I've got a Travelpro Crew 8 22 inch roll-aboard (not spinner) and the same size Crew 9 in front of me right now. Has anyone else noticed how much lighter the Crew 9 is? And how the sides and back of the Crew 9 crush much more easily?

Holding each while standing on a bathroom scale (which rounds off to the nearest half pound), the Crew 9 registers 2 pounds less (so the actual difference is between 1.75 and 2.25). Using an old and not too accurate kitchen scale, I get a slightly smaller difference (about 1.6 pounds). The long sides of the Crew 9 can easily be crushed inward (pushing the front and back of the suitcase together), whereas the Crew 8 has much more resistance. Similarly for the back. Top and bottom ends are equally stiff on both.

Opening up the inner lining, I see that much of the difference seems to reflect the fact that the Crew 9 has much less rigid, flat plastic behind the nylon exterior. The Crew 9 front pocket exterior also lacks the hard plastic backing that the Crew 8 has. (Also, FYI, the Crew 8 is made in China; the Crew 9 in Thailand. Construction quality seems similar, with maybe a slight edge for the Chinese Crew 8; screw heads, etc. on the inside are covered with foam on the Chinese Crew 8, and just with tape on the Thailand Crew 9.)

Given this difference in weight and crushability, at first I wondered if my Crew 9 was a mislabeled Travelpro Walkabout Lite or Maxlite, but it matches the various Crew 9 photos online (and doesn't match the others).

So here's my question: can anyone else confirm this (to me) significant difference? I like the lighter weight of the Crew 9, but am concerned about durability without the extra support behind the nylon exterior. Without as much hard plastic backing, the Crew 9 more easily could be punctured. Does anyone have any experience with this difference?

Also, FYI, unlike the Crew 8, one of the Crew 9's outer pockets doesn't go all the way to the bottom, so you won't have small items all collect in a hard to reach place. That's an improvement over the 8, I think. But the larger outer pocket on Crew 9 is narrower than on the 8; overall I think I could get more in the 8's outer pockets, though with less convenience with regard to finding small items.

Finally, it looks like the tubes for the extension handle in Crew 9 intrude about an additional 1/4 inch up from the back of the case, making a little less room for packing bulky, non-flexible items (like hiking boots), and a little more space to fill between the tubes. The interior compression straps on the 9 are much skinnier than on the 8. The suiters seem similar, though connected differently as an earlier comparison noted. Also, the 9 has fewer rubber "skid strips" on the back. And the 9's handle is slightly more rigid than the 8, but not perfectly rigid by any means.

Gary