Letitride3c

I would pay attention to 27" checked luggage's empty weight + contents to be reasonable sure of practical limits for the airlines frequently flown ... whether flying J or F with waiver or using affinity card (try to keep ours around 40 lbs. or 18 kg, especially going abroad - if regional/short-haul carriers are involved ... even when 50 lbs or 22 kg. are allowed).

Depending on how one packs and contents carried, 25" or 27" should suffice, especially with expandable ballistic fabric - biased toward rollers. Uber/Lyft riders - advantage for smaller pieces, not fun to try to lift & fit a loaded 27" or 29" into a Camry or Altima.

Still using my 30 years old Andiamo garment bag on car trips, every now & then - used to be easy for FA to hang them in the closet on those DC-10's & 747SP's. As for eBags, I consider those practical & given on how we use them, pretty reliable - broken straps, simple to call them & get it replaced free ... my TLS Mother Lode still good, just normal wear-n-tear - decent value for value. There's no need to throw that broken piece away, keep it as a spare even if you go B&R or Red Oxx.

OP, since you mentioned NYC's Chinatown, could've walk a few blocks east to Orchard Street & step into Altman Luggage, look-touch-feel and get them on the spot at discount prices, one of the few places to really shop for what you need.

Handcake

Briggs & Riley

I bought two this past summer...the carry on one I got was highly recommended here

I got the Baseline Cabin Spinner for carry on...I am amazed at how much I can pack into that bag and with the 4 rollers it is so smooth.

I also got the Torq Medium size. I like the shape...not a huge fan of the plastic as I am just waiting on the day that stuff breaks...however, it is a light suitcase and the price wasn't bad.

I got both on Amazon and got great prices on both.

NeilA

My personal seal of approval goes to Costco's Kirkland 22", Luggageworks stealth 22 and Redoxx products. Although I have almost worn out a Kirkland bag, none of these have ever failed while traveling in any way.

I have had Travelpro's 22"and 24" fail on me while overseas - 1 wheel, two handle issues.

Recently, if I check a bag going to Europe, It will be the Kirkland, and I will carry-on the LW stealth,a B&R U121CXW or Redoxx Airboss depending on airlines and if I will be flying Easyjet within Europe. I call the Kirkland "the freighter" as it carries all sorts of loads; ex. Grundens heavy duty rain gear to/from Alaska, several Kilos of pistachio nuts several times, from Turkey, Costco coconut oil and Vitamins to Poland, etc, etc..

I thoroughly enjoy my Rimowa Topas cabin on domestic flights, but it is not exposed to any baggage handlers ever. The B&R 121CXW is fine domestic, and I don't care if I have to gate check it, but it is a little big for European use.

nrr

Every now and then I fly on regional jets and do NOT want to gate check, so I need carry-on with NO wheels which will fit in the overhead compartment, so 15"-17" is the max.
Walgreens USED to sell just what I needed, it had side compartments, a few front pouches; they sold them @2 for $10. The interior lining started to fray after about 2 years...but at that price I recycled them periodically. [The outside had NO wear issues.]
Amazon sells a bag for approx. $11, not as many compartments as the Walgreens, but the outside tore (slightly) after the return period; I made some patches, but I don't like it.
I got (free) from a Casino promo a Victoronix carry-on (selling price $80); it is well made, but has NO side compartments making organizing misc. "stuff" difficult. [Even though their Swiss Army Knives are made in Switzerland, the bag is made in Thailand.
Any suggestions?

TennisNoob

Briggs & Riley is the best for value.

Fashion and similar quality I would go Rimowa. Rimowa's are very vulnerable but yet I only use Rimowa because I like everything about it and don't mind it breaking.

theshaun

any love for the eBags Motherlode TLS Mini 21"?

txflyer77

Red Oxx Mini Boss.

http://www.redoxx.com/Shop-by-Gear-I...016/13/Product

gobluetwo

Are you sure it was a Victorinox and not a SwissGear/Wenger bag? At that price point, seems like it would be the latter. There is a difference, as Victorinox is what I'd consider mid-upper range luggage, whereas SwissGear is at that lower-end price range you describe.

midu

I fly with a Mini Boss, my trips always include a leg on a CRJ-200 or Dash 8. Never had a problem with it.

GadgetFreak

With wheels, B&R. Most of my pieces are Baseline although more recently I have the BRX 19 inch (I think that was it) roller. I generally like the slightly smaller than maximum size rollers.

Without wheels I have and like Red Oxx, Tom Bihn, SFBags (Waterfield Designs) or Timbuk2. The later two are more briefcase/messengers although they have some suitcase/duffles as well.

nrr

The official title of the bag is:
Victonoix Werks Traveler 5.0 WT Weekender Carry-All Tote with Drop-Down Expansion
Amazon sells it for $100 (my $80 was an "estimate")

nrr

$235 is a far cry from 2 for $10.

gobluetwo

Ah, gotcha. Assumed you meant it was a suitcase which, at $80 (or even $100) is not in the range for Victorinox, even on sale. The tote price makes much more sense since it's a now-discontinued model.

Voicemint

Another thing to consider if you're budget minded.... used luggage.
There are plenty of people out there who buy really nice luggage for a trip, then hardly travel after that. Or only occasionally. And then they need to downsize and let it go for pennies on the dollar of the original price. You can sometimes find good luggage at a garage sale, but the easiest is on-line... eBay.

I've bought a few very nice pieces of luggage off eBay from sellers who were just itching to get rid of stuff and didn't know much about what they were selling. In this case, you do your research to identify the brand and possible models of interest, then keep searching for them. In my case, I got a very good quality Victorinox NXT 2.0 Mobilizer 22" roller for $50. Very minor signs of use. But the person simply listed it as Victorinox carry-on luggage. They didn't know this was from a higher end model line by Victorinox. A comparable brand new higher end 22" roller from this brand would be more in the range of $300~350. So, this was a huge savings.

Luggage will show signs of use not long after you put it to use, especially if you check it in. So... the "new luggage" feeling doesn't last all that long. And from there on out, it's all about the durability and performance of the luggage.