Why does the Slimpad cost more than the Stockpad? I was at a local percussion store and the Stockpad was $23.99, while the Slimpad was $29.99. Is the Slimpad that much better? How is it better?

I have a ReelFeel, and love it to death. I'd still rather have one of them Yamaha practice pads (with the snare sound and everything.) Soo fun to play on!

Hands down the Heavy Hitter Slim Pad. It's what most of the people in blue devils use and it feels the closer to a snare drum thatn any other pad out there. With the heavy hitter pad you wont get "pad hands" which is really nice. The vic firth real feel pad is good too if you play on the workout side

I like the Vic Firth double sided pad. It has a thick gum rubber side that is gray and the thinner side is black. The black side actually feels really good.

Here's my same post from a different thread:

Some benefits of different pads.

RealFeel:
The hard(black) side offers little rebound causing you to really "muscle" the strokes in. Thus building your chops. I live by this pad.

Xymox w/beads, or Remo X-Pad:
These really help you hear the quality of your buzz strokes and closed rolls. Because they do have a "sloppy" factor to them, it forces you to watch your articulation. It helps you play Staccato which is easier to clean as a snare line.

VicFirth Slim Pad(not stock pad):
I love this pad because the wood disc that the rubber sits on has a resonance to it that can really be heard on your accented notes, and not so much on your tap notes. This really helps build the quality of grace and tap notes and "low chopped" strokes. In using this pad, it's easy to improve stick height discipline and chops as well. This one also has the most realistic snare drum feel of the three.

I use a classic Real Feel from like '03....one sided....and it works just fine...

What I've noticed is getting the slim pad (which I have and love) but there is, I have found, one solution for three problems

Solution: get a little laminite (i used an old 6" xymox tenor one) throw it on your slimpad and it fixes the three problems

1. The original reason why I put the laminate on was because the glue underneath the center of my pad was comming off
2. The wood feel... This is definatley noticeable when you first begin to play on the pad, but throw the laminate on there and it goes away compleetley
3. Sound... I'm not going to say it's as quiet as the ReelFeel, its not, but it also feels SO much more like a drum... I think the reelfeel gives way too much rebound

just my $.02 ps. Happy Bday!!

where do u get the xymox laminate?

It depends what you are looking for. If you want the feel of a snare drum, i'd go for VF slim pad with the plastic covering thing on it. If you just need something to pracrtice on, go for HQs real feel gum pads, or the double sided with the harder Chop building side. Thats what i use, but i really like smil pads. And i found that if you put the slim pas of something that soaks up sound (i used a drum throne) it soudns quieter.

I dont know where you can buy 'em seperate, but a while ago I bought a small xymox tenor pad & there was an order form for 'em in there...

if you go to any regional DCI show, xymox will have a stand there, theres a really nice old dude who i'm sure will answer ur question