its a tough call, but with defense being a harder stat to get now, i think i'd stick with stonegrips.

lately i've been taking other pieces of armor with less defense. enchanted thorium leggings over legplates of the eternal guardian. handcrafted mastersmith girdle over stalwart clutch. in my case, i can't lose defense everywhere, so i'd keep the stonegrips.

+17 strength is nice, but i count strength for nothing. i'd rather have 5 points of agility than 17 strength. strength raises block value by an insignificant amount, and it increases attack power. i, personally, care nothing about attack power. agility, on the other hand, increases armor, crit rate, and dodge rate (a significant amount too).

these have +1% dodge at the expense of some defense. +dodge is nice, but you still need to hang on to some defense to keep enemy crit chances down.