I travel a lot for work – mainly short haul and mainly with carry on, where I can.
But I am killing carry on luggage.
Current favourite was M&S case because when the handles broke off within the 5 year warranty time they got replaced. (mind you carrying around my hand luggage when this happened last week was not highlight) However they have sneakily altered the case down by 3 cm … so it is no longer viable.

What do the frequent flyers of STW recommend?… do I really have to stump up from Rimowa, so it doesn’t break … Or is there something out there that works and doesn’t need a mortgage ?
Ta!

Samsonite or Osprey.

The latter has one of the best warranties out there. Rimowa is for poseur ****. But, buy well and it will last. Buy cheap and keep replacing it.

My beloved Samsonite has done fifteen years of flying and might be retiring soon.

I like my Patagonia MLC but my Samsonite gets just as much use

Rimowa stuff is nice but the aluminum ones are surprisingly heavy!

Perhaps a bit industrial looking, but you know it will do the the job :
I’ve been using the new lighter two wheeled ( Pelican ) Peli Air 1535 of late as both carry on and check in.

My samsonite carry on is 6-7yrs old and has done god knows how many flights!

tbh I buy decent quality and accept that stuff breaks if used a lot.

Current stuff is Samsonite.

Hi Tri-X,
I know Rimowa stuff is heavy – the Pelicase looks good … but 4 kgs !! Really

okay will go and look at samsonite …
Some of the on-line reviews have been less than kind …

It need to be a wheelie case – I tend to carry too much in it ( hence the breaking handles)

I use the Victorinox/Swiss army bags. Had them for years and they have lasted very well. Just like new in fact after about 6 or so years of business and leisure travel. I’ve got a couple of big cases and two sizes in between and use a courier bag style for my laptop bag.

Would have them again. Well designed with lots of nice features and pretty robustly built.

Samsonite for me now, also had a very good Victorinox for ages. IME the carry on gets treated better (ie by me) and lasts longer than the check-in bags do by the bagagge throwers.

EDIT: lots of different Samonite styles and price points. I have the softer style not the plastic box type.

My standard recommendation – Lowe Alpine TT Carry On 40. I think there’s a newer version out now

If you’re feeling flush and really do travel a lot then check out Tom Bihn

thanks – at the moment the Osprey and the Lowe Carry on are looking favourite. I have always “hard shelled” but it doesn’t actually stop anything from creasing. And I want a good handle …

I would say Samnsonite, but mine is less than six months old and the handle has broken already. If you do buy one, then make sure it’s from a shop (John Lewis etc) and not online, because the cost and inconvenience of returning a broken suitcase is roughly the same as buying a replacement anyway.

I gave up … I had specific hard cases for years but just got hacked off with the ones with wheels.

Mostly now I just use a rucksac (laptop, chargers and such) and can get socks, pants etc. and usually my plastic bag contains only toothpaste.

Then I carry a suit carrier and stick a carabiner on the rucksack front straps

The suit carrier gets put flat on top of everyone elses bags (or sometimes they hang at the front).

The Rucsac I’m using is a camera specific one with laptop area so not what I’d recommend but it’s been refreshing not having the hard carry on.

I’ve got the Osprey Farpoint 40

It was a bit of a rash purchase a while back, but it’s outstandingly useful because I can arrive at my hotel, remove all the clothes and junk and then it doubles as a comfortable laptop bag by doing up the compression straps. It goes in plane overhead lockers easily even when full – that picture makes it look too big but it’s not.

The big problem with rolly cases is that you need a separate laptop bag othewise you’re rolling the case around with you all week.

The main reason I got it was so that I could carry a few days’ worth of work stuff on my nice bike without having to resort to panniers or my commuter. It does that well too.

+1 for the Osprey Farpoint 40. Have had mine for years and been all over with it. Perfect.

How much are you carrying to break the handles? There normally is a weight limit and I just can’t imagine carrying that much stuff that the handle could break?

db – heavy traveler, Smasonite user and owner of a LOT of bags

Don’t overpack the overhead lockers.

Lowe Alpine TT Carry On 40. I think there’s a newer version out now

I just bought the 45l one – looks good. I am always in a dilemma – backpack for getting to the airport, or wheelie case for pushing round the airport?

How much was I carrying …. too much I guess. But it does say the case was good for 60kgs for 20 sec ( essentially i let the handle out a it dropped to the ground). It has about 12 kgs in there …. hardly industrial.
I need a roller case because of carrying too much and bad shoulders 😀
TBH I would buy a another M&S one … as they have honoured the warranty twice. But the have reduce the size to 50 cm height…. so 10%
But you are right, carrying the roller bag all week is fag.
But I do have a small laptop case …
Thanks

Tumi

I often carry a S2S fold up rucksack and a little neoprene laptop bag in my bag. Makes doing things like quick meetings, gym/pool or trip to the shops significantly easier

I’ve also spent all day as a tourist walking round Budapest with the TT Carry On. No hipbelt but unless it’s an adjustable height bag it wouldn’t fit me as I’m tall. My shoulders were tired after about 6+ hours of walking around on foot with all my clothes and work kit on my shoulders. But that’s pretty good going in my book

https://intl.tumi.com

I like tumi bags, excellent quality, but you do pay

Osprey Ozone – wheels and backpack. Used for coming up for a year now on weekly flights; great bit of kit.

Looks good and even fits in the overhead locker of the short haul favourite the ATR72

+1 Osprey Farpoint 40 for the same reasons as Molgrips in particular that is can be used as day sack once you dump stuff at the hotel, and it has a decent waist strap if you need to carry stuff any distance (cant stand the wheels once you leave the smooth airport floors).
Even did 2 weeks in Japan with it…

It was a bit of a rash purchase a while back, but it’s outstandingly useful because I can arrive at my hotel, remove all the clothes and junk and then it doubles as a comfortable laptop bag by doing up the compression straps. It goes in plane overhead lockers easily even when full – that picture makes it look too big but it’s not.

The big problem with rolly cases is that you need a separate laptop bag othewise you’re rolling the case around with you all week.

Looks quite good… could be ideal for me. (I’m basically using a camera specific bag with the camera velcro stuff taken out) but just because I already had it.

How is it under the seats? (Not my preference but sometimes end up with those yellow stickers on full flights)

Roller cases are not really good for laptops anyway… as soon as you end up somewhere not quite smooth you’re rattling/vibrating the parts about dampened perhaps by padding but not eliminated.

My wife uses Samsonite stuff. Works away 4 days a week, she killed two suitcases in this time but both were warrantied and replaced free of charge. I think she actually wore down the wheels on one!

Again, thanks for all the advice 😀