Carry On bag – wheeled/convertible

Hey

Looking to buy my partner an investment-grade carry on bag. Wheeled. Capable of converting to backpack when needed (stowed shoulder harness). Built to last. Heavy duty wheels – likely two only as she doesn’t like the 4-wheeled types.

looking for real-world experiences and recommendations folks!

cheers.
Steve.

Totally not what you asked for but two wheeled types are the devils work… They are unstable for the user and cause a nuisance to others in crowded airports.

Hope that helps! 🙂

Conversely I reckon 4 wheeled carry-ons are for people who don’t have to travel often (certainly nobody who has to regularly fly on an Embrer 170/190, CRJ or Q400), refuse to walk more than 30 seconds to a taxi and never ever negotiate anything other than billiard table-smooth polished airport terminal concrete.

I use a mixture of a Deuter Transit and a Thule Crossover (the older one, the new one looks a bit shit). Both have bigish wheels that don’t mid the odd excursion down a cobbled street and really aren’t bothered by the grit that is used in European pedestrianised areas when it snows. The rucksack capability is there, though I rarely use it. They’re just big enough for a working week, the Thule has useful compartments for washing, documents and one for sunglasses, which I normally use for chargers. Most importantly though they both fit readily in pretty much every overhead bin I’ve tried  without needing elaborate stuffing – the only exception being BAE146 /Avro RJ in the middle cabin rows where some dimwit decided to glue the wings on in the space where your head should be. Thankfully nobody uses them any more.

I generally hate wheeled bags with a passion – or more accurately, a large percentage of the idiots wheeling them around – but bought an Osprey Rolling Transporter 40 to chuck my camera kit into for a couple of transatlantic hops this year and it’s alright. Doesn’t fit the ‘convertible’ part of your brief, but it’s decent.

Just check carefully on the ‘carry on’ part as every airline has their own dimensions, watched a guy get denied boarding coming back from Fuerteventura recently as his carry-on was a good 5cm taller than RyanAir’s allowed sizing. Well, that was the main excuse given, the fact he was drunk and belligerent at 10am was probably a contributor as well…

I reckon 4 wheeled carry-ons are for people who don’t have to travel often

Au contraire – You can still tilt a 4 wheeler to use it like a 2 wheeler for longer walks, (assuming you get one with castors that rotate) or if you really want to be one of ‘those’ people towing it behind them causing a tripping hazard and blocking pinch points whilst you fumble around for your pre-printed boarding pass in crowded spaces.

After getting busted and having to pay £70 to put my (2cm too big) carry on into the hold, I now use one of these…cheap and cheerful… https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0C5F11LKJ

looking for real-world experiences and recommendations folks!

Real world experience – Easyjet at Manchester are arseholes

We had 2 bags that met the dimensions, but because it didnt easily fit in to the measuring thing ie you had move straps to get it to go in they charged an extra £90 per bag. According to the bloke it must drop in without touching the sides of the measuring thing.

Just about everyone on the flight was charged extra.

We have a couple of bags that have wheels and straps and easily passed the easy jet test but not if the service desk crew are an ass like above. It specifically meets easy jet and ryan air specs, but Id be wary stuffing it. We came back with more in the bag but were fine.

Cabin Max 40x20x25. These are the smaller ones. Used for five nights.

I agree on not having wheels, but if she insists then I’d be looking at these 2

https://www.eastpak.com/uk-en/luggage-c140/transit-r-s-tarp-black-pEK-0A5BA7-O13-OS–1-.html

https://www.johnlewis.com/osprey-ozone-40-55cm-2-wheel-cabin-case-black/p6359614?srsltid=AfmBOoobBNpxkHhH1GWOIvZxIC1XXzxref_k1JG5HRFqe3iX-peytIxNwX0&gQT=1

If it’s ‘investment grade’ luggage look at https://briggs-riley.co.uk/

They’ve a proper lifetime no questions warranty from what I’ve heard – a mate had a zip jam and he had to cut his bag open.  They next day couriered a new bag to his hotel.

Sport pursuit had some of their stuff in a few years back – I bought a washkit.  Turned out to be too big for what I wanted but so ridiculously tough I’ve repurposed it as my in-car bike toolkit.

