Posts Tagged carry-on bag
Kolobags BJX Laptop Messenger Bag
Stylish and smooth, this Kolobags laptop messenger bag is large yet thin allowing it to glide with ease through the travel process. It fits easily into the overhead bin of an aircraft or underneath the seat in front of you. Plus, it easily fits behind my lags when on an airplane so that I can stretch out my feet once in flight. Other bags are too bulky to stay upright behind my feet.
An over-the-shoulder strap makes it great to sling over one side and still carry another bag with both free hands. It is also really great to wrap around the top of my rollaboard bag handle to carry it effortlessly on top of my wheeled luggage.
The front flap of the bag features various pockets for easy access to certain items like keys, pens, cell phones, or passports. Outside pockets make life so much easier because it saves you from having to unbuckle the strap and rifle through your belongings.
There’s even a large outside pocket that fits an iPad, Kindle, paperwork, or thin book. Again, all of this is super convenient when in a cramped airplane seat where there is little space to go rummaging through the interior of your bag. A separate zippered pocket on the back of the bag is perfect for a newspaper or other paperwork.
The interior pockets feature their own zipper closures and are padded to protect a laptop, but also offer plenty of space for magazines, books, and other travel accoutrements.
This style of bag is available in black, but there are other similar versions in brighter colors. Always a smart move when trying to prevent someone else from getting confused and walking off with your bag.
I appreciate the larger size of this bag that easily fits both Macs and notebooks of longer sizes. The nylon exterior fabric brushes off rain or moisture without absorbing it, which is especially important when expensive gear is inside. Kolobags makes a variety of laptop messenger bags and designer laptop cases that are both attractive and durable.
The company is well known for bringing style back to business gear, but the company also has stylish items for all types of on-the-road travelers such as diaper bags, camera cases, and gaming cases. The BJX laptop messenger bag is one of the company’s tamer looking items, but their web site shows the full splash of color that their products are bringing to an airport terminal near you. Between now and 8/30/2011, you can enter code PRACTICALTRAVEL when purchasing at www.Kolobags.com to receive a 10% discount.
Posted by Ramsey in Business Gear, Travel Light on May 9th, 2011
Brookstone’s Dash Rolling Hardside Travel Case
Brookstone Rolling Dash
Four wheels are always better than two, right? Well, with Brookstone’s Dash rolling carryon bag, this slick, polished hard-shell case turns heads as it glides through airports and train stations. I know because I have traveled with one for years. It is one of my favorite bags despite having one major flaw. But, we’ll get to that later.
First, the good points. This durable case has held the most fragile of my travel gear with panache protecting my bag’s contents with its hard shell. The sturdy pull up grip handle has been the recipient of many an unwelcome yank by bellmen who carry the entire bag, fully loaded from the extended handle rather than the bag’s own handle. Don’t you just hate that?
Inside, a zippered pocket keeps my dress shirts or loose items apart from the rest of my stuff. The strap closures do the same for suits or blazers. One of my favorite features is the exterior zipper that helps the bag to expand by another three inches, which is always a lifesaver on long trips.
Now to the juicy flaw you wanted to know about earlier. The one caveat with this bag is its wheel casing system. I love the four wheels allowing the bag to swivel 360 degrees and roll with ease on most any surface. The problem arises when you stuff the bag to capacity and attempt to roll it quickly and frequently. When the wheels begin to heat up with friction after frequent use, the back wheels too often fuse to the side of the casing system eventually rendering the wheel useless as they no longer roll.
Thanks to Brookstone’s one-year warranty that comes with the bag (and the extended two-year warranty I purchased), I have exchanged this bag a whopping seven times because the same problem with the wheels occur. I swear by the durability of the bag itself and the extension handle, but encourage very frequent travelers who spend more than a few days away from home and travel with plenty of gear to try another bag. Even the Brookstone employees seem surprised when I show them the back wheels that have fused to the side of the casing.
The Dash bags come in three sizes and various colors including pink, charcoal, and black. The more-than-fair price makes it an extremely popular purchase when compared with its more expensive luggage competition. This excellent product is meant for light travelers with a stylish demeanor in their step who wouldn’t be caught dead with American Tourister tags. Just remember to wheel slowly and tread lightly to protect those plastic tires. It can be purchased on Brookstone’s web site or via Amazon.
Posted by Ramsey in Business Gear on April 11th, 2011
The Titan Manhattan Rollaboard Suitcase
If you’re as unfriendly to your luggage as I am sometimes, the 
Titan Manhattan four-wheeled suitcase will quickly become your new best friend. I am always amazed at how bags get thrown around by airlines (and I’m one of those die-hard, carry-on fanatics, but I have no choice on smaller regional jets). That brand new bag you just paid hundreds for suddenly has scratches, dings, and stains in no time.
