I was wondering, b/c of my recent accident (torn MCL and cartilage) I will have to get knee braces. How does all that work, you put the brace on, the JUST the boot, or do you put your normal pads in?? It seems that they wouldn't fit, but who knows! If I don't wear the pads, I know that I'll have to tighten the boots to get the same feeling I had with the pads in.
Most braces come with a petalla cup. The rest of the coverage comes from the brace itself. In fact, my CTI2's protect way more than a regular knee pad would. I'd recommend the CTI's, they are a nice piece of hardware. The asterisks also look pretty good and they are cheep ($550/pr) CTI2's are around $1250 ea (about $650 ea if you go to a MX national and catch Tom Carson there)
For your money the Asterisk is a great bargain. My son wears them and wouldn't even get on his bike without them. They give great protection against most (if not all) motion injuries and the patella cup gives complete impact protection. They fit into the boots and pants without problems.