrior Ritual X Pro knee guards came with my ordered G4 leg pads and are probably okay,  the 1X has had good reviews and only makes sense since I am moving into the Vapor gear.

I just got a pair. I like them! 

Good mobility coming from a Vaughn V5 

[Math.]

For what it's worth I have the CCM senior model which I absolutely love. 

Reasons why:
1) 4 straps - I have never had these move during a game, ever.  I strap them on, put my socks on top of them, no tape, no garter, nothing more than the elastic straping.  Never moved.  The three bottom straps have the rubbery/sticky pantyhose like type of stuff on the back of the elastic that makes it stick in place.
2) Full knee cup - That is, an actual plastic cup covering the whole knee cap area.  That is honnestly the reason I picked those over the Bauers.  Gives me that much more confidence in the product.
3) Large, two piece thigh boards - Lot's of mobility, lots of coverage, lots of protection.
4) Small bottom, heavy on top - The top calf and knee portion wrap around the leg and conforms well to the body, protecting well but not interfering with pads and rotation of said pads when I go down, while the top portion offers plenty of protection up top.

In all the years I have use them, I have suffered only one shot that stung me, and it was on a bang bang play, that I was moving akwardly, everywhere but square to the shot and it somehow caught me on the side of the knee.  Even then, wasn't has painfull has it would have been with a soft knee guard.

Hope this helps someone.

[MTH]

18 hours ago, RichMan said:

Opinions on these?

They look like an up armored version of the ones I wear. The white pad is what all mine are. They fit nice and don't move on me. The black Bauer oval seems like a good upgrade. Mine only have the top and bottom straps. They work well.

[Mroy31]

On 10/14/2018 at 1:41 PM, RichMan said:

Not too intersted in those. I trust them as a collar, have mine for about 10 years now, not excited about the knees though.

I was a little skeptical of them at first as well, but picked up a pair and honestly the protection is pretty great.  I'm still trying to find my goldilocks pair of knee pads, but the KTP's are up there in terms of being super low profile but still providing solid protection.  You "feel" the shots more than you do in a bigger set, but they don't hurt or sting if that makes any sense.

That being said, you're probably only going to find them second-hand or left over stock at this point, so they are much less of a viable option anymore, and on the higher end of the scale in terms of price point.

[Mroy31]

@BadAngle41 Sorry to steal your analogy, I'll be doing my own knee pad journey post in a few weeks, just have like 3 more configurations to try haha

[RichMan]

7 minutes ago, Mroy31 said:

I was a little skeptical of them at first as well, but picked up a pair and honestly the protection is pretty great.  I'm still trying to find my goldilocks pair of knee pads, but the KTP's are up there in terms of being super low profile but still providing solid protection.  You "feel" the shots more than you do in a bigger set, but they don't hurt or sting if that makes any sense.

That being said, you're probably only going to find them second-hand or left over stock at this point, so they are much less of a viable option anymore, and on the higher end of the scale in terms of price point.

The ones I really enjoyed in the past were the Brown, minimal with good flex and ample protection, I`m just not so sure about the sides anymore. Maybe I should have a chat with John.

The one I currently use are ReasonY 260 models. Minimal, good protection aside from below the knee. I can`t find any pics online so I`ll try to post some of mine. I thought maybe having them reproduced with some upgrades.

I kinda like the Bauer Vapor for the extra knee cap but aren`t sure about rotation in the knee lock, even if I wear my knee pads underneath my hockey socks. The Warrior Ritual Pro looks nice to take the occasional bomb, especially since my b-fly isn`t that wide.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

[BadAngle41]

16 hours ago, RichMan said:

The ones I really enjoyed in the past were the Brown, minimal with good flex and ample protection, I`m just not so sure about the sides anymore. Maybe I should have a chat with John.

The one I currently use are ReasonY 260 models. Minimal, good protection aside from below the knee. I can`t find any pics online so I`ll try to post some of mine. I thought maybe having them reproduced with some upgrades.

I kinda like the Bauer Vapor for the extra knee cap but aren`t sure about rotation in the knee lock, even if I wear my knee pads underneath my hockey socks. The Warrior Ritual Pro looks nice to take the occasional bomb, especially since my b-fly isn`t that wide.

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

So I have a demo set of 1X and they came with the 1X knee pads. They fit decently well and the protection seems like it would be fine... but when I just test fitted them the Curve cap wouldn't stay in place. It kept dropping down and interfering w/ the knee landing portion. Granted it was just a test fit... but that was my brief experience.

[RichMan]

1 hour ago, BadAngle41 said:

So I have a demo set of 1X and they came with the 1X knee pads. They fit decently well and the protection seems like it would be fine... but when I just test fitted them the Curve cap wouldn't stay in place. It kept dropping down and interfering w/ the knee landing portion. Granted it was just a test fit... but that was my brief experience.

Did you wear them under socks? Do you have skinny or muscular legs?

[Obiwanjabroni]

Picked these up from Dennis at Factory Mad. Only used them on ice 3 times, but these have been hands down the best fitting knee guards I have ever had. Well worth the price.

