Kneepads

Getting my first kneepads soon. What are people's recommendations? I've been hearing a lot of people recommend the send ones but can I can get the la sportiva or red chili ones for almost half the price. Worth it to spend extra for the send pads? Also what model/size would you get?

Those are knee bar pads. Not knee pads.

Send is what most people call asking if we have (we don't). Hopefully one day.

they are called knee pads on every website but thanks for your help

You're both wrong. They're called strap-ons. 

you guys are all wrong, they are called aid

Why are all of you calling thigh shoes by the wrong names?

Justin Trent wrote:

you guys are all wrong, they are called aid

Just bought a send pad. Super stoked on it. I felt like an addict paying $100 for it, but what are you gonna do. I got the thin version, it seemed a little lighter and more comfortable, and I don't usually find super painful kneebars. I'm kinda thicc for a climber so I got the large. 

But I'm a casual kneebarrer, the real crushers seem to prefer the sleeve pads based on what I see at the pipe dream cave.... They should sell the sleeve pads as a package deal with a razor, adhesive spray, and duct tape. So factor those items into your budget x)

Justin Trent wrote:

you guys are all wrong, they are called aid

They are the hand-jammies of the legs

Eric Chabot wrote:

They should sell the sleeve pads as a package deal with a razor, adhesive spray, and duct tape. So factor those items into your budget x)

No short-shorts included in the deal? What a scam!

No advice to give. Thanks for the discussion (humor too!) I had to look these up, so I'm saving others the trouble and putting the links here:

https://www.lasportivausa.com/laspo-knee-pad.html

https://redchiliclimbing.com/us-en/shop/accessories/kneerock?variant=2052046

https://www.sendclimbing.com/collections/frontpage

Adding https://ucraftclimbing.com/us/climbing-knee-pad-medium.html

Previous discussion on MTP -https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/114356738/knee-pads-recommendations

Alternatively, in olden times, to get a kneebar pad, folks often would buy a medical kneepad, say like something from Pro Orthopedic Devices Inc https://www.proorthopedic.com/procatalog.aspx or figure out who is near to you and go get a good fit in person. Then send them off to someone like Rock and Resole in Boulder to overlay it with a sticky rubber pad.  Not sure if they still do that, but they use to do it for @$50 a pair.  

A knee pad is for chimneys and crusty trad folk doing easy and moderate multipitch or for offwidth fiddlers.

A knee bar pad is for high level sport climbing.

They are not really interchangeable.

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.”

― Confucius 

Send Mini Thin Strap-On knee bar pads are the best in the entire universe.  Made in the USA, a homegrown small company that supports a ton of climbers living their dirtbag dreams in Hueco.  La Sportiva pads are thick and clumsy and seem like only their athletes 'enjoy' using them.  Red Chili- I can't comment, the product style looks pretty dope though.

I am highly impressed with the quality of my Send pad. It works great, and seems like it was built to last. It sticks really well to my bare leg and pants.

Amanda Smith wrote:

Send Mini Thin Strap-On knee bar pads are the best in the entire universe.  Made in the USA, a homegrown small company that supports a ton of climbers living their dirtbag dreams in Hueco.  La Sportiva pads are thick and clumsy and seem like only their athletes 'enjoy' using them.  Red Chili- I can't comment, the product style looks pretty dope though.

Thanks for the help! Ever wish you had the larger size or thicker rubber?

Ryan PK wrote:

Thanks for the help! Ever wish you had the larger size or thicker rubber?

Absolutely you will!

You will find some kneebars to be brutally sharp and the skinny rubber will not cut it.  For the one off whatever kneescum you want to do on some random boulder, sure the the skinny two strap will work as being slightly better than a pair of jeans, but when you are on a route with mulitple kneebars, where you cant afford to have the pad sliding down your leg and you cant afford to only have one burn a week because the skinny pad wasnt enough to protect your legs, then you are gonna want three staps and tape or a glue-on with tape.  Im talking kneebars that I couldnt bare a couple seconds in the slim but are campouts in the thick.

I understand everyone has their opinions and blah blah, but if I could go back in time and tell myself not to listen to the random person on the internet who told me 'slim two straps is more than enough for everything' then I would have saved lots of time, pain, blood, beta, and money and went with the threestraps or a sleeve.  

Just got a La Sportiva pad and it is very bad. Doesn't mold to the rock as well as Send pads, so any technical, smeary kneebar feels worse. Do not buy one. Posters above are correct: the Send mini slim is the go-to pad for your average kneebar but a large Send pad is more secure on the leg and provides more surface area. It's worth having a large one for more intense kneebars, especially if you are a bigger guy. 

I picked up a "chance" one while I was I kalymnos and I hate it. It's got Velcro closure and the sharp side of the velcro is on the wrong side, so the edge of it cuts into your hamstring in shorts. I paid like 80€ and proceeded to repeatedly eject it mid pitch because it was so annoying. 

Late to the party here, but if you find the 3-strap Send pads painful and not durable enough, I recommend the Blak Pads out of Spain. The closure system is more comfortable and burly, but you kinda have to buy two since the pads are left and right leg specific. 

https://www.blakpad.com/kneepads/

Now, it looks like they have a three strap version that looks like a good design and wouldn't be as leg specific.