Luggage questions

[redbird]

I'm looking for advice on buying luggage: good (or bad) brands, and any other hints:

Between us, cattitude and I have one wheeled bag (just small enough to be a legal carry-on for North American flights), one backpack (ditto, if packed carefully), and some smaller backpacks (one of which I sometimes use for weekend trips, if it's not winter).

Not only would we like to have more than one bag that isn't a backpack, but both the wheeled bag and the backpack are wearing out. I've had the backpack at least since 1995, and it's well made, but I don't know whether the bags Eagle Creek is selling in 2013 are as well-made.

Comments

[jenett]

My bags of choice all come from Tom Bihn (http://tombihn.com) - they're pricy, but they're made in the US, they're extremely well designed, they do all the things I want in a bag and then some, and they come in colors I love. The bags are very well balanced.

(Well, except for the fact that they're no longer making the Sapphire I really really like. But they have bunches of other awesome colors.)

Anyway, I've used various bags from them pretty much daily for the last 4 years or so, and the only thing that came close to wearing out is the rubberised strap on one of my Cafe bags. (They now have a different way of doing those, where it's easy to replace the padded strap cover thing, and it's also less likely to wear.)

I have their Aeronaut as my primary travel bag: comfortably holds enough for a week's trip for me, plus has backpack straps that make it much easier in travel. (And it'll fit under an airplane seat, if needed.) That's their largest airplane bag: they have two somewhat smaller. They don't make wheeled, for reasons they go into on their forums (namely, that wheels add a lot of bulk and cost you space), but the backpack straps make a lot of difference for me.

I have the Synapse for a backpack for walking-to-work days. (I also have an ID, from the days I carried a laptop more regularly: it is a very comfortable messenger bag style thing, but by its fundamental nature, not a balanced load.)

I also have a Cafe bag for days when what I want is iPad + a book and wallet/etc.

[replyhazy]

The bags I've been most pleased with have been by Delsey, Travelsmith, and Rick Steves. We got a "Helium" Delsey (very lightweight) rolling piece that we are very happy with as well as a truly gigantic rolling bag (we often use it for megacostume transport but seldom travel with it) by them and it's also holding up well.

The Travelsmith "Ultra Organized Under Seat Carry On" is a super little weekender and it's tough. Conveniently I can also stuff my serger in it.

Happy bag shopping... ebags.com has handy comparison features, should that be of use to you.

[randomness]

As it happens, I just got an Eagle Creek bag (the Rincon 90L to supplement my 2001-vintage Eagle Creek Continental Journey. The Continental Journey is actually a warrantee replacement for a similar Continental Journey which I think I got the same year you did, in 1995.

Two things are clear to me about Eagle Creek: 1) their designers have been working overtime coming up with ingenious features for their bags, 2) they clearly are making bags that do not last as long. Whether 2) is because they stopped having a lifetime guarantee I have no idea.

The Rincon 90L is a big bag. Really big. I packed for a two month trip to South America and the Caribbean, and what it enabled me to do was to overpack. It is much bigger than carryon size. That having been said I did welcome the extra room and after mailing boxes home from Chile and Curacao I think I managed a reasonable trade-off.

Nonetheless, I intend to have my Continental Journey repaired. The East Coast repair contractor for Eagle Creek warantee service is in Queens, near JFK. I was going to contact them last year and then Hurricane Sandy intervened. I don't know what the policy is for warrantee repairs for bags with a lifetime guarantee, particularly on a bag that is already a replacement, but I intend to find out.

I am currently in Mexico on a week and a half trip and the Continental Journey works for that with room to spare. I am carrying the zip-off daypack from the Rincon 90L, partly because it's a better daypack and partly because the zip-off daypack for the Continental Journey needs serious repairs.

If you like I can see if I can schedule sometime to show you the bag or to talk about luggage. I also picked up an IKEA Family wheeled/backpack bag partly because it was on sale and partly because I thought the implementation was clever; it's really only a weekend bag, however, and I haven't yet used it.

[ellarien]

For what it's worth, the Jansport backpack I bought in 2006 for my China trip has stood up well -- it isn't in regular daily use, but it's done numerous air and train trips (as hand baggage, usually holding a small laptop, other random electronics, and a book or three) and several day hikes, and isn't showing any noticeable signs of wear so far.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

I guess this depends on budget a fair bit.

Over the last year I've done a thorough revamp of my luggage. I now have a Timbuk2 backpack (for laptop, ipad, books etc., used as carry on), a US-legal carry on 2-wheel suitcase from Tumi (probably bulletproof, and with helpful customer service, but not cheap, even if you get it form a discount outlet like I did), and a large 4-wheel Samsonite suitcase, made from the think that luge racers use as body armour.

Samsonite are certainly good - the new case replaces a 4-wheel samsonite I have had for about 10 years, and which has done a *lot* of miles in planes and trains. The Timbuk2 has turned out to be able to take as much stuff as my old Crumpler, but be smaller and lighter at the same time. The Tumi seems to be as good as the Rolls Royce reputation suggests.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Seconding Purple Cthulhu's recc of Sampsonite. Our carryons are Travelpro, and we liked the first enough to specifically ask for a second.

-Nameseeker

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Here via browngirl.

I have a pair of Samsonite Winfield hardsided spinners, one 20" (which is a legal carryon) and one 28" expanadable (which is not). There's also an intermediate size of 24", which I don't own because I consider it kinda redundant. If I have too much stuff for a carryon I'll just use the big one. (You may be able to find a deal on the complete set of 3 that makes the marginal price of the set cheaper enough over buying two separates, in which case, go for it. You may also feel differently if you find the 28" model too big.) They're red, because red ones go faster.[1] They come with heavy-duty coil zippers and TSA-approved locks.

I bought them on the recommendation of my friend awfief, who is an inveterate road warrior as part of her work and flies something like a zillion miles a year. She lent me a 20" Winfield for my 2011 trip to Amsterdam and I loved it, so I went out and bought two of my own. I've now had them for about 2 years and they've got some substantial mileage on them. I brought the larger one with me for a week in Costa Rica and again for a week in Oklahoma City. The smaller one has been to a couple of cons as well as a long weekend in Montréal and a few other trips up and down the Northeast Corridor.

It's amazing how nicely these things roll and how much nicer the hardware feels on the Samsonites as opposed to the hardware on lesser bags I've owned over the years.

The major downside is the price tag. These things are not cheap. They also violate the rule of "Don't travel with flashy luggage," but anything relatively new and nice will do that, at least until it acquires a nice patina courtesy of the baggage handlers at your local airport.

[1]Old motorcyclists' joke.