OK, so we own about 10 pieces of luggage, all various sizes, no two match and at least half are headed for the trash with no handles, missing wheels, broken zippers etc.

We want to buy another large suitcase but not sure what size is best with the new weight restrictions. I'm intrigued by the new kind with 4 wheels that can literally turn on a dime. Does anyone own one of these?

The luggage we've had the worst luck with is the canvas fabric. The one we seem to have had the best luck with is a "Kirkland" brand with a heavy duty nylon (it says DuPont Balistic Nylon) that we got at Costco.

What is good, light weight and the most durable?

Anyone own the 4 wheel/spinner kind?

Is it worth it to pay more and get something good or should we just keep buying something cheap knowing it's going to have a short life?

I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR ADVICE!!

After much searching, we ended up buying our luggage at Costco...two 26" Kirkland expandable trolleys (pullman's). Supposedly 20% lighter than they used to be. We also bought two Ricardo rolling duffle bags that I have my doubts about. The handle seems a bit flimsy. TJ Maxx had High Sierra and Victrolix (sp?) duffles but Alan liked the Ricardo one. If it breaks, I can say "I told you so" ;) .

We looked at better pullman's but it seemed that the nicer they were, the heavier they were. Bought a lightweight Travel Gear from TJ to compare with the Kirkland one. No comparison. The Travel Gear was very lightweight but not well made so back it went.

I know what you mean about misfit luggage. None of ours matches anymore. Wouldn't matter anyway. Alan puts colored masking take all over our checked bags. We can sure tell when our bags are on the carousel. Not pretty but works good!

Marcie - personally, I stick with the low to mid priced luggage and assume I'll be replacing it. I don't like anything bigger than what I can manage on my own, so for me that's a softside, lightweight 26" MAX. Imbedded wheels are a must. I can't see a big advantage to the 4 wheel models so haven't tried them. I think the fabric on the Kirklands are superior to the canvas materials.

We use bright pink luggage handle covers that close with velcro. We can see 'em a mile away on the baggage carousels. Hope that helps! Cheers, Anne

Hello Marcie,
I know long time no hear. We both have been busy, and now were working nonstop since Hurricane Wilma desroyed our city, at least the overtime will help pay for MUSH.
We just bought the TravelPro Crew 5 complete set and have taken a couple trips with it. Its very light, waterproof, and extremly durable. I did about a month of research and this was the best I could find. (Actually TUMI was the best but one bag cost more than the whole set) The TravelPro also fits great in the airplane overhead and has many pockets.
Good luck and say hi to Tom.
John

John:

Did you buy from these folks? Good experience?

Thanks.

Gus and I have yet to cruise with anything less than four pieces of luggage! Last year we invested in a really top quality suit carrier. It is sturdy enough to be checked and has carried 6 suits without problem - that's a tux and 2 formal suit each! We have now just bought a new matching set of 3 Samsonite cases, in a rather fetching leaf green. These are hard cases with 2 embedded wheels and a pull out handle. They are effectively big roller cases. I prefer hard side cases to softside - my experience is they withstand the knocks of cruise and air travel so much better! Also i've had wet clothes before when a softside case has been left in the rain!

And i don't think these newer hard cases are that much heavier.....to be honest - any weight problem we have is because of the amount of stuff we pack!!!!!!!!!

But if you want to travel in style....embark on the world cruise with a steamer trunk and 10 matching Louis Vuitton cases....

ian & gus

We're all mismatched here. I've gotten away from sets and better pieces because reading in the travel news, it can set you up for being targeted as having stuff worth stealing. I have a fairly new Costco 26" pullman that is just as nice as the Dakota Metro pieces (26" pullmans)(Dakota is made by Tumi) that cost 4 times as much. We have a Kipling duffel on wheels that is 8 years old and looks new and is very light weight. All of our luggage has attachment straps so they all connect together. In Tahiti, Frank went somewhere and left me with a 4 of the above and our two wheeled carry ons. Connected them all and pulled them right to the transportation all by myself. You should have seen the looks I got pulling all that luggage by myself. We use the luggage straps on all of our luggage for easy identification and we used Sharpie Markers on them with our names.

