Spotlight: Six Six One d3o Evo Pads

661 d3o Evo knee and elbow pads

This year 661 came out with a few d3o infused Evo pads and we got a chance to check them out. See the details inside.

The d3o material is designed to be pliable yet firms up on impact. We got a chance to test out the 661 d3o Evo elbow pads and the 661 d3o Evo knee pads.  You can see the details of the d3o material on the 661 d3o page to get a better understanding of what it does and how it works.

d3o knee pad material detail (click to enlarge)

d3o Evo Knee

The knee pads are quite reminiscent of the Kyle Strait 661 pads but the Evo d3o pads have some differences to them that aren’t as easily apparent.

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• Soft vented terry lined Neoprene articulated sleeves
• Localized side padding support to help protect the knee
• Custom molded vented Kevlar front panel to help protect the knee from abrasion
• Vented Neoprene expansion panel to give freedom of movement
• An elastic Velcro adjustable strap system

The venting on the pads is quite good and they never felt hot while wearing them. The back of the pads are thin and have a good amount of holes for additional venting.

The d3o knee pads have two elastic Velcro straps about 1” wide that help secure the knee guard in place. The hinges are located too close together in the mesh area and would hold/last better we feel if they were spaced out one on each main stitch.

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The d3o knee pad as shown below has a flat look to them. Inside the pad is a D3o molded insert that can be removed from the backside. The d3o material is quite flexible and is easily manipulated to fit inside the knee pad.  Once it senses a quick impact, the material becomes hard to help protect you.

d3o material detail (click to enlarge)

Upon impacts, we found that the D3o pad does firm up a little bit giving that little bit of extra protection.

The sides do have some additional padding to them as well but are fairly thin.

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Compared to a 661 Kyle Strait / Troy Lee Tom Cat knee pad the d3o knee pad lacks a hard plastic cup/plate. Since they don’t have this plastic cup/plate it makes them not as good at deflecting sharp objects (or really hard impacts).  Even though the d3o gets hard on impacts, it does not make it impervious to sharp objects. A sharp object can still penetrate the d3o material.

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In our testing we found that the knee pads felt very comfortable when wearing them but lack some protection that the 661 Kyle Strait pads offer. Since there is no cup to make the pads have some curvature, we felt that the pads weren’t quite as secure as their 661 Kyle Strait knee pads in crashes.

Evo pads in action (click to enlarge)

The d3o Evo Knee pads we felt were best used for during 4x / dirt jump / slalom / trail riding situations. They’re lightweight pads and don’t have much puncture protection that a lot of 661’s other pads offer. Additional support stitching could be done as well as one of our knee pads started showing signs of coming apart after a few months.

MSRP:

• $109.95

d3o Evo Elbow

Moving onto the Evo Elbow pads, they also feature many of the same features as the Evo Knee Pads.

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• Soft vented terry lined Neoprene articulated sleeves
• Localized side padding support to help protect the elbow
• Custom molded vented Kevlar front panel to help protect the elbow from abrasion
• Vented Neoprene expansion panel to give freedom of movement
• Elastic Velcro adjustable strap system

The elbow pads have a good feel to them as well and didn’t move much during riding or any crashing for us. They worked well during the testing but they lack puncture protection that a plastic shell guard offers.

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The elbow pads have held up all season and have done their job quite well. Personally I feel that I don’t need quite as much elbow protection as knee protection but on the occasions that I needed the Evo elbow pads, they held up great.  Similarly, we would move the two buckles to the main seam and away from the center mesh area for better support and durability.

MSRP:

• $109.95

You can purchase all of the 661 products directly off their website or from any good bike shop.  Find out more about 661’s many other protection products on their website. - www.sixsixone.com