TravelPro Plat5 22inch. How does handle lock?

[panamamike]

Just took delivery of this bag. When I took it out and played with it, I found the handle only locks in the fully extended position. Is this the way the bag is supposed to work?

I tried to get it to lock at the half way point, but it just slides?

Aside from that the bag looks fine: I do however have a few rants and I now know what people where talking about when they say TravelPro has gone down hill.

If you're not interested in RANTS stop reading here

I happen to own a late 90's vintage TravelPro 22" and have used it as recently as last week. I had two complaints about this bag.

1: The flap on the front of the suitcase, this thing makes it a pain getting it in and out of the overhead bins, it always gets caught.

2: the front feet collapse under load, I have a laptop bag I put on top of the bag and from time to time the feet collapse and the ball falls over.

Aside from that, the bag has been pretty good, but when I saw the sale on the Plat5 and all the talk about Plat5 being better than Plat6 I figured why not.

Note this is a first impression as I haven't traveled with the bag yet, so take it with a grain of salt.

After looking at the bag, I'm a bit underwhelmed.

1: The handle. I love the handle on my Plat22 it's made of thick leather that wraps around so that the grip area is one complete piece of supple padded leather. The new Plat5 bag is made of inferior, thin leather, that has been stitched together along the handle area, I anticipate it will make the bag uncomfortable to hold for extended periods of time. Also the padding is gone.

2: the new extending handle looks more fragile, and it takes up more space inside the bag. Why on earth they did a redesign on this I don't know. They have this extra rotating part with a one handed handle. I'm not sure how I'm going to use that, but I do know it takes up valuable space inside the bag. Also the handle tubes themselves are about twice as thick as my original. the bottom of the bag isn't level and as a result now offers space.

3: Suiter: Wow, they shrunk this significantly. The idea of it being a separate section in the bag is nice, but it's smaller. The suiter may be ok for a narrow shouldered man or lady, but it's not going to fit my shirts the same way the older bag did. Again, I haven't tried it out yet, so I'll have to reserve final judgement, but it's looking a bit iffy at this point.

4: Construction of bag bottom. I unzipped the liner to find plastic honeycomb packaging material tapped into place at the bottom of the bag. This doesn't inspire too much confidence coming from a bag with steel reinforcement in that same area. I guess time will tell on this one.

All I have to say is wow, I'm curious to see what others think on this topic.

Regards,

Mike

[tfar]

I got the 22" Plat5, too. And I love it. Have traveled with it and it holds up very well. You have probably read my review of it.

The handle indeed has only one extension level in which it locks. You can tell from the little holes in the tubes. Personally, I find that to be a good height. I'm about 6'. I do like to use the extra handle. The bag becomes almost weightless. It is very easy on the wrist. So for me it is worth it in terms of added weight and used space inside the bag. You will also find that it is relatively easy to pack around the handle. Just lay your underwear and t'shirts flat around the handle filling out the interstices. This way you use up all the available space and create a flat basis for the rest of your packing.

The carry handles are as you say. Since I hardly ever need to carry it, this has no influence for me. They are basically grab handles when I need to lift the bag momentarily. They are not used for long hauls. I only use my Plat5 when I know I can use its great rolling ability. Otherwise I use one of my shoulder bags.

The suiter is not big but a size 42 suit does fit. Also, somebody showed a method where the suit (or shirt) is simply pulled together so that the front sides are overlapping; like wrapping a blanket around your torso. This works very well for jackets and shirts. Give it a try. You should find a link to the method in my original review somewhere. I think it was a thread by carolinelb and the method came from Mike (who goes under another screen name).

I also reserve the suiter only for the jackets. I put shirts in a shirt folder and wrap the pants around the shirt folder in the main compartment. This will have several advantages. Try it out. There is thread here where I posted a general method of how to pack a 22" rollaboard. It's not too far back.

Can't say anything on your fourth point. The bag is wrapped up in the attic and I am too lazy to get it out now. Will look at it next time I use it. All I can say is that I was rather impressed with the build quality.

Till