I got an e-mail about those spinner suitcases - they are pretty heavy. With the latest weight restrictions I would look at luggage weight before buying and only buy lightweight ones personally.

---
Leslie

I love my Victorinox, Marcie. It's lightweight and seems to hold everything I own. The wheeled cosmetics case is an absolute darling and incredibly well designed.

Hi Marcie,

Our luggage is completely mismatched. We have some Tumi roll aboards which are wonderful. We bought a Delsey Helium 26" pullman on wheels and also a wheeled duffle bag before our Norway adventure last year and they've held up well through four cruises and about 6 round the world business trips. We don't have a Costco so I buy things from ebags online. I've taken to buying bright red or blue luggage and I have hideous bright fluorescent green handle wraps - you can spot our baggage from miles away. I was at the Samsonite outlet and checked out the four wheel spinner bags - they seemed kind of heavy to me.

Mary Ellen

Just don't buy the cheap stuff if you plan to use it on a regular basis. The wheels fall off, the handles stop working, and if the zippers don't work, better hope you have duck tape. I have been through all these problems. For now, I have my Hartman stuff, but I guess others would say it is too heavy, but I do love it, because zippers work, and if it goes bad I just send it off and they fix it.

I refuse to buy expensive luggage. It seems every trip, there is some new slash or stain from the airport baggage handlers. Once, our luggage had tire tracks on it. I buy mid range and expect to replace it every 5 years or so. I have never had a problem with wheels or handles falling off, knock on wood!

A few years ago we purchased what we thought was a really great Travel Pro carry-on, that was priced very well at a store called Tuesday Morning. We've taken that particular piece of luggage on many trips, as it holds a lot because it unzips and expands.

We took it on our Greece/Turkey cruise two years ago. Alan was carrying it by the handle, as we were on British Air and our seats were on the upper deck of the plane and we had stairs to climb. The handle tore off and the carry-on went rolling down the stairs. We took it to a luggage shop to see how expensive it would be to repair the handle and it if was worth it to do so, considering we paid so little for it. The shop owner told us that Travel Pro has had numerous problems with the handles on their luggage. Considering the circumstances, Travel Pro repaired and reinforced the handle of the carry-on, free of charge. I don't know if Travel Pro has resolved these problems, but I wouldn't consider purchasing Travel Pro again.

Thank you all so much for all the excellent opinions. Today I'll begin my luggage mission!

Marcie - you might check out Tuesday Morning, Costco and TJ Maxx or Marshall's. They get some good close out stuff.

We have travel pro, too. We have two 22" roll aboards. After 100+ trips (and probably 50 miles on the wheels), we needed to bring the first one in for repairs - zipper in back and retractable handle. It came back from shop as good as new and it cost nothing to repair. The second rollaboard now has well over 100 trips on it. It has noisy wheels and a retractable handle that is beginning to not work properly; we will take it in for free refurbishment soon. Neither our 29" or rolling garment bag have enough trips to make an assessment; but they are both performing well and are not too heavy.

One advantage of travel pro (and I believe a feature you should look for on all bags) is that all handles are screwed in versus using rivets. Screwed in handles can be easily repaired while you have a problem with riveted handle. After disembarking Mariner in Singapore, my mother noticed that the handle was torn off their large bag. A quick call to concierge, and a minor repair fee, and bag is as good as new.

Have fun researching and let us know what you end up with.

We have several pieces of Travel Pro, Crew Series.

I have one rolling "briefcase" type. It has a very long handle, or can be carried by hand. It also has a shoulder strap.

We have 2 22" roll-aboards ( I call them rovers )
with the little piece that attaches and lets you hang the smaller pieces. I call these smaller briefcase types a "topper," because they can fit on top of a suitcase. Bob has a hand carry one that is just a bag, no dividers and pockets inside.

Then we have 3 other pieces. A 29" rolling bag, purchased the night before a 14 day cruise when we took waaaayyyy to many clothes. This bag is named Godzilla.

