I tried a 1x on at my local Monkey sports but they didn't have my size. I like the size of the arm blocks coming from a big Brown 2200, but felt the arms could have been a bit more mobile. I found a great steal of a deal on a 2x pro on Ebay and love it. The arms are a bit more mobile (I am actually a little concerned with the size of the arm blocks) and the flex part of the shoulder floaters really make mobility much easier. The curv composite does throw hard rebounds but I haven't had an issue cradling many. There was one coming to my upper bicep that I deflected almost all the way into the corner. Definitely out of the danger area. I play a bit more of a blocking style these days and this works well. No protection issues thus far.