From a purely engineering standpoint, the best protection is always offered by "deformable" structures. Look at modern Indy or Formula cars. The driver is surrounded by a structure which deforms and sheds parts which effectively transfer the energy away from the inner driver cockpit "cocoon." Years ago when cars seemed to survive accidents with less damage, the drivers did not. I suppose this is the "reasoning" behind the soft case idea, but in fact the soft case simply doesn't respond in that way and transfers the crush energy sooner and with lessened protection in terms of padding, etc.

A good high quality gig bag such as those made by Reunion Blues can be a far better substitute that the chipboard softshell cases, but still will not offer the protection of a good hardshell case.

Spaw