I have not tried all budget kote[s], but out of the few sets that I have, this is great and high value. You sacrifice the padding for the flexibility. It's one of the best $60 I've spent on Kendo.
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<p style="color:red"><strong>Response from Bogushop:</strong>
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<em>Thank you so much Leroy for the review, we definitely price our products as budget but never sacrifice quality for price!

- Ivan. BOGUSHOP
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In order to keep my other set of kote fresh, I alternate my main one with this. It doesn't have as much padding as my other pair (from the 2mm bogu set), but it gets its job done during practice.