it really depends on you; and your size too, a petite person may have trouble using one that large, some people prefer smaller, some larger, have you done embroidery using hoops? did you use large or little hoops? you should pick up the size you think you can comfortably hold on your lap and gives you the amount of (work-space) and see if it works for you, you may also find that different size hoops work better for different projects. i think i have about 8 different sizes and i use them all.