Snowboard Impact Shorts: A Detailed Review of Tortoise Pads vs. Rippl Impact Gear
Snowboard impact shorts can make it much easier and safer to learn how to ride a snowboard or venture into the terrain park. There are a handful of different brands that offer some kind of snowboard butt pad. I’ve tried two, and I am much happier with my second choice than my first. Here’s a detailed review of the two snowboarding pads I’ve tried (and some bonus thoughts about a third option):
Rippl Impact Gear (don’t recommend)
Tortoise Pads T2 – Impact Shorts – 7 Pads (do recommend!)
Burton Total Impact Shorts - Women's (haven’t tried, but look good for some riders)
How Well Do Impact Shorts Protect You From Falls?
Let’s get right into it with the most important part of this review. Did my snowboard butt pads save my ass or nah?
Rippl Impact Shorts: Incomplete Protection
After three years of riding with them, my conclusion is that Rippl’s impact shorts provide incomplete protection, mostly because of their poor fit (which I’ll talk about more later), but partly because of the placement of the pads. The pads are pretty thin, and they are sewn in place to mostly cover the tailbone. There are some pads on the side of the leg, but they miss the parts of my leg that need the padding the most near my hip bone.
They have definitely saved me on a few falls directly onto my butt, but as they got looser, they moved around on my butt and I started taking more and more falls that felt totally unprotected. In particular, the lack of any coverage over the hip bone (a body part with no padding of its own) or wrapping around the glute were big downsides. I took some nasty falls off of boxes where I hit the side of my hips and the pads didn’t help at all.
Tortoise Pads: Much Better Coverage
After using them four times, I’ve concluded that the Tortoise Pads provide way better coverage of all the sensitive bones around the butt and hips than the Rippl shorts. And they do it without compromising my range of motion, even though they are way bulkier.
The Tortoise pads come with seven large, thick pads inserted into elastic doubled-over pockets that hold the pads securely in place.
I’ve put these shorts to the test with a variety of falls, but mostly I’ve fallen directly on my butt in a way that I know would have hurt my tailbone without pads. The pads took all the impact and left me unscathed. Unlike with the Rippl shorts, the pads stayed exactly in the right place with their elastic and drawstring closure.
Price & Value
Rippl sells for $40, although I recall getting them for $15 during a holiday sale. They are not worth more than $15 in my opinion, given the fit problems and the way they move around on your butt so you’re never sure if the padding is in the right place. The material is very cheap and the stitching started to come undone within a few months, which meant pads were slipping out, leaving me even less protected.
Tortoise sells for $90, but they are a much better product. They are more comfortable to wear and they provide much better protection. To me, they are worth the price.
Other Brands I Considered
I considered Burton’s Total Impact Shorts for women mostly because of the brand reputation. They look like a solid product, since they’re made with G-Form tech that is flexible when you’re wearing it but hardens on impact.
However, when I looked at where the pads sit and read the reviews, I concluded that they wouldn’t solve my biggest concern: incomplete coverage. Also, at $140, they were the most expensive of the options I considered.
Why I Bought Impact Shorts
I actually learned how to ride a snowboard without any kind of protective gear (other than a helmet). I didn’t know impact shorts were a thing until I’d been riding for two seasons. At that point, I could reliably get down almost any slope without falling.
But as soon as I found out that pads were a thing, I wanted pads, because I wanted to push my edge a bit further and start trying jumps, boxes, and rails. And I’d already taken a few miserable falls. So when my wife was targeted by Instagram ads for Rippl Impact Shorts, we took the bait immediately.
How I Use My Snowboard Impact Shorts
With both of the brands I’ve tried, I wear them over my base layer of thin leggings. In the photos below, I’m wearing the Tortoise Pads. My leggings are so thin that I didn’t need to consider them when choosing a size for the impact shorts.
I wear snow bibs (North Face Freedom Bibs) instead of pants, because bibs give you more room in the waist. When I tried wearing the Rippl pads with a pair of snowboarding pants that fit me, I couldn’t fasten the waistband of the pants. But I’m able to wear both styles of pads while wearing bibs in my normal size.
I wear my snowboarding pads for all riding days in the Midwest or East when I know the snow will be hard/painful to fall on (which is 90% of the time), and especially if I’m planning to try any park features or jumps. I pair them with snowboarding knee pads (I have the Rippl kneepads and they work fine).
I found them unnecessary in Japan where the snow wasn’t quite as hard (and where I also wasn’t doing park stuff).
