FA-031 Shoulder Pad, Black

Fantastic for my use with a 2" wide guitar strap to carry my portable oxygen concentrator. This makes carrying my concentrator so much easier and distributes weight so much better. It looks a bit bulky at first but once on feels great and well padded. It also adds some slip resistance if worn on just one shoulder. It sure beats the 1" poorly padded strap that came on my concentrator. I like that the 2" straps velcro to the pad and I can now change the main carry strap to match my mood.

I recently went on a trip where I was walking miles a day on a tour. I used this shoulder pad on a Merrell messenger bag. It was filled with a padded camera compartment, DSLR, compact tripod, a 24 oz. water bottle, camera accessories (extra batteries, cords, etc), extra shirt/socks, and some food/snacks. It was quite weighted. The camera itself was around 3 pounds and over 5 with my tripod. With all my gear, I would say my bag was just over 13-15 pounds. I initially chose this, because I wanted to avoid using a backpack due to the hot/humid weather I was going to be in. I wanted to use a messenger bag instead of covering my back and sweating due to a backpack. I knew if I went this route a messenger back would do a number on my shoulder. To avoid this, I bought this shoulder pad hoping, including good gear choices to limit weight, I could avoid a backpack.We walked constantly in the heat. I don't believe my shoulder could have made this trip, much less 6 days of it, without this pad. At first, this pad seems a bit bulky due to it's thickness and backing. Since the weight is offset by laying on your shoulder and providing support and cushioning, it's a non-factor. After 3 days, my shoulder felt a little tired and sore. At this point, my pack was getting heavier, as I started packing more gear, including more water/fluids to keep hydrated. Although I could tell my should was getting tired, I couldn't imagine if this pad was not on there. I made it through 6 days without my shoulder getting much more tired than the 4th day.Summary: With an over-packed messenger bag, this pad worked wonderfully well. I don't believe I would feel my messenger bag in normal conditions of use (weighted with just my camera and tripod), but being tested on a trip, proved it's ability to save my shoulder and let me go longer. My only complaint is that it seems the velcro straps/base that connect this to the strap of your bag seems to be pulling away from the pad when pulling the velcro support straps tight. Fortunately, this has not been an issue since the pad/backing inherently kept together by the weight or your bag. I would have normally removed a star from this, but based on the price and the ability/comfort of this product, I'm giving it all up. I highly recommend this product if you require more padding on a messenger bag.

When I'm street shooting I have my camera bag hanging off one shoulder, camera off the other. I had some custom shoulder straps that have lost their stickiness over a dozen years, and this Domke pad saved the day. It performs better than the customs I had made mostly because of the asymmetric pad. The asymmetric pad helps a shoulder-hang bag stay in place. The padding in total is excellent for when I've got all my gear in the bag (for a flight - super-cushioning for all that heavy glass), overkill for when I'm on the street (with maybe three lenses in the bag) but that's not a problem... while I don't need the padding for weight, I love how it keeps the strap on my shoulder.I tried it with my DSLR gear on the camera strap, and this is just overkill for something as light as a camera. But it's now on every bag I use in the field - I've got three of them - and I'm a happy guy. One more to get, for the shoulder strap of a new bag my family got me for Father's Day... Really... if it's my camera bag, it's got one of these on the shoulder strap.

Some of these other reviews seem to give the idea that this is the miracle pad, but this is not quite so in my opinion. A heavy bag is a heavy bag, but this cushion definitely makes it easily manageable. It is easy to put on any strap, and it does stay in place, the only downside to that is you got to get it in the sweet spot, but once you find that life is good. I ride with my bag on a motorcycle and this helping it stay put is a huge plus. It is all in all a great pad. cushy and comfy, stays put, and is fairly priced. I've had this thing for a month or two now, and I put bags through rough treatment, and this is holding up very well, I don't see it breaking in any way anytime soon. So if you need a little extra cushion and security this things pretty good, also goes great with guitar straps.

I bought it reading all the favorable review on Amazon. While is not a bad product but certainly it does not hold up to its review either. First of all, is this comfortable? Yes it is comfortable than having nothing. How comfortable it is? I would say 3 out of 5. And that's the justification of my rating.Little bit of context; I bought it for my camera bag where I carry one camera, one point and shoot camera, two or three lenses and couple of other camera oriented gear. Total weight about 10-15lb.Pros.1. It provides some extra pad (that's what it is suppose to do)2. The velcro is really strong and it can hold item really well3. The top part is rubbery, so the strap does not moveCons.1. The top rubbery part is attach to the bottom part with some kind of glue, and open and closing the velcro actually detach the top part from the bottom part.2. It is heavy and it is way bigger than than it seems from the picture3. The cushion itself is not very soft.4. The depth is not uniform, hence you can have your strap in a single way, unless you open up the velcro and flip it over

I think this pad is very comfortable and overall pretty good. My disappointment is the build quality. The adhesive glue already starting to come off where the velcro is located in between the pad and the leather and it looks like they applied too much so it has come out passed the pad and the leather layer. If the build quality was better definitely would give it all stars.