It can depend on the crash. I was wearing POC VPD2 when I did this.
Nothing is perfect.
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I see you are making a similar point as me, sort of. My opinion was just emphasizing how the pad's sleeve material was a bad implementation. Even if the pad was utilized to absorb an impact, the sleeve would've cause some issue. In other words, I was implying that if anyone had a similar problem with this and perhaps experienced what I did, it's likely the sleeve that did it, and not the pad's failure to absorb. Just hoping that it would be addressed, which apparently it has been.
Mtn biking involves a decent amount of speed and sliding and tumbling/rolling are likely to happen in a crash. The pads are not going to only see square, straight on hits. Even a high shock absorbing material like VPD can allow something like that if it's not designed to handle such crashes, with speed, sliding, and tumbling involved. If the pad doesn't fit me well enough to securely stay in place, I doubt it's going to work very well. I do recognize how a pad should absorb impact (and not just be soft-med desity foam), as I've had my knee get bruised with broken skin straight through my Kyle Strait knee pads, landing sketchy off a short rock huck, loosing my footing and falling to the right side at a higher than comfortable speed with my right knee making first contact and my other foot still on the bike--about as straight on of a crash as possible, with minimal sliding and tumbling, just a little rotation. My POC pads fit very well and comfortably, at least as well as the Kyle Straits, and offer better absorption, hence why I'm happy with them. Just saying no comment on G-Form knees, since I haven't tried them. I almost always wear knee pads, but rarely elbow pads, until I got the G-Forms. Just voicing my disappointment a little with them, expecting a little more for the price.
If a pad like the 7idp Tactic didn't scare me off with a cost that is about as much as the arm and leg it's meant to protect, and see if they're worth their price some how.