On the other hand, one of the issues with carry on luggage is you’re battling a combination of size and weight (especially if you’re looking at easyJet/ryanair).  ‘Quality materials’ are generally heavy.  stuff like 4 wheels/rucksack straps all eats into usable space.

The original wheeled carry on was https://eu.travelpro.com/? – we’ve got a pair of bags they made to Ryanair’s carry on dimensions (that have an expander zip so you can make bigger for other airlines) and that are super light.  Have been happy with them but we very rarely do that sort of travel so they’ve not had masses of use.  Will be taking them skiing by rail with our boots in (alongside a travel rucksack) to carry our boots as easier to stash on train racks and wheel through stations that a ski boot bag.

Carry On bag

Thought this might be a recently unearthed Kenneth Williams film. I is disappoint.

If it’s ‘investment grade’ luggage look at https://briggs-riley.co.uk/

+1 we have one of their wheeled cases and it’s very good, much better than a Samsonite

I’m sure it’s great.. But when the luggage costs more than the flight, questions should be asked!

I barely travel now but use to be a +40 flights a year person and ended up with 3 bags for differing trips.

1 – for day and overnight I had exactly the spec you’re looking for – and it also expanded

2 – standard 2-3 night 2-wheeled bag, expanded too – either in the hold or carry on

3 – full width suitbag with additional ‘box’ with 2-wheels, worked for weeks’ away etc – I didn’t take it as cabin luggage unless I was business/First (on a wide body) and needed a quick transfer somewhere.

Mine were all Samsonite, no other reason than they sold them in our local Dept Store.

I’m very much in the only “only check a bag if I absolutely have to” camp and did a fair bit of reading prior to buying my last bag.

I’m presuming the OP intends this bag to be used in place of a checked bag. If that is the case, then space and weight are at a premium, which means wheels aren’t really a great idea. Also wheeled and/or hard sided luggage is significantly more likely to get sized checked and/or gate checked.

If you know what trips you’re (likely) taking over the next year or so and which airlines you’re likely to use it’s worth having a look at their dimensional and weight limits as there can be some pretty significant differences between “cabin baggage” allowances and that’s not even taking into account the “personal item” allowances for the likes of Ryanair, unless you pay extra of course.

Based on my research, what you really want is a rectangular rucksac with a decent enough but not overly complicated back system (that maybe folds away), a few but not too many places to organise things and a reassuring level of sturdyness.

I looked at:
Osprey Farpoint 40 – £160
GoRuck GR2 – £300ish
Yeti Crossroads – £240
Patagonia Blackhole 40 – £140
but ended up buying (mainly as I had to buy 4 and they had a really good black friday offer on a couple of years back) bags from Cabin Zero

Wife and 14 year old son: https://www.cabinzero.com/products/adv-42l-mossy-forest
16 year old son (who needed to take laptop on first trip: https://www.cabinzero.com/products/classic-pro-42l-navy
Me: https://www.cabinzero.com/products/military-44l-military-green

To be honest they have been really good and so no real signs of wear aside from the odd scuff/stain despite being used for:
2 weeks in the USA
3 weeks interrailing around Europe
2 weeks in Canada
Numerous long weekends either in the camper or flying.

In my 44l one, with a bit of thought and packing cubes, I can get enough clothes and stuff for 10 days without doing laundry, including a rain jacket, spare footwear of some description, some sort of insulated layer and swimming kit inc a travel towel. I generally have a little bit of space for souvenirs too.
I’m 6ft1 and 100kg, so my clothes aren’t exactly small.
Caveat: I do use a small sling bag/bumbag for passport/headphones/etc

TLDR: wheels are a daft idea, get a rectangular travel rucksac, enjoy relatively hassle free travel!

Brilliant info folks. Thank you.

I have a Salomon cabin container and find it to be excellent. 10 years+ and going strong. If this existed with a backpack harness we’d go for that.

there are some great recommendations above and I’ll explore those.

cheers!!

You loose a lot of capacity having the wheels.

Two poor folks in front of us in the Ryan Air queue got the wrath the other day and had to cough up big time.

Osprey far point for the win IMO

Got one Eastpak that fulfills the spec: cabin size, trolley 2 wheels, can be converted to backpack. Think it‘s called Tranverz (how can I upload a photo?)

It‘s rather heavy but robust – I love it, with extra notebook compartment – if I‘m not mistaken with lifetime warranty.

Found it back in the days in the Miles & More catalogue.