Welcome Musicman76. As Hutmo said, these can be very nice playing horns and are very durable.
I wouldn't worry about the pads for now as long as they cover and you can obsess about ligatures after you've found a mouthpiece that suits you. If this is your first woodwind, I'm not sure that a Link would be the easiest to start. If you want to try a cheap (but good) piece, you might like one of these http://1stopclarinet.stores.yahoo.net/hitpremtensa.html
I wouldn't worry about the pads for now as long as they cover and you can obsess about ligatures after you've found a mouthpiece that suits you. If this is your first woodwind, I'm not sure that a Link would be the easiest to start. If you want to try a cheap (but good) piece, you might like one of these http://1stopclarinet.stores.yahoo.net/hitpremtensa.html