I’m not interested in the best at any price, or the cheapest. What I’m interested in is your thoughts on the best value overall – combination of quality and price – for someone who travels quite a lot. On many issues I have firm opinions. Here I will share my tentative thoughts.
For a carry on bag I want four wheels. I used to be a 2 week guy, because I’m resistant to change. But I find four wheels much better for navigating around airports easily week after week.
- Bargain: Delsey Helium at $129 or less. The ones I’ve had have been good without breaking the bank. They don’t have the sturdy construction of more expensive bags, but they’re a real upgrade from the ‘whatever is cheapest’ bags I used to buy in my earlier years.
- Sweet spot: I’ve never had a complaint about Briggs & Riley. I’ve had a well-constructed carry on for a decade. This is probably my recommendation at $500.
- Luxury: About six years ago I bought a Rimowa Salsa Deluxe Cabin Multiwheel for less than $600. I’d never spent anything like that on luggage before, but as often as I use it I figured it amortized across so many uses it was reasonable. I love the bag, and the wheels are sturdy, but price has gotten much higher and their customer service has become quite bad.
The most important thing for a carry on bag is size. Make sure the measurements you are seeing for your bag include the wheels if you want it to fit into an airline sizer. As a result I like smaller bags, that can even fit into larger regional jet overhead bins. If you travel internationally quite a bit, many airlines in the world weigh carry on bags, so you don’t want the bag itself taking up most of the allowable weight. The weight issue for the bag is true for checked bags as well assuming you’re facing a 50 pound limit and pack a lot.
One thing you won’t find in my hard-sided bags is pockets, and that’s a deal-breaker for some. To me, though, that’s what my laptop bag is for. I love doing one night trips with nothing but my laptop bag, and no need for overhead bin space so I don’t need to board until just before doors close. For a three or four day trip the Rimowa is great, and six days on my Briggs & Riley 20″ widebody.
For Best Personal Item Bag, I nominate Take OFF. It is the max dimensions to fit in the sizers for Spirit, Allegiant, Frontier, etc so you can maybe get away with no paid bags. It’s a hard side with a telescoping handle and – the true genius – removable spinner wheels. I use it at least 8x a year for trips up to 5 days. $100-120.
@ Gary — Buy Briggs & Riley and buy it at londonluggage.com. Lowest prices you can get. Period.
Sweet. Getting blasted with B&R texts for Black Friday, but shoot my 1999 Baseline 21” wheelie is going strong. Only three major repairs all quick and easy. Last one a few years back they offered a deal on new,. I’d like 4 wheels, but my bag and I had gone around the world many times with more to come. 🙂
My personal item is a many years old NorthFace Surge which I can get by with on weekends to Tokyo or wherever.
Hard-shell carry-on: Monos.
Camera bag: Nomatic.
I bought two Rimowa bags about 10 years ago. The lightweight shell cracked on the third airline trip I used them. When I contacted Rimowa, they informed me the warranty did not cover the shell. Are you kidding me? The lightweight shell was their main marketing message. I switched to Tumi and have been happy ever since.
My B&R Baseline 21″ and Tumi 22″ are still going strong after 15+ years of heavy usage across cobblestone, rain, dirt, etc. The Tumi is sturdier IMO. No repairs – knock wood!
We also ordered a hard-shell Away carry-on that so far is ok.
Eagle Creek duffel bag was torn before first trip was completed – pathetic. Travelpro used to be good but is crap now. Samsonite is the worst.
I’ve had good luck with TravelPro, both 21” & 22” bags which have been around the world. Ricardo is the absolute worst.
Unless you are as insecure as a pre teen girl and need brand name luggage to stroke your fragile ego, what exactly is the point in spending thousands on a well built but heavy premium carryon? It’s a carryon, you aren’t checking it, it doesn’t need to be indestructible. I bet thieves target luxury luggage at every opportunity as well.
I’ve been happy with my cheap lightweight 4 wheel carryon, and it has lasted a decade. Luggage is simply a container meant to hold things of value, not be valuable themselves. Take that money you would otherwise waste on luxury luggage and invest it.
Most carry-on roller bags that I have had in the 20 inch size or larger actually exceeded 22 inches from my measurements (the standard maximum long dimension for many airlines). I measured including the wheels and the top handle which always sticks out a bit. Further they always weighed quite a bit when compared to the 7kg maximum allowed on EVA Air at no extra cost. Additionally, they are the ones that gate agents look at when they are going to get people to gate check them, so that adds the possibility of additional wear. To change things up I went to a large travel backpack that is significantly lighter and cheaper. It works better on rough ground. It is less likely to be flagged for checking (not yet). It’s dimensions are less than the maximum requirements of most airlines for carry-on baggage while still carrying the same loads.
Best bag I’ve had was my wife wife’s FA crew bag from Travelpro. It can hold a lot of stuff and when combined with compression bags and packing cubes, it’s been great.
My newest bag is a carryon four wheel spinner from Ridge. It’s taken some getting used to but it’s nice to not have sludge stuff around with a two wheeler
There’s Briggs & Riley, and then there’s everything else.
I like my sub-$50 expandable travel backpacks picked up from stores like Nordstrom Rack, Marshalls and TJ Maxx.
They are being used by some associated mileage runners doing the SAS million points promo as they even fit under the seat on the planes if need be.