Originally Posted by amlai

I've been a lurker here for many years, but I haven't posted before. I recently picked up a Vocier C38 and thought that I'd write in my honest opinion since I don't think I've seen anyone post his or her actual experiences with using one here or anywhere else for that matter. I've only had it on two trips, so my experience is still limited, though I'm about to embark on another. So people understand where I’m coming from, I don’t travel nearly as much as most people here, but I’ve been using Briggs & Riley Baseline bags almost exclusively for the last 10-12 years and they’ve always worked flawlessly. However they’re on the heavy side and while certainly professional looking, they aren’t the most fashionable. Given the price of the Vocier C38 bag is roughly comparable to B&R bags, the price wasn't too much of a concern. Personally, I'm more interested in the performance of the bag.

The Vocier C38 is definitely a very stylish bag. I have been able to pack a decent amount into it, though that probably depends on your packing technique. Overall, my impressions are generally positive so far. The bag rolls well (though not any different than your typical roller bag) and the handle seems to be sturdy. Before I make my final decision on the bag, I definitely need some additional trips as I’ve only used the bag on 2 trips. While my impressions haven’t been finalized, I’m going to give my opinion of the aspects of the bag that I think could use improvement.

The main compartment is attached to the garment bag area through the use of four Fidlock snap connectors and 2 regular plastic buckles. I don’t think that they work as well as you’d like. The problem is that once you’ve loaded up the main compartment, the magnets don’t really seat all that well due to the weight of the compartment. The 2 regular plastic buckles for attaching the straps used to keep the main compartment at a 90 degree angle once the bag is opened and hung just aren’t the easiest to reattach if you detach them like I do in order to make it easier to pack and unpack. Shoes do fit into the main compartment as advertised, though I suspect that if your shoes are larger than a US size 11, they may not fit in there.

I’m not a huge fan of the quick access / wash bag region of the bag. This aspect is probably the one aspect that most strongly depends on your packing practices and how you want to use the bag. My problem is that if you pack anything into that area (and you need to since it’s about 1/3rd of the capacity of the bag), when you open up the bag through the main zippers, everything pretty much falls out. Also, I feel like this area is given too much room. I just don't need quick access to that much stuff. Since things just tend to fall out of there, I’ve had to add some small packing cubes to keep loose items like charging cords, power adapters, underwear (since it has nowhere else to go given the size of the main compartment), etc. under control.

The magnetic connectors on the leather handle straps are fiddly. Unlike the Fidlock connector that provides quick access to the wash bag area, which work quickly and efficiently, the ones on the straps require you to manually line them up like regular snap fasteners. I don't think that the magnetic connection there is of any benefit. In my opinion, this is definitely an area of form over function. Perhaps if these were Fidlock Snap connectors, this would work more efficiently. (Though the Fidlocks are much bigger/thicker than these are.)

I wish the handle storage compartment were slightly taller. I tried putting my passport there and a passport is slightly too tall to fit under the magnetic fastener (the same type as used for the leather handle straps). For something as important as my passport, I want it to be pretty secure and hidden from view.

Another criticism is with regards to the hanger. First, it’s an undersized hanger (only 15.25” wide), but that’s probably needed in order to make it a size to fit into the bag. Second, I feel like the trouser rung should be felted or something like that. The hanger is very slick, which means that when you try to hang up your suit using the hanger, more often than not, your trousers are going to fall off the hanger, especially if you pack with the waistband of your trousers as low into the suit compartment as possible as suggested in their packing techniques.

Now comes the thing that everyone here is probably waiting for. Does it carry a suit without wrinkling it? Well, yes… and no. On my first trip (an overnight test drive of the bag), there were no wrinkles. My second trip, things were a bit different. On my outbound trip, my suit came out of the bag looking perfect. On my return trip, my suit came out of the bag wrinkled more than I’ve ever had a suit in my entire life, which includes my previous technique of just folding up my suit and stuffing it in a duffel bag. This was after having hung up the suit for a couple of days, so it wasn’t because it was recently worn. The wrinkles did not just come out of the suit after the suit was hung up for a couple of days either, which in my experience usually works.

Considering that on 3 out of 4 legs, the suit came out perfectly, maybe the bag does work as advertised. To my knowledge, I’ve packed the bag exactly the same way every time, but clearly something must’ve been different that one time. I tried to make sure not to overstuff the bag and in fact, I was carrying less on the return than on the outbound. I’ll find out in a couple of days how it works on my next trip. In any case, I hope that this was helpful for people.