Koho 4460 Elbow pads, the pads the Seven Dwarves sang about
Written: Aug 15 '04 (Updated Aug 15 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent combination of value and quality
Cons: Might turn on skinny arms
The Bottom Line: Look at the 4460 if you need a pair of mid level elbow pads that you can keep for years. I know "horrible puns" is redundant
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| puckmugger's Full Review: Koho 4460 Elbow Pads |
Walt had it wrong, the seven dwarves were hockey guys, not miners. They would toss their skates over their shoulders on the way to the pond and sing ♫Koho, Koho, it’s off to skate we go.♫ Yeah, I know it’s terrible I keep making annoying Koho puns. I actually wish that someone would punch me in the eye and make me stop. I need serious help, there is no doubt about it.
▪ And now a word on elbow pads
Elbow pads are a pretty important piece of gear since if you play hockey long enough you will fall on your backside. Unlike falling forward, you have no way to protect yourself. I can vouch for this first hand having had a pretty serious broken elbow. Long before my days of hockey I made a rather unorthodox dismount from my BMX bike and spent a few days in the care of the local hospital. Trust me on this one, Don’t break your elbow if you can avoid it!
Hockey elbow pads come in a number of varieties. The traditional pads are simple cloth elbows with a rubber doughnut inside of them. These offer minimal protection and are not something that I recommend.
I personally prefer the “jawbreaker” style. These have a large bulbous elbow cap that is made of hard plastic. The cap covers not only the elbow but continues on the lower arm toward the hand. These offer excellent protection from yourself and allow you to knock people out cold with your elbow should the need ever arise. (I have not used them in that manner, nor do I condone or recommend such activity).
The Koho 4460 is a three-piece style elbow pad. Essentially a three-piece consists of a middle elbow cap, a forearm protector and a bicep protector. Where the jawbreaker style has a single hinge for the bicep (or no hinge if they have no bicep protection), the three-piece has a hinge on either side of the center cap. These offer significant protection while feeling less inhibiting on the arm.
▪ Jawbreaker vs. Three Piece
With most three-piece elbow pads you give a little to get a little. Three-piece elbow pads offer more overall protection than many jawbreaker elbows might. It is also more comfortable than the single hinged pads. However, the elbow cup is slightly less substantial than what you would find in a jawbreaker.
Many players don’t like the “pointy elbows” on a jawbreaker. I will admit that they look pretty odd at first. They even catch a little on the jersey at times making them even less mobile than the three-piece pads.
Guys who put a high premium on stick handling and safety, the three-piece is likely a better design. Those who are a danger to themselves on the ice might prefer the substantial elbow protection of the jawbreaker style.
▪ The 4460
Koho is the entry level tier of Maska’s three brands. CCM take the middle of the line in protective and Jofa is tops in their field even among other brands. The 4460 line is the best of Koho’s wares and thus sits around the middle of the road as far as stacking up to other competitors.
Their elbow pads, like much of Koho’s other protective do stand out a little as an excellent value for the quality. The 4460 is about a $50 pair of elbow pads, pretty much middle of the road for price where high-end pads go for a little over $100 a pair.
The slashing protection is excellent on this full-length pad. Soft padding covers the sides of the elbows. A hard outer shell covering the outer elbows backs up this area. A three-strap system keeps the pads in place.
Slippage and pads turning about on player’s arms is a common complaint with three-piece pads. This one seems to be relatively stable on my arm. It is possible that some players will have issues with this model still turning. My advice to them is to buy another style of pad or put on some muscle.
The padding in the elbow pad is removable to help with drying the pads after play. This also allows some level of customization with the fit and will further assist chicken armed players in keeping the pads from turning.
Forearm protection is by way of a plastic insert over a padded section. The length is good and will be more than adequate for most players. I would suggest trying these on with gloves as they are fairly long. Players with short forearms might have issues with the gloves hitting the pads. On the other side of the spectrum, only very tall players will have a need for slash guards with these pads.
Likewise the bicep protection is fairly good. It isn’t so long that I would suggest a need to try these on with shoulder pads. But I think that it will offer good protection to most players.
The elbow pads are comfortable in trying them on. They feel stable on my arms (but I haven’t got chicken arms . . . I want to use the word guns, but they aren’t really there either). The mobility of the pads is excellent. They would take a couple hours to get completely used to, but break in time would be negligible I am sure.
▪ Final Thoughts
This is the last item in the 4460 series that I am currently planning on reviewing. In all the items have been of very good quality, had a comfortable fit, and were priced exceptionally well.
The best news is that I am done making horrible puns based on the Koho name just to come up with a catchy title. But it must have worked if you read this far.
The player who is interested in value as well as quality will find that both co-exist in the 4460 line. Koho has done an excellent job making good protective gear for the recreational player.
I would recommend the elbow pads to any player in recreational hockey as well as forwards in checking leagues up to travel leagues.
A few of my other reviews that you might find helpful:
Fitting and Selecting Hockey Protective Gear
Nike V-10 Elbow Pads
Bauer 3000 Elbow Pads
The other Koho 4460 reviews:
Koho 4460 Shoulder Pads
Koho 4460 Shin Pads
Recommended:
Yes
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puckmugger
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