These are far and away the best heavy duty elbow pads I have tried to date. I've gone through at least 5-6 elbow pads in my quest to find good ones and these are SOOO much better than the rest.
First of all kudos to POC for making an actual heavy duty long lasting high quality product. SOOO many products these days are just garbage quality or avg at best yet all these companies charge premium prices for their garbage. I remember when you had multiple levels of products and the prices reflected that quality. Not anymore! Everything is just low to avg quality but premium prices it's disgusting. So thank you POC for making a product that feels and performs like a premium product but at a reasonable price. I tried and returned multiple other elbow pads that were this price or more and all of them are MUCH lower quality than these. And fit horrible as well.
These fit amazing! Even though they they are a thicker/heavier duty elbow pad they fit SO well and feel so comfortable on the arm. In fact they are the first MTB elbow pad I've tried that fits really well. They almost don't even need the straps on the top and bottom. But it's super nice that they are there to give you even more customized fit. It's also the perfect amount of pad and material. Not too little and not too much. Fits over the top of your elbow joint by a few inches so it feels secure there. Then it comes down about half way on your forearm. Just perfect size. The lycra material on the inside of the pad is stretchy but not too much. It's great at staying nice and firm but not tight on your arm. Then the back side where the VPD padding is has a super high quality/heavy duty material (exactly like ION uses as well) that won't rip or tear easily. The VPD material itself warms up very quickly on your arm and then becomes flexible so that your arm can move. Then they have the straps on the top AND bottom of the pad! Genius right haha?
You'd think ALL elbow pads would have straps on them to hold them on and up. Like hockey elbow pads. But nope most MTB elbow pads suck and use a cheap lycra sleeve like material that goes from your wrist all the way to the top of your arm to hold the pad on. Which is a horrible idea! It's so hot completely unnecessary and unless you find the magical one that fits your arm and bicep perfectly it's going to either be loose or way too tight or a combo of both. So once again Kudos to POC for making and elbow pad that actually fits your arm and stays on! So ridiculous how many MTB elbow pads suck and have horrible fit. These MTB companies just need go to a hockey store and look at all the elbow pads and bam! They'd start making great fitting elbow pads that stay put and actually protect your elbow unlike 90% of MTB elbow pads that are just garbage and fit horribly.
Protection is TOP notch! At least a 1/2" of the VPD material protects your elbow and forearm. And it's the best of the best. There's all these D3O and VPD like materials on the market that are "supposed" to move with your body and then protect you upon impact. And some do it better than others. But all of them are pathetic compared to POC's VPD! So far of all the knee and elbow pads I've tried or owned these POC elbow pads have THE BEST material in them. Their VPD material is SOO good. Thick strong very dense yet moves with your body when warm. Then protects your arm when you fall. Plus there is padding under the strap on the top right above your elbow joint that is thick and dense and will actually protect you unlike 90% of the MTB pads out there. And they also come down half on your forearm so that it's protected as well.
Also these stay put! The fit and the straps and the grippy neoprene material on the inside at the top and bottom of the pad sleeve hold them in place so well. The straps are almost not even necessary they fit and stay put so well. And they feel firm and stay in place but not tight and constricting to the point that it feels like it's cutting off your circulation.
The only thing these don't excel at is that they are definitely more on the heavy duty side of elbow pads. So if you're looking for thin under the jersey elbow pads these probably aren't going to work for you. These are for ACTUAL protection in case of a serious crash at speed riding DH or Freeride. Not some silly sleeve that might protect your elbow/arm from a rash. These are HEAVY DUTY and will actually protect you. These probably won't fit underneath your jersey or jacket unless you have 1 size larger jersey/jacket than you normally wear. As these are just a bit too thick to fit underneath. But I have a size XL jersey I wear when riding DH or big jump lines and these fit under that jersey just fine.
Overall I can't recommend these enough as THE BEST heavy duty MTB elbow pads on the market. You actually get what you pay for with these!;
