Review of the Briggs & Riley Sympatico International Carry-on Expandable Spinner Luggage (model SU121CXSP-59)
While going through the forums I saw a post from a month ago mentioning that there wasn’t any decent reviews on the Sympatico spinner (and I agree, there really aren’t) so I decided to make a little mini review since I just purchased it and just got back from a one week trip.

Now I’m not going to go through the whole debate about whether 2 wheels or 4 wheels are better since that is a topic that is hotly debated on this forum, but my quick thoughts on it, is my preference from 4 wheels come from me constantly being on the move in airports and in and out of hotels (where smooth surfaces are typically the norm) and 4 wheels in my opinion are easier to move and stand upright in that environment. In any cases that I roll through cobble stone streets in Europe or such, the 4 wheel luggage serves me fine. Next up another hotly debated topic on this forum, hard case luggages vs soft cases. For my personal experience after an unexpected quick flash tropical rainstorm during the summer and my bag being in the back of a rickety truck, I decided that a hard case worked better for me, plus I like the sleekness. So if you want a hard case with 4 wheels this has probably come up on your radar.

Briggs and Riley bags on this forum have been written about constantly with many swearing by their lifetime guarantee and talking about their good quality for road warriors, well all of your post made me excited to get this bag after I finally saw it on sale one day. I was able to snatch up the bag in blue at 50% discount on the B&R site, so paid $289 instead of its standard price of $579. I went for the blue as my last black bag had gotten picked up by strangers a few times from the gate check on those regional CRJ as it looked like every other bag- overall a big fan of the color but realize this is in the eye of the beholder.

I also got the international bag after my last Costco Kirkland domestic sized enterprises bag got checked on some short European flights and I wanted one bag to rule them all. The bag size works for me, as I am typically a M-Th travler (during non COVID times) and typically pack 3 days of dress shirts and dress pants, underpants, socks, 1 pair of jeans, 2 workout shirts and shorts, ultraboosts, and my toiletry bag. And when on vacation will travel for one week (I’m a simple traveler) and this bag holds everything I need for my trips.

This bag is a 70-30 lid which I was a little hesitant about since my last bag was 50-50 but I was happily surprised that I like it, especially works well for luggage racks at hotels. I currently pack it so the 30 lid side fits my shoes and toiletry bag nicely (it also has a suiter soft rod to clinch your suit which I took out as not using it) and the 70 side fits all my clothes.

The expandable section with compression is nice and does allow you to carry significantly more if you pick up some knickknacks during your travels.

The quality of the luggage seems top notch with the double spinner wheels rolling very smoothly, the zippers seeming strong and zips smoothly (has a built in TSA friendly lock too), and the handle is sturdy and smooth. I will caveat that I have just used the bag for one trip so can’t speak to the future durability of the bag, so will come back to update the review in the future.

Now for my negatives- my last bag had an interior little flat pocket to put little things in which I liked and there are zero pockets in this bag.

Overall this is a really nice bag and I hope to live out of this bag (after this COVID mess) for many many years to come.



Briggs and Riley Sympatico box



Briggs and Riley Sympatico Packing



Briggs and Riley Sympatico Bag (side view)



Briggs and Riley Sympatico Bag (open view)


If you have any specific question feel free to ask. Thanks!



Now a question for the flyertalk B&R community. Have any of you had the photos on the website not match the bag received? In my case the bag I received did not have the side handle as shown in the pictures (a small disappointment for getting my bag in and out of the trunk of Ubers.)



Briggs and Riley Sympatico photo from the B&R website showing side handle