Demon Flex Force X D30 Padded Shorts Review

Hello and welcome to my review of the Demon Flex Force X D30 padded shorts.

This review will be a little bit different to most of the reviews I do on this website in that I won’t be giving them a rating score and I won’t be comparing them to any other padded shorts.

The reason for this is that these are the only padded shorts I have tried (and I’m happy with them, so I don’t think I’ll be trying any others any time soon) and it’s not really a big part of this website to review padded shorts!

But I thought I’d write about my experience with these for anyone else who is considering getting them.

Why I Decided to get Padded Shorts

There are many reasons to get padded shorts for snowboarding.

1. Beginners are falling on their butts a lot – and this can get quite sore on the old rear end – particularly if you’re learning in icy conditions. Padded shorts not only make sure that the pain is less but in doing so, this also increases the confidence of the new rider.
2. You are just starting out in the park or you are wanting to try new tricks in the park. For this reason you might even get full length padded pants and even upper body armor – but padded shorts offer some protection and can add to confidence.

Those are just a couple of good reasons off hand.

My reason is that last year I broke my tail bone when I overshot the landing of a jump.

I didn’t get the pants immediately. This was very near to the end of the 2015/16 season and for my last couple of days out on the snow, I just went out without protection for the tailbone (not knowing it was broken at the time – I thought it was just bruised).

But at the start of the 2016/17 season, I noticed that my confidence wasn’t the same going over jumps – and then I hit my tail bone again. I didn’t break it this time but it still seriously hurt (not sure if was more sensitive because of the previous injury?)

So, I decided to invest in padded shorts – I was definitely over hurting my tail bone and missing days on the hill because of it.

And I’m glad I did.

Why I am Glad I Did

I haven’t actually landed on my tail bone since getting the shorts – I’ll update this post when I do – but I have noticed that I have my confidence back over jumps.

Consciously, I didn’t think that the previously broken tail bone was having any effect on my confidence – but I think subconsciously it was. And as soon as my subconscious knew that the tail bone was protected, the confidence came back!

Why I Chose The Demon Flex Force X D30 Padded Shorts

O.k. so the above could be the case for any padded shorts. So why did I choose the Demon Flex Force X.

Essentially because they seemed (from other people’s reviews and from the specs) to be the best balance between protection and low profile-ness (I’m claiming that this is a word!).

Protection

There were other padded shorts that I was assessing that had a reputation for better protection than the Flex Force X D30 but they weren’t as low profile.

And the protection on these seems pretty good to me now that I have them – and they were more protective than a lot of the other ones I looked at. Probably only 2 that I was weighing up were more protective and one of those was bulkier and the other ones weren’t actually shorts but just a strap on butt padd.

The Flex Force D30 has some nice pads for your butt (not including tail bone) – there nothing over the top but they’re nice to have there and they aren’t too bulky.

They also have padding for your hips, thighs and back of thighs. I don’t foresee this padding really coming into use but I guess it’s nice to have too.

D30 Tail Bone Protection

The part that I was most concerned about was the tail bone padding (for obvious reasons if you read the start of this post). This is where the padding is beefed up on these shorts.

The Flex Force X use a technology called D30. This armor is flexible when you bend it and it’s hard when it takes an impact. It baffles me how this actually works but it really does.

Like I said, I haven’t yet landed on my tail bone to test it that way – but when you bend it in your hands it’s flexible but then when you knock it with your knuckles it’s hard!

Anyway, this is the protection I wanted and I’m definitely glad it’s there.

Lower Back Protection

The other small thing that appealed to me about the protection on the Flex Force X D30 is that it’s got a bit of padding that goes up the lower back too. I had also taken a knock to my lower back earlier in the season so this was something that helped with my decision to go with these shorts.

Low Profile-ness

One thing that I was worried about when considering padded shorts was how they would look under pants:

Would it be obvious that I was wearing them?

Would they fit under my pants?

When I read about some padded shorts being really low profile and unnoticeable, that eased my concerns. It was definitely important to me that I got a pair that was low profile.

There was one other brand of padded shorts that were (according to reviews) more low profile than the Flex Force X. But the protection wasn’t as good – hence why, IMO, the Flex Force X is the best balance of protection and low profile-ness.

Once I tried them on and put my pants on over the top all my fears were allayed.

There might be one pair that I could have bought that were more low profile – but these are pretty low profile and definitely enough so for me.

When You Notice Them and When You Don’t

1. When I’m riding I don’t notice them at all. I could be wearing them or not wearing them.
2. When I’m driving up in the car (I always get ready before I drive up the mountain) I notice them when I first sit down but soon forget about them. It’s not annoying or anything – you know that you’re sitting on padded shorts but it’s not uncomfortable or at least I don’t find it uncomfortable (it’s about a 40 minute drive for me).
3. When I’m sitting on the lift I notice them – but this is a good thing not a bad thing. It gives me an extra layer under my pants and lifts me off the lift a little bit – this makes it warmer on those really cold or really wet days.
4. When I’m getting ready at the car I always feel like I’ve got something in the pockets of my pants – which is just the thigh padding coming around the front – I don’t like to keep anything in those pockets when I’m riding so I always have to double check that it’s the pads and not something else. Not a biggy.

Other Bonuses

You get an extra layer under your pants. This is nice on colder days particularly if you don’t wear a base layer under your pants. It’s also nice on the lifts for a warmer butt as mentioned in number 3 above.

I’ve owned my snowboarding pants for a few years now and they’re not as waterproof as they once were – so it’s nice on those wetter days to have a bit of an extra layer and to lift the butt slightly off the lift seat.

Thanks for Reading

Thanks for reading and I hope this review has helped you to learn more about the Demon Flex Force X D30 padded shorts and helped in your decision to buy or not to buy them.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Demob Flex Force X D30 or if you’re ready to buy or want to research pricing and availability, check out the links below.

• Demon Flex Force X D30 at backcountry.com

• Demon Flex Force X D30 at REI.com

Do you wear padded shorts? If so, which brand/model and do you like them? If not, are you considering getting them? Feel free to leave a comment or question in the comments section below.