We also bought 2 26 inch ones, called Mini Me. Our son took one look at the 26 inch sitting next to Godzilla and said, oh my Gawd, Godzilla and now Mini Me. It stuck.

We spent a weekend in Seattle with two rovers and one topper. We can usually go for a long weekend with one rover between us, plus one or two toppers, depending on how many pair of shoes and how many jackets/sweaters we need.

More and more airlines are going to the 50 lb limit, and I must say, I'm glad.

If you have ever worked at the airport checking in bags, or loading/unloading the aircraft, you back will be glad.

Too many people are on disability because of heavy bags.

Frances

I'd bought a great utility travel scale from magellans online which arrived today. So i weighed my empty suitcases to see how they compared. I have a hard side and a softside samsonite which are about the same size. I was pleasantly surprised that the hard side only weighed 2lbs more than the softside. The actual weights were 10lbs for the softie and 12lbs for the hard case. And at least the cases don't gain weight on the cruise!

I'd recommend Tumi luggage, most of which is expandable to accomodate all the extra stuff you may purchase while on vacation. My Tumi bags have traveled over 3MM miles with me worldwide, and the worst that has happened is that a luggage tag fell off at some point in time.

We have been pleased with our Travelpro. However, next Friday Bloomingdale's is holding a one day 50% off sale on Vitronix luggage with the gel handles in a great blue color. There is also an expandable travelpro rolling duffle bag that converts into a backpack in two sizes ... 27 inch and 30 inch.

Lynn and I each have Travelpro(I have Travelpro 3 and she has Travelpro 4). We each have the large bag and the fold over bag with outer pockets, plus a carry-on, all with wheels. The bags have been on 10 cruises, a trip to Hong Kong, a trip to Cape Town, a long trip to Canada, and several shorter trips in the U.S. during the past 3 years. They wear like iron and still look like new. Have only had one problem in all that time; the handle got torn off my large bag. TravelPro paid to fix it. We wouldn't go with any other!

I love my Hartmann luggage, but I can't say that it still looks like new after 14 or so cruises. I sort of like the "aging" that goes with good luggage, especially the leather parts. I still have every piece I have ever owned since the 80's, but unfortunately only have two with rollers. My daughter took over a small duffle-type carry on because she thinks it has a cool "retro" look. One thing I like is that it is readily identifiable on the luggage carousel, not the basic black of most luggage.

Two cruises ago, my huge bag made it to the airport intact. When I retrieved it after disembarking, the pull handle for the wheeling mechanism was damaged. Hoping that Hartmann will make good on the lifetime warranty, as they have once before. I am not a believer in "throway" luggage. Found that out in London when a friend was pulling hers from the rail station, and right in the middle of crossing the road, hundreds of little balls fell out in the street when her wheel came off! Then on the PG, the zipper on my son's luggage was damaged, but fortunately, they had duct tape on the ship and were able to allow his luggage to get home with all the clothes inside! This was way before 9/11, and you didn't worry that your bags would be examined enroute.

We also love Tumi. The price is high, but my husband has logged more than 200,000 air miles per year for more than 10 years. So...these bags have definately been tossed/thrown my numerous baggage handlers and they are still doing well. If you travel alot, it saves purchase of new luggage each year.....and the last thing my husband wishes to do is shop!
Cheers, Pam

Tumi is too expensive for us I am looking at the Travel Pro but these seem to come in different categories such as WalkAbouts, Crew5, Platinum????? I'm assuming Platinum is the top of the line but what is the category under Platinum? and so on. Thanks!

When my luggage broke 4 years ago and I was in a backwater town, the only place I could find anything was wallmart. That set of bags has held up better then the expensive set I had before. Go figure.

Marcie - you are right about Travel Pro coming in different categories, which are actually graduating levels in price and quality. We have a set of Crew 4 (which Travel Pro has now replaced with Crew 5)which we love and although we haven't traveled THAT much it has survived our cruise to Aust/NZ, a 10 day road trip thru Florida and our PIP cruise, along with many weekend trips. Still looks like new. We love it. We do have one of our pieces in the Travel Pro FlightPro 2 (not sure it they still have that category available). It is still very good, but I can tell the quality of our Crew 4 pieces is better. I recently bought a Crew 5 rolling carry on which is wonderful. The quality is even better than the Crew 4. I'm not sure about the Platinum. I believe it is the highest level & just above Crew 5. But I've looked at the Walkabout category which I think is the lowest level for Travel Pro and although I'm sure it is still of good quality, it didn't compare to the levels above it.

