The padding is great, it makes it very comfortable to carry and it doesn't hurt your shoulders one bit. Especially in the summertime, when I were tank tops, the old straps would really hurt and you could see the mark they made in my skin, but I had no such problems with Gewa straps!Easy to fit, secure, comfortable wide straps, easily adjusted.I've split a pair of these straps to give me a superb shoulder strap for each of two violin cases. Absolutely brilliant - far superior to alternatives.Strong and comfortable.Gewa have redesigned the straps making the core strap thicker so the neoprene padding won?t split so easily over time.The main points of weakness on my old straps were the plastic buckles which broke eventually (after many years). These have also been replaced with thicker heavyweight buckles.The screw fastenings have been replaced with a trigger clip and safety cable which seem ok. We'll see how they last!