When I was checking into luggage a few years ago I found that the thread count, or density of the ballistic nylon in tha bags was considerably better on both Briggs and Riley and Andiamo than on Tumi or Hartmann. At the time both B&R and Andiamo were nearly twice as high in fact. This is a pretty good indication of density and strength of the materials. Overall build and design also seemed superior. Andiamo seemed best overall, but I went with Briggs and Riley because from what I read they had the best warranty of any bag. It is lifetime (as is Tumi and Andiamo) but with B&R it includes repair or replacement even in the case of obvious user damage, not just in the case of defects in the bag. At the time none of the other companies covered this. Basically, if they crush your B&R bag with the cargo hatch door of a 747, B&R will give you a new bag. Not sure about current warranties on the other brands, this was about 3 years ago. B&R is still a lifetime warranty against any damage at all. I would check into B&R and Andiamo. Andiamo is a bit more than Tumi pricewise as I recall, B&R a bit less. The differences arent much however. Personally, between Hartmann and Tumi, I prefer the look of Hartmann. A bit more distinctive in my opinion. Tumi is a bit too 90s East Village for me

[This message has been edited by GadgetFreak (edited Dec 02, 2003).]