Bottom Line, for me: The RIMOWA Topas luggage items I use are the hard-sided, lighter alternative to the Pelican cases I use to travel with. So in my perspective, I'm still making progress cutting weight in packing.

If disucssing RIMOWA, I believe it is "apples and oranges" because hard-sided lugggage and soft-sided luggage are built for completely different uses.

I used to travel with a Pelican 1510, as my hard-sided luggage to carry-on aircraft, but at 11.99 lbs (5.4kg), it is a bulky piece to haul through an airport terminal. No four-wheel trolley option, either. The design is not airline friendly for overhead storage. However, their lifetime guarantee has always been excellent when I've had to use it on their products. Pelican has also endured through all the outdoor elements I have subjected them too.

Now when I need a lighter alternative, that is still hard-sided, I turn to RIMOWA for casual travel, to meet the same intent, if I'm not outdoors, as much. The RIMOWA Topas Cabin Multiwheel 32L, comes in at 10.1 lbs (4.58kg). Two pounds is miniscule, in my opinion, but lighter nonetheless, compared to Pelican.

Weight difference is even greater for check-in variants between the brands. The RIMOWA Topas 68L that I use comes in at 13.2 lbs, where the Pelican equivalent comes in at 19.5 lbs.

Regarding price, I would never pay US$ Retail on RIMOWA products, ever. All my RIMOWA purchases are from within Germany, less 19% VAT. I'm comfortable paying between 55%-60% off US$ MSRP at that price point. Otherwise, I'll default to Pelican at that point.