The New Standard in Quality + Innovation

Going back to 2004, bouldering pads were described as having the best dual-density foam on the market.  There was no way to quantify these claims until Flashed introduced the test missile Drop Tester and we started putting a numerical value to impacts. This uses a headform missile for drop tests with a 3-axis accelerometer inside. Our focus was not on the padding, as some manufacturers focuses using load cells beneath the pads, but rather on the impacting missile itself.

Now in 2023, Flashed has since upgraded to the Triax 2015 testing equipment and is able to perform head impact drops at nearly any gym height.  As gym user visits increase and more people are attracted to our sport, we want to ensure the information and tools are available to make informed choices.

Once we understand what impacts are experienced by the test missile the next natural question is durability.  Performance and Durability go hand in hand and the input factors are related.  Durability is affected by three main characteristics: density, resiliency, and compression firmness.  Generally, the more dense (heavy) the foam is, the longer it will last.  Higher resilient foams will maintain support levels for longer.  Additionally, the more stiff it is, the more support it provides.  Certainly the stiffness also affects the feeling of impact on the climber.

To understand the specifics of each foam type we needed to evaluate how the impact changes over time with respect to both density and compression.   The Dynamic Fatigue Tester (DFT), was developed to raise the test weight missile up to a set height required to compress the foam 75%.  An internal Accelerometer measures the drop impact in g-force and is then graphed over 1000 drops to give us a trendline.  By doing this with various densities and compressions of PU foam we can better understand and compare padding.

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The Multiple Overhead Fall Operator (MOFO) looks at testing a complete padding system, not just individual foam layers like the DFT.  The MOFO uses single-axis CNC controls to performs 1000s of drop at heights up to 18ft or larger.   Although the DFT is limited to just the weight of the test missle itself , the MOFO is made to allow for additional added weights.