puckstopper1

Good evening all!

After months of research I've decided I'm going to go with a Tumi carry-on set up and briefcase. It came down to Travelpro Crew 9 and the Tumi Alpha series. I recently visited a Tumi outlet and that raised a few questions...

1.) Is the quality of the Tumi Outlet merchandise less/worse than at the Tumi boutique or a department store like Nordstrom's?

2.) I did notice slight differences from their website after I looked at the outlet. I looked at the 022020D (at least that was what was on the plaque)...I noticed that the small leather monogram patch is missing and the zippers are tucked behind the fabric. Other than that everything appears to be the same. Are their differences or even a different line?

3.) Pricing. I looked at the 022020D Int'l Carry-on-msrp: $595.00 MARKED DOWN TO: $499.00 and the Alpha T-Pass Medium Expandable Briefcase-msrp: $395.00 MARKED DOWN TO: $299.00. These are in the black color. They had an identical set at the outlet in a brown color that has an additional 25% off, but I'm sold on the black.

Is this a good price? Do the outlets ever have any sales? Should I wait for the boutique or dept store to go on sale if ever?

Just curious as to whether or not I should pull the trigger on this. I do have time on my side and not in a rush to buy this.

Thanks in advance for everyone's thoughts.

cordelli

Welcome to Flyertalk

The outlets do have sales, I don't ever remember ours having a storewide sale, it's usually one line or something or spend this much and get something free. But I'm also not there every week.

The stuff in the outlets is of various quality. Some of it is not as good as retail, some ie exactly the same stuff, just discontinued or whatever. Some if retail stuff at full price. If you ask, they will tell you which it is.

You need to also check on the warranty from the outlets. Depending on what you buy, there may not be any. Or there may be a full warranty.

Stores will have sales, they are usually mentioned here, so do a search for Tumi sale and you will probably find the past threads. They come at certain times of the year and are probably pretty predictable as to what they will have on sale or what the savings will be.

Saving $100 or $200 is nothing to sneeze at, All but one Tumi bag in the house is from a local outlet, and we have never had a problem. If it wasn't for the outlet, it would probably be just that one bag, we never would have paid full price for the others.

IflyfromABE

Interested in how you came down to these 2, because they are day and night...

The Tumi Alpha is a lifetime quality bag. The Crew 9 is probably just a step above what you can buy at a Target (maybe.)

puckstopper1

To my understanding the Crew 9 is Travelpro's flagship line and I do like the built-in laptop sleeve in the rollaboard itself. I've see both in person and I thought the Crew 9 was fairly comparable to the Tumi. The one thing I did like about the Travelpro was the Lifetime Warranty as opposed to Tumi's 5 year, however I don't see that as much of an issue for me since I almost never check my bag except for the rare exception that I have to gate check.

Pup7

I've been looking at Travelpro a lot lately and I think the Platinum series is actually their flagship stuff. And I think only the Plat 7 has the Worry Free lifetime warranty that covers mishandling, where the Crew 9 only covers defects.

I think.

Air Pirate

A number of the core pieces you will find at the Tumi Outlets are the design from the older Generation 4 line, especially in black. Nothing wrong or too much different with them quality-wise, but as you mentioned they do not have monogram patches and the zippers tuck underneath. Gen 4 is not the current line or sold by mainline Tumi, but it appears to still be made for the outlets and sites like Gilt. Either that or they still have a ton of old stock. You may be able to get current Alpha pieces in recently discontinued models and colors other than black. Generally, a current piece will have a "Tumi" badge that is black and rectangular. A Gen 4 badge is silver with rounded corners and there is no monogram patch.

There are also tons of pieces at outlets from their other lines. Quality, availability and price/value on these vary a great deal. Usually the best deals are on discontinued stuff they are trying to move out and occassionally I have gotten great value on these types of pieces.

puckstopper1

I stand corrected. I was in a luggage boutique today and compared the Crew 9 to the Platinum 7 line and there was a noticeable difference in quality when you put them next to each other. Platinum 7 was much better built but aesthetically the Tumi Alpha looks much much better and plus I like the Tumi briefcase much better than any of the Travelpro's. I also stopped into a Tumi authorized dealer and spoke to the sales person and found the differences that I mentioned in my original post. Turns out that the despite the same part numbers, the outlet bag is what they call the G4; which is an older generation. No monogram patch, inside lining is slightly different and zippers are lighter weight. I spoke to the gentleman for a little while and he gave me a price for the International carry-on, medium Alpha T-pass briefcase and a pack of Tumi hangers for less than the outlet. Needless to say that was a no brainer for me!

arjunrc

This is very interesting. I would have never imagined a Tumi outlet store would sell inferior quality stuff as well - old models, I can understand. Thanks! I'll make sure I ask. Is the right question 'Is this the same quality as a regular Tumi bag sold in US Retail stores?' or some other way to verify quality and fall into a sales pitch?

Air Pirate

I probably should have been more precise. By "quality", I really meant something along the lines of "if the design of the line is something you would want or not," not the build quality. Generally there aren't any real distinctions on the build quality on the outlet pieces, although some of the Gen 4 leather seems like it might be a tad less posh.

arjunrc

Ah ok, understood. Thanks!

T Chzin Loh

Where can we purchase the monogram leather patch?

Air Pirate

Someone posted awhile back that it was possible to get the patch itself as a replacement part. But that wouldn't really do much good with the Gen 4 because there is nothing to mount it in. Plus, it is not the same design anyway so it would appear awkward to have a patch on a Gen 4.

FromMAtoAZ

From a few visits to the Tumi outlet in Wrentham, MA, I've determined that prices are about 25-40% off the website. I ended up buying the Vapor Large Packing Case, International Carry-On, a cosmetic case, and a tote bag. I probably saved $500 off the website prices in total. I got them in the Cross-cut Pattern, which was discontinued shortly after I bought them at the outlet. I have a feeling you will find good deals on out-of-production colors, styles, etc. I wanted to get the Extended Trip Packing Case in my pattern but it was too late. Instead, I ended up purchasing a sort of matching forest green Vapor Extended Trip Case from Zappos which had a sale on it because it was being discontinued as well. I have seen no difference in quality between my outlet and Zappos purchased Tumi luggage. The outlet seemed to only have sales when they have one of a discontinued item left, and they are usually on small accessory items not large luggage pieces.

Ashasan2005

Have u ever ran into problems checking the vapor extended luggage since technically its oversized at 65 inches as opposed to 62" total dimensions? Its a 200$ ding with most airlines.

sscott77

I exclusively use Tumi and I travel 4 days per week. I have had great experiences with their warranty and repair service. Same service on outlet bags as full price.