This is a thoughtfully designed case that is excellent value for the money. It is very light even though it is a wood case. There is decent protection for the instrument - not quite as much as in a "suspensionair" - but good enough for every day use. It has good space for a shoulder rest, cleaning cloth, etc. separate from the instrument compartment and two small compartments for rosin, mute, etc. The integral backpack straps are nice though I suspect that with heavy use (and too much music in the music pocket) the rivets could tear out of the cover. I bought this case for a relatively inexpensive (baroque style) instrument but I would be happy to put my much more expensive modern viola in it and am thinking about buying another of the same case for the latter because of the light weight.