Favorite Luggage Brand? Spinners better than 2 wheels?

We had one incident- on a taxi from the airport to our hotel- day before a ft lauderdale cruise, a taxi driver smashed my luggage into his trunk. When we got into the hotel I noticed he had busted the suitcase. Fortunately we had a strip mall walking distance from our hotel and I went to Marshalls to purchase another piece of luggage.

Not too sure what breaks hardsided luggage. DD bought a very cheap, no name 26” one in a schlock store. Reinforced the corners with duct tape. So far it’s survived two multi-country trips. One four plane trip and the other was a six plane journey.

I hate clamshells, so no hardsides for me.

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Another vote for IT luggage. Very lightweight. Good warranty if anything goes wrong. 40% lighter than the other brands being mentioned.

I just bought some IT luggage for my cruises in Feb and May.

Laura

I have gotten rid of all of my spinner suitcases. They are absolutely miserable for any kind of land travel. Give me 2 wheels any day of the week.

Sounds like you need new luggage. Since you travel often perhaps you should invest in haliburton luggage. It is wonderful, but expensive. You can buy on sale and it is well worth it. They have wonderful spinners with a great warranty if you have any issues.

or Briggs and Riley, they have a life time warranty on their luggage.

I do not know if it the specific spinner that we bought or spinners in general but the wheels on mine are way too small. OK on hard surfaces. Awful on anything else.

DON

I travel a lot internationally, and sometimes for up to 4 weeks. I have had 2 wheel and spinners. Overall, spinners are better, but not always. Like others have said, with two, you put them back to back, grab both handles, and away you go. And you can toss your shoulder bag on top.

I prefer bags that open closer to the top versus the middle. And in these days of bag weight restrictions, lighter is better.

Right now, my primary bags are Delsey Titanium 3.0 bags. The only issue is, the zipper crosses over the top flat side, and it gets worn. So I carry some gaffer's tape (like duct tape, but does not leave a residue) and put a piece of tape over that part of the zipper. This works great, and avoids the wear. They are very light but durable. My current set has probably 20 international trips on them and are still going strong.

I also have a Samsonite F'lite that works well. It seems they may have stopped making the 29", so I have a second one on order. I have not used this as much as the Delseys, but really like it. I hope the two I have last a long time, or they become available again.

We have spinners in three different sizes but I also gave a 2 wheel duffle that I love for my own clothes.

I think it looks like 1. if you are flying and cruising only, spinners are great. 2. if you are doing land stuff and walking a lot (like from train to hotel, subway to airplane, etc., etc.), two wheelers work better.

I think it looks like 1. if you are flying and cruising only, spinners are great. 2. if you are doing land stuff and walking a lot (like from train to hotel, subway to airplane, etc., etc.), two wheelers work better.

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We bought rolling duffels at Costco a few years ago, then we bought the Samsonite clamshell hard side luggage with spinners. I prefer the rolling duffel with 2 large wheels -- sometimes gets off balance but I find it easier to handle than the spinners. Hubby went back to the large Victorinox suitcase we bought before weight became so important - I think it weighs 18# empty.

I'm another 2 wheeler fan - partly because, as others have mentioned, the larger wheels roll better over uneven or textured surfaces. Also, you can let go of them on a moderate incline and the feet keep them in place. You have to hold on to spinners because with 4 wheels, they will roll away.

I have Victronix from their higher-end line & they have held up to years of business trips - a dozen trips a year.

Not all "life-time" warranties are worth it. I had Tumi before the Victronix. Sent them in under warranty - several issues including zipper pulls breaking off.

Tumi initially rejected all the repairs.

Their phone rep: The life-time warranty is for defects in materials & workmanship. Deffects show up in the first 9 months.

Me: So, your "lifetime" warranty is really a 9 month warranty?

After about 45 minutes on the phone, I got them to do all but one repair that I could live without.