[RichMan]

3 hours ago, Obiwanjabroni said:

Picked these up from Dennis at Factory Mad. Only used them on ice 3 times, but these have been hands down the best fitting knee guards I have ever had. Well worth the price.

If it's not too much to ask, could you post a pic of them with your pads on in the b-fly please? I'd like to know how they sit on the knee lifts.

[Chenner29]

On 10/24/2018 at 6:33 AM, BadAngle41 said:

So I have a demo set of 1X and they came with the 1X knee pads. They fit decently well and the protection seems like it would be fine... but when I just test fitted them the Curve cap wouldn't stay in place. It kept dropping down and interfering w/ the knee landing portion. Granted it was just a test fit... but that was my brief experience. 

Did you wear them with socks on?

I was brave this week (mom would be proud) and pulled them straight out of the plastic bag for a couple games.

Posted a 6 shot shutout (veteran goalie savvy wins games, right?) on their maiden voyage.

They're a heck of a lot more mobile than my old Vaughn V5s, and I felt like I could get my legs to flare out a bit more.

[Obiwanjabroni]

4 hours ago, RichMan said:

If it's not too much to ask, could you post a pic of them with your pads on in the b-fly please? I'd like to know how they sit on the knee lifts.

No sweat. I took these without my skates on, and I usually wear socks with the knee guards, so take them as you will.

[Hockey1234]

I found my Maltese very immobile and very heavy. Looking for a more tight fitting, less bulky knee guard. Any suggestions, was mainly looking at paw and the 2s knee pads as of right now. 

[RichMan]

23 minutes ago, Hockey1234 said:

I found my Maltese very unmobile and very heavy. Looking for a more tight fitting, less bulky knee guard. Any suggestions, was mainly looking at paw and the 2s knee pads as of right now. 

Brown - JB2100

[Math.]

50 minutes ago, Hockey1234 said:

I found my Maltese very unmobile and very heavy. Looking for a more tight fitting, less bulky knee guard. Any suggestions, was mainly looking at paw and the 2s knee pads as of right now. 

You can have a look at my previous post about the CCM seniors here, in which I do a decent job of highlighting the high points of em, if I dare say so myself.  In short that's pretty much the reason I like them so much.  Lots of protection, lots of mobility, contours to the body, not intrusive.

Cheers.

[Nova]

For those that got the Vapor 1X, did they include the garter? Some retailer websites mention including the garter, some do not. Even the Bauer site doesn't mention it being included. Even saw a few reviews mentioning having included the garter. I got mine in the mail today (ordered through Sport Chek) and there is no garter, but the packaging does appear to have been opened previously (there were like 15 random staples holding the cardboard to the packaging plastic as well as a 4" slice in the plastic itself that looks like a knife cut). 

I'm sort of on the fence about returning them regardless, not sure they fit quite as well as I had envisioned they would. I can't quite test them yet because the reason I ordered them in the first place is I took a shot to my right knee on the weekend and it is still way too tender to be kneeling down on it.

I've just been using the thigh wraps that were originally from my Bauer Reactor 4000. Really liked them because they are fairly minimalist and do not restrict movement at all. But, there's always been that small gap between the thigh portion and the small circles that cover the outer knee. Just the right size for a puck, and in the most prone spot on my knee based on how narrow my butterfly is. I've taken a few shots over the years that hurt, but nothing to stop the game for. That ended on Sunday, took a direct hit on a shot from the faceoff dot. Most intense pain I've ever felt. Stopped the game for about 5 minutes, my mind was telling me to get the hell off the ice but I didn't want to leave the guys having to play posts because I know how much that ruins the game. Nearly fainted 5 or 6 times in the next 5 minutes from waves of pain that would hit me. Just based on the pain and swelling that was immediately apparent, I thought for sure there'd be some knee damage. Did some self assessment after the game and it just looked like a muscle contusion. Pain kept me up nearly all night. Could barely walk on Monday. Tuesday I was getting around better, but limping. Yesterday I was fine walking, but stairs were tough. Today the swelling went down and I'm getting around fine, still tender as all hell to the touch. Lesson learned I guess. 

I was never a big fan of knee guards. Unsurprising, being a short goalie with really thick legs, anything I put on feels too bulky. Borrowed a pair of Vaughn Velocity about 4 years ago and hated them. Last year I decided to try the ones that came with my G-Netik II pads. Wore them under my compression pants. They functioned great, but as the ice session went on I started to notice my knees feeling more and more irritated. They ended up wearing through several layers of skin on my knee, basically like road rash. I thought about trying them over my compression pants, but then if they wore through my skin I'd have to think they'd do the same to my pants and at $40+ for a decent pair of compression pants I don't want to be burning through those. I was so frustrated by the wear on my knee that I never took the time to analyze what exactly caused the wear. But there are some stupid aspects to the design, like the way your knee lands on the stiffer nylon outer binding. There's also some pointless elastic banding that is doubled over on the outer knees that don't seem to do anything but prevent the top section from flopping over, which would not be any concern when strapped to a leg. I'm contemplating maybe cutting that elastic off and trying them again before making a decision on the Bauers.

