****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I do a lot of big boat sailing and purchased these after trying a pair that another crew member loaned me this summer. I wish that I had tried and bought these many years ago. I've had reconstructive surgery on both of my knees (not from sailing) and every sailing season, I continued to beat them up crawling, crashing, and otherwise moving around on sailboats. By late August, my knees are usually pretty beaten up. This year, after wearing these knee pads when sailing, my knees are fine: normal, not noticeable, nothing to speak of, which speaks volumes to how much these pads helped!They are pretty thin, so I initially thought they would not be all that helpful, but I've learned it doesn't take much to be better than direct contact with rock hard gelcoat or nonskid decks. These are fantastic. Honestly, there are other brands available, but I had tried the previous version of the Spinlock knee pads, and they were great. One thing to note is that these have a non-slip material on the pad which is fantastic when worn with shorts- they prevent sliding on surfaces, very well- but when worn under foul weather gear/pants, they do not let the fabric move over the knee when bending the knee. This inhibits movement a little bit. There's another brand that does not have the non-slip and they are better under pants/foul weather gear, except that they don't stay in place as well as these do.They are not as "hot" as I thought they'd be on muggy summer days. They do cover some portion of you leg/knee with a thin fabric (necessary to keep them on and in place) so they are warmer than nothing, but I found having my legs a little warmer on hot days vs. bruised and painful knees to be very worth it. Once used a couple of times, they are hardly noticeable, until you take them off and find you can still walk, sit, run, etc. without all the usual pain.