The funniest part - the luggage store clerk who was helping me box it up and fill out the form pointed out that there was a lot of wear on the wheels & feet so we added that to the form. That was the one repair they initially accepted doing - the one thing that I would have accepted was "normal wear & tear" they were fine with.

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We are also looking at getting some new luggage. I have read a few threads on suggestions and my take is it really comes down to what you want and how you travel. It seems they all have pro's and con's.

Two wheel fan. But we do lots of independent travel. Uneven sidewaks, cobblestones etc.

DW has a Rick Steves rolling 20" carry on. She loves it. I recently bought a lightweight Eagle Creek 20" rolling carry on duffel. Had it out for an eight week trip. I am very pleased with it.

We looked for light,for good zippers, and good wheels.

One thing...ignore the labels that say light, lightest, or lighter. Our experience is that those labels, and in some cases the stated dimensions are meaningless. Weigh it for yourself, put a tape on the dimensions. We only do carry on weight was/is important to us. We try to keep the total weight down to about 8KG.

For us, hard-side rolling luggage is a must. I prefer Samsonite -- but, it's getting harder and harder to find hard-side luggage that doesn't have zippers (I want latches and locks). Although I was perfectly happy with the 'in-line' wheels, I have to admit that spinners are so much easier to get around with! Only time will tell as to whether they hold up as well as those old wheels. :confused:

Do you have a luggage repair shop nearby. We went to one in Vancouver that does much of the work for local airlines. I was getting a bag repaired.

The clerk spent some time talking to us about luggage and showed us what the common issues are. Spinners are no so great for checking on airlines. Tend to have a lot of wheel breakage so the clerk said.

The other thing she said and showed us was to not buy by brand. Many of the brands have different levels of product quality geared to the sale practices of various retail customers. They may look the same but take a careful look at material, zippers, wheels, locks etc. as they can be very different within the same brand of popular luggage.

I have an old TravelPro Crew small suitcase (not so good for cruises, given all the crap one takes) that pretty much looks the same as it did the day I got it. Fantastic quality and performance. No stains, no major marks, nothing, despite being thrown around airports in this country and others. I replaced my old large suitcase (some cheap fluff I probably got as a teenager) with a consumer-level TravelPro (Maxlite 4 25" expandable spinner). I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on the higher cost for the Crew model, and that one was going for a good price (although only if I got it in black, which is not normally what I'd choose). I haven't used it much yet, but so far, it seems good. It's my first spinner, I think, so I'm getting used to that, too.

As for the wheels, I don't usually have to go long distances with the case because I check it in at the airport counter. When I get where I'm going, I just have to get it into my hotel room. So it's not life-or-death crucial either way. The most important thing is that it's stable. My old large case constantly fell over as soon as I'd let go of it because it wasn't balanced well.

The clerk spent some time talking to us about luggage and showed us what the common issues are. Spinners are no so great for checking on airlines. Tend to have a lot of wheel breakage so the clerk said.

 

The other thing she said and showed us was to not buy by brand. Many of the brands have different levels of product quality geared to the sale practices of various retail customers. They may look the same but take a careful look at material, zippers, wheels, locks etc. as they can be very different within the same brand of popular luggage.

Great stuff, thank you for sharing

Over many years, we have had 2 wheels and 4 wheels and various brands. Its just luck, if your suitcase survives baggage handlers, porters etc. A good few suitcases have had major dents too, as they toss them around.

About the only time someone handles our baggage is when we store it at a hotel prior to check in. We are so used to rolling carry on that we don't even bother with hotel porters etc.

The clerk spent some time talking to us about luggage and showed us what the common issues are. Spinners are no so great for checking on airlines. Tend to have a lot of wheel breakage so the clerk said.

Funny thing is, I had more wheel problems with 2 wheelers than I have had with my spinners.

There are times when 2 wheelers are better. But I find (having had both and done a LOT of traveling), that the spinners are better more of the time. And while they are not perfect, you can use a spinner as a 2 wheel. Just tip it and drag it.