[Big2]

10 hours ago, Obiwanjabroni said:

No sweat. I took these without my skates on, and I usually wear socks with the knee guards, so take them as you will.

Obione - VERY NICE question are they confortable?

Also I noticed that you have suspenders attached to them, do they come with the knee pads?? I would assume that they would not hold up well without these, please let us know!

Finally they look like their NOT HUGE any idea to which product you would compare them in size? My son just got out of the CCM Pro unit to the Bauer any idea how they compare to these 2 products in regards' to sizing??

[Obiwanjabroni]

2 hours ago, Big2 said:

Obione - VERY NICE question are they confortable?

Also I noticed that you have suspenders attached to them, do they come with the knee pads?? I would assume that they would not hold up well without these, please let us know!

Finally they look like their NOT HUGE any idea to which product you would compare them in size? My son just got out of the CCM Pro unit to the Bauer any idea how they compare to these 2 products in regards' to sizing??

Very comfortable, but I attribute that to them fitting the shape of the knee properly.

They are sold with the garter belt and I know that Dennis can do a mod to your pants so that the knee guards are "laced in" so to speak. I believe it is called the Jeff Glass mod (Bunnyman666 mentioned it a few pages back, I've quoted below). Do they need the garter to stay in place? I'd say that depends on a lot of physical factors of the wearer. I've always used a garter with all my knee guards and have found that is has helped to keep them from slipping.

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 12:34 PM, bunnyman666 said:

The Factory are worth EVERY penny. I have had my set over a year and they have saved me from point blank howitzers. 

There is no other knee guard for me.

When ordering your Factory knee guards, you should also send in your breezers for the Jeff Glass mod. Falling knee guards will not be an issue.

I'd say in terms of sizing, I found them to be similar to my last pair of Vaughn V5's. A bit more bulk then a Bauer Supreme, but I find them to be very mobile, again I would say this is due to their overall design and fit.

[Chenner29]

10 hours ago, Nova said:

For those that got the Vapor 1X, did they include the garter?

Yes, my 1X knee pads were factory sealed when I purchased them.

Sara at PAW (Protective Athletic Wear) can build a custom, low profile knee guard to your needs.

[Nova]

I ended up testing out the Vapor 1x today on carpet. I'm returning them. Way too bulky for my legs, they caused the knee stack to flare out like 2" from the pads, causing interference while standing up as well as rotation issues in the butterfly. 

The Brian's felt way better in comparison, and I already know how they perform on the ice so I might as well stick with them. I'm going to remove the elastic that I think caused the rubbing issue and try wearing my compression pants underneath them for now, see how that goes. 

[Math.]

4 hours ago, Nova said:

I ended up testing out the Vapor 1x today on carpet. I'm returning them. Way too bulky for my legs, they caused the knee stack to flare out like 2" from the pads, causing interference while standing up as well as rotation issues in the butterfly. 

The Brian's felt way better in comparison, and I already know how they perform on the ice so I might as well stick with them. I'm going to remove the elastic that I think caused the rubbing issue and try wearing my compression pants underneath them for now, see how that goes. 

I personally wear my knee pads over the compression pants, under the socks.  Never had an issue with bulkiness nor rotation/interference with my pads.  Actually the only time I had problems with that is when I tried wearing no socks at all and had the pieces of the knee pads catching up and stucking into the knee cradle.  This combination (and the fact there are four straps one of which is located on atop of the calf) also makes so that I never had to tape them or hold them up with a garter and I never had any movement issue from the knee pads themselves.

[redrook]

I have a pair of these bulky beasts (well, the much older version). They give decent protection but are not comfortable, they slide down without a garter, and they are so bulky that they are causing my new pads to twist so the top edges don't meet totally parallel when in butterfly (creating a little V gap) because they are so big in the knee cradle. I'm looking for an alternative solution. Going to try having the strapping near my knees completely loose tonight and see if that helps.

[Chenner29]

7 minutes ago, redrook said:

I have a pair of these bulky beasts (well, the much older version). They give decent protection but are not comfortable, they slide down without a garter, and they are so bulky that they are causing my new pads to twist so the top edges don't meet totally parallel when in butterfly (creating a little V gap) because they are so big in the knee cradle. I'm looking for an alternative solution. Going to try having the strapping near my knees completely loose tonight and see if that helps.

I had these for a couple years. 

Recently switched to the Bauer 1X. Like them a lot. 

[Mroy31]

11 minutes ago, redrook said:

I have a pair of these bulky beasts (well, the much older version). They give decent protection but are not comfortable, they slide down without a garter, and they are so bulky that they are causing my new pads to twist so the top edges don't meet totally parallel when in butterfly (creating a little V gap) because they are so big in the knee cradle. I'm looking for an alternative solution. Going to try having the strapping near my knees completely loose tonight and see if that helps.

Are these the same as the "Double-shield" ones that I have?  I agree they are bulky beasts.  The SLR line is pretty in line with the Bauer Supreme line, but your picture looks a lot like the latest SLRs.  1X would be next step down (in terms of bulkiness, not quality necessarily).