All of our Travel Pro pieces we have purchased at Macy's Dept store at their sale price of 40% off with another 10% off. They have this offer several times a year (as well as does Robinson's-May). The difference in the quality is really seen in the nylon material it is made of. The higher quality has a stronger, yet lighter weight Dupont Ballistic Nylon. The top levels also have more features and more pockets and zippered sections, etc. The store should have a detailed catelog which shows each category and its special features. That will help you see the comparison.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks Cyndi! That's the info I needed to know.

Marcie, we got Delsey luggage about 2 years ago and it has the DuPont Ballistic Nylon and the large two wheel system. We also looked at TravelPro luggage. Both seemed equal in everyway except for price and even though we probably would have spent the extra money just because of the high reputation that TravelPro had, the deciding point for us was the fact that the Delsey luggage would piggyback by strap onto each other. The carry-on luggage had a half lock on the handle that would allow it to lock in order to piggyback. In fact I saw the Kirkland luggage that Costco sells and it looks identical to the Delsey luggage we have, except they now include the TSA locks. We do travel quite a bit and there is nary a scratch on them. I don't think that is just because we have been fortunate to have extra careful baggage handlers! LOL

I am going to have to get our luggage down anyways to start packing for our trip next week, so I will take some pictures for you.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Don (& Marcie) - the Travel Pro also has the piggyback system. I'm not sure if it is the same type as you are describing, but there are straps that you "lock" into place onto the bags (kind of like the way the straps of a fanny pack lock together) and then the bags hook together. Does that sound like the same?

Marcie - glad to help!!!

I'm not sure if they are the same. We liked the Delsey because both bags were on the ground and on their own wheels when being piggybacked and seemed a lot more manageable, but then the saleperson wasn't very good either and didn't really do a very good job of pointing out the differences. All he could say was that Travel Pro was the best and worth the extra money, but couldn't show us why.

Here is the Delsey piggybacked. You will notice that the wheels of both are on the ground and balanced on themselves. The handle on the carryon suitcase is locked in the half position.

Sorry, I didn't know how to downsize the photo. Guess I will have to read up.

Here is what the front looks like. It also has a wet pocket on the side of each. The carryon is expandable.

Don - looks very similar. To tell the truth, I haven't done it enough to know if you can roll the attached bag on the ground. I'll check that out before our next trip. It does sound like a big advantage with the Delsey. It looks really good too!! (I like the big pictures - easier to see the details).

Well, thanks to all of you guys I decided on several Brands of luggage that would all be acceptable. I priced them at Macy's and on line. Since there were about 4 different Brands that I would have been happy with, I bid on some on ebay (but didn't win) until last night. Here is my winning bid. $44.09 plus $19 shipping is the best price I could have found (it still has the new tags on it). Thanks to all of you!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6574594842&sspagename=ADME:L:RTQ:US:1

Congratulations, Marcie! I love Ebay for these kinds of purchases. Let us know when it arrives (minus the TSA bonus slashes). Cheers, Anne

Looks just like our bags. Probably just this years style difference. Seems to have the same features except yours came with something ours didn't... An unbelievable good price! Congratulations!

Marcie - you did really good!!!! You are a great shopper. I'm sure you are going to love your new luggage (an the price isn't too bad either :) )

Rimowa luggage was recently recommended to me. it is supposed to be a very light weight, hard sided line of luggage.

Has anyone seen it? I'm in the market for new luggage since my Sept. '05 PG cruise.

thanks!

Offer from Tumi and American Express

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Wow that looks really nice! Let us know how it is when you receive it, I have to buy a new bag like this next spring, so I'm in the market (but don't tell my husband because he thinks I have a luggage fetish.)