It does feel solid you would have to squeeze really hard to squish the grip. As far as protection goes, it's your typical cover there is nothing special about it. It will definitely help with scratches, but I can't see this thing helping if you drop it on the hard ground. Look, I wasn't able to play with the Switch (comfortably) while in bed. I put this case on and now I can. End of story lol that's all I wanted. I'm posting here to help out anyone else interested in something like this without having to pay way over what you should. I'm also not interested in a case or waiting two weeks to receive something. So again, this worked out great for *me* it may not work for you especially the guy who's always in these threads pushing the skull and co lol