Long story short, we stumbled across a stash of the old school Smart Parts Renegade Knee/ Shin Paintball Pads. If you’ve never seen them before, they are a long pad made of compression-formed dense foam with a tough outer layer of poly/ cotton fabric that cover from the lower shin up to the knee. Wide adjustable and stretchy velcro straps wrap around your leg at four points to secure them.
I used to have a pair that I bought in 1999 and I wore them for 4 years when they finally had to be retired. I never thought I’d see a brand new pair until now… seeing these back on the shelf nearly brought a tear to my eye! I personally bought several pair for myself so I will never run out again. Let me tell you, these things are awesome for woodsball ! Ever catch your shin on an exposed tree root or broken branch? Trust me, it hurts. These pads cover from the top of your ankle on up to save you the agony of such accidents, plus they make fast crawling or ‘crab walking’ between cover a lot less painful. They take the sting out of getting shot on that bony part of your lower leg and also contribute to a fair amount of paintball bounce as well.
Because they wrap snug around the leg of your pants you can move through dense brush easier without your cuffs and such snagging on every bramble. When its really really hot out (like, oh, playing paintball right now in the summer heat!) you can play in shorts (or a kilt, like me!) and still protect your legs. They also make a handy place to secure your Tippmann Straightshot Squeegee… simply slide it down the side under the straps and its always within reach.
The available colors/ patterns are:
Basic Olive Drab, which goes with everything.
Foxwood Camoflauge, a good universal pattern.
Rhodesian Camoflauge, very rare camoflauge much sought after by collectors. Old school cool!
Treebark Camoflauge, a woodsy pattern with green leaves for contrast.
Oak Leaf Camoflauge, similar to the old German camo and a good all-around pattern.
Image Camoflauge, the pattern that was used by the All Americans in the 10 Man woods days.
Belgian Camoflauge, which pants and shirts can be had for fairly cheap at surplus stores.
and Mossy Oak Camoflauge, which is an extremely popular hunting pattern so lots of items can be found to match.
These knee pads are a lifesaver playing woodsball and I highly recommend picking one or two pair up now before they are gone forever… again!
