After many years and over 300,000 miles of travel, my wife I and I decided it was time to retire our unwieldy rolling duffel luggage. The strain on our backs and arms was just too much. But what to get to replace this? After much oohing and ahhing we decided that these suitcases looked like they would meet our needs.
Now, after trips on various airlines, to Panama, Colombia, Louisiana, Michigan (twice) and England in the past 3 months, I feel it is time to give them their review.
Out of the box they look fantastic. The purple is vibrant and easily noticeable. On my hardwood floor they rolled beautifully, this continues on both pavement and tile. Cobbles are never fun with any luggage but, even on this surface, they still rolled reasonably.
The telescopic handle system works very smoothly and is suitable for both my 6' and my wifes 5'3". However I am concerned as to their longevity. We are already noticing a lot more give in the torque of the roll-aboard case than we initially had.
The shell construction, while it feels very thin and flimsy, is far from it. In fact we are both quite shocked as to the beating it can take with only a little noticeable wear. To date the large case has a couple of minor scrapes showing but the manufacturer nameplate was MIA after the very first flight. We find this annoying as there are now 3 holes where the plate once was and they are sizable enough to warrant plugging. It also detracts from the aesthetic.
The interior of the cases is very well designed, allowing enough depth for the packing cubes that we prefer to utilize. The strapping system is more than satisfactory and the zippered divider cover appears to be more than sturdy enough to contain all of the items in place. There is also a zippered divider pocket along the interior length which is ideal for bits and pieces that would get lost otherwise.
Maneuverability is a breeze but we would like to have seen a connection system to permit the ability to daisy chain them together. The wheels are not yet a concern but we do have a feeling that they may be. They do not feel as sturdy as we believe that they should, occasionally sticking slightly. Time will tell.
For the price we both believe that these 3 cases will stand us in good stead for a while and look forward to further putting them through their paces