I have heard mixed reveiws from other people, but here is mine.
I highly recomend the elbow pads for anyone who wants to wear elbow pads. They will soften the blow of falling a little bit and are not restictive at all.
The kneepads tho are a different story, probably. Hard shell kneepads can be used similar to slide gloves where if you catch yourself with them they will not hurt at all and you can slide on them as you come to a stop. Hard shell kneepads last fairly long. On the flip, g forms and other similar pads, especially when worn without pants on top "catch" the ground at higher speeds, so you can't use them intentionaly to slide on them after a slide. You could touch them on the ground and have your body flip if they dig into the ground too hard, just like most of your body. They might have 10% more "catch" on the ground, maybe. On the positive they do soften impact (less than hard shell pads) and are, imo, WAY more comfortable than most hard shell pads.
When choosing what to go for in terms of knee pads I would recommend from most comfortable to least, as well as least comfortable to most, this order to keep in mind: no pads, soft pads, hard shell pads.
I really recomend their booty pads for low profile as well.
And if you do go soft shell G form will be up their in terms of quality and how long they last.
Oh yeah, also soft shell pads disinagrate on impact, can only fall in em a couple times.
@Matt Needs Wheels
The part about them breaking/disintegrating quickly is true for g-forms where the foam is exposed.
I wear mountain bike knee pads which don't have hard caps. However, the foam is an insert that is covered by the cloth outer shell. I've had them for a few years and they are still going. This also makes them machine washable, which is great.
I wear them under my pants when I skate and prefer them over normal kneepads or no knee pads.
Normal pads are very bulky, hot, and not very pleasant to wear. No knee pads is awful, nothing worse than knee rash or a knee injury.
If you are falling a lot on your knees or falling at high speeds and sliding on your kneepads, they may not be as protective as hard knee pads. I mostly do freeride under 30mph and don't slam hard very often, so this is the ideal amount of protection and comfort for me.
The kind that I use are no longer made (sweets bear suit lights), but there are a lot of similar ones made for mountain biking.
There's also a dubler blog post that goes into more detail here: https://www.maxdubler.com/blog/2020/9/11/what-are-the-best-knee-pads-for-longboarding-and-downhill
I don't wear elbow pads or crash shorts, so I don't have any thoughts on those.
TSG DH kneepads for the win
It's worth whatever discomfort, and realistically if you're skating you're not going to feel a damn thing.
In terms of elbow protection, I'd honestly say it's probably just as good if you were to just wear a hoodie or something. Realistically you don't bang the elbow if you're falling somewhat properly, and the only real risk is abrasion which the hoodie covers just as well if not better.