Sizing, Fit, and Comfort
Both of the pairs of impact shorts that I’ve tried are marketed as unisex, but they are definitely designed more for male bodies. The only shorts that I could find that actually offered snowboard pads for women specifically were the Burtons, but as I mentioned, I didn’t end up trying them.
Since it’s always a bit of a crapshoot buying unisex products if you are a woman (or AFAB), here’s some detailed info about how these products fit me.
Sizing and Fit
I am 5’7” and 135 pounds and I have an athletic build. My waist is 29.5 inches and my hips are 36 inches, which means my waist often matches the size chart for a medium, but my hips are usually in the range for smalls.
In the Tortoise Pads, I got an Adult Small. They fit easily and comfortably over my hips and don’t squeeze too tight around my waist. They include a drawstring, which I don’t think I need right now, but I use it anyway to make sure they stay in the right spot while I ride. As the elastic stretches out, I think the drawstring will become more important.
They also make an expanded waist version of the Tortoise Pads, which I appreciate, because it means they aren’t trying to make one pattern work for all bodies and just size up every dimension proportionally.
In the Rippl Impact Shorts, I bought a Medium. While they fit in the hips, they come with a velcro closure that’s supposed to accommodate a wide-ish variety of waist sizes, and yet, they were too tight for me to fasten around my waist (as you can see in the picture below). I ended up wearing them without fastening them, which made them comfortable, but probably contributed to them sliding around and not always protecting my falls.
Comfort While Riding, Sitting, and Using the Bathroom
Wearing padded shorts while snowboarding is definitely a bit of a compromise when it comes to comfort, but for me, it’s worth it.
While riding, with both the brands I’ve tried I don’t notice or think about them (other than thinking about the protection they provide). You can feel the bulk a little bit if you sit on your butt to strap into your board, but I’m at the point where I can strap in while standing up 95 percent of the time, so that’s not a problem for me.
While sitting on the lift or in the lodge, you can feel the bulk if you think about it, and with the Tortoise pads I sometimes need to adjust how I’m sitting so that the pads aren’t below my sit-bones, but it hasn’t been a problem yet.
Using the bathroom is the biggest downside of wearing impact shorts. The Tortoise pads are a pain to use the bathroom in because the pads are so thick and inflexible (but this is also what protects you on the mountain, so I don’t know how they could design around that). Since I wear bibs, I have to take off my jacket, drop the bibs in a heap on the floor (ew) and slide the pads down to my knees.
So it’s definitely a good idea to use the bathroom before you suit up, and minimize other bathroom trips. But it’s not impossible.
The Rippl shorts were easier to use the bathroom in because the pads are much more flexible. They mostly just slid down along with my base layer.
Garment Care
You can wash the Rippl shorts in the washing machine. And you’ll need to, because they get very sweaty and smelly. We typically hang them on a drying rack after every use to minimize the sweaty smell buildup. But eventually they need a wash.
For the Tortoise pads, the tag just says to hand wash cold and line dry. The pads are removable (each one slides into a cleverly sewn pocket so that it stays in place without the need for velcro or any other kind of fastener). I’ve worn mine four times and it doesn’t smell yet.
Overall Review of Snowboard Impact Shorts
I don’t recommend buying the Rippl shorts if you’re looking for protection while riding in the park. However, if you’re just looking for tailbone protection while learning to ride, AND they’re on sale for $20 or less, they will probably be worth the money. But the product isn’t great and doesn’t really fit, so I really can’t recommend buying them, especially if you’re a woman/AFAB.
Burton’s impact shorts look like a solid, durable product for beginners who just want to protect the tailbone and want something super low-profile that they’ll forget they’re wearing.
The Tortoise pads are the best snowboard impact shorts I’ve tried, and to me, they are totally worth it to protect my tailbone and ride for longer. I think they would be great for anyone learning to ride, and they were exactly what I was looking for in the terrain park.
Also, looking at the reviews on their website, apparently they’re great for figure skating, skateboarding, and roller skating. Maybe I will finally try skateboarding when the winter sports season ends!
About the Reviewer
Name: Olivia Barrow
What is your gender? Woman
What is your height? 5'7"
What is your weight? 135 lbs
What's your level of experience as a snowboarder? 100+ days riding
Describe your skill level: Advanced - I ride confidently on any groomed run, as well as in trees and on bumps/moguls, and I am comfortable taking small jumps, whether they're in a park or off of a natural feature. I can ride some boxes and rails.