Thanks to this bag’s hard exterior, it gets an immediate leg up on the willpower scale. The 100% polycarbonate shell is the perfect remedy for airline employees’ careless handling. Bingo! I’ve found the cure to avoiding wet clothes from bags that sit on the tarmac in the rain.
What I often find to be the biggest problems with carryon bags are that when they are overstuffed, they become a pain to zip. The hard exterior on this just requires a hefty push and zipper tug to close it back up. I have yet to be hit by projectile socks when opening it again so no need to feel concerned about stretching it too far. The bag itself is lightweight at just over 7 lbs. meaning you can put more inside without worrying about breaking the airline scale.
Another great feature for someone who stuffs bags to the gills are the four multidirectional wheels that allow me to zip through crowds and busy airports with ease. I often get compliments on the shiny carbon finish on my bag, and its unique look makes it easy to spot in a lineup of other identical black rollaboard cases.
The zippers are heavy duty plus each trolley bag comes with TSA locks so that I can keep valuables in a safe place while enduring the prying hands of airport security when needed. Inside the bag, I can keep my life organized because of various compartments (especially helpful when TSA whips open my bag in public view keeping me from being too embarrassed).
This impressive piece of luggage doesn’t come cheap (list price is $745-$825), but its durability has outlasted what cheaper bags would not have. Plus its lifetime warranty makes the price easier to swallow. Not surprisingly, the warranty does not cover damage done by airlines, but the warranty does cover damage to the wheels, exterior, or interior during normal use. This bag can be found on Titan’s web site TitanLuggageUSA.com or for a significant discount at other online retailers like eBags or Amazon.com. This is a solid winner for the road warrior combining style with functionality.
Posted by Ramsey in Business Gear, Travel Light on February 20th, 2011
GoLite TraveLite Wheeled Carry-On
We know GoLite Footwear here at Practical Travel Gear, having reviewed a couple pairs of trail shoes over the past year. GoLite, under a different company umbrella, also manufactures a ton of outerwear, activewear, sleeping bags, tents and backpacks, as well as roller bags for travel.
On a recent trip — where I drove by car, not flew by plane — I used the original TraveLite Wheeled Carry-on that weighs an incredibly light 5 lbs. 8 oz. empty. Made from recycled content nylon and polyester, the fabric is indeed super thin — but durable. I actually overpacked this bag — stuffed it full with sweaters during the country’s crazy frigid temperatures last week — and it never felt unwieldy. The bag is a narrow 8 inches deep, by about 13 inches wide and 21 inches tall; packed full (okay, overstuffed) it expanded a bit deeper, but still perfectly appropriate to fit in an overhead bin (the soft-sided material means it really could be squished down a bit).
The bag flips open “book style” to reveal two roomy sections that each zipper shut with thin covers. The front exterior panel features two vertical compartments for stuff you might want to access quickly on a plane (the exterior zippered pockets aren’t quite wide enough for a standard hardcover book, but a smaller paperback would fit). On my road trip, that’s where I stuck all of my last-minute items, chargers, reporter notebooks and the like.
I like the cushioned, T-bar handle and the sturdy wheels. The bag also comes with zip-away backpack straps — which, honestly, I don’t see myself ever using. I’m pretty sure I’d look like a dork making my way through an airport carrying a big bag with wheels on my back. But, I suppose if I had to run somewhere fast while toting this bag — or if I had to make my way over cobblestone sidewalks somewhere — I could get there faster using the bag like a backpack. It can also be carried by hand with a cushioned side handle or top handle.
The GoLite TravelLite Wheeled Carry-On comes in black, pinot (red) and coriander (pretty kelly green) and retails for $175 on the GoLite website or other online sites like Amazon.com. Also see the slightly larger TraveLite 22-inch Wheeled Carry-on with an awesome padded pocket for laptops (exterior compartments zipper horizontally rather than vertically like the one I have). For still bigger bags that are also lightweight, check out the GoLite 25-inch Wheeled Upright or 30-inch Wheeled Duffel.
Get the GoLite TraveLite Wheeled Carry-on at eBags
Related posts:
- Eagle Creek ORV Trunk 22 Carry-on
- Land’s End Flightwise Carry-on Wheeled Duffel Bag
- Tom Bihn Co-Pilot Personal Carry-on Bag
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Posted by Kara in General Gear on February 8th, 2011
Eagle Creek ORV Trunk 22 Carry-on
Want a wheeled carry-on that you can pick up and carry like a duffel bag? Want a wheelie bag you can use and abuse without worrying that it’s going to fall apart after a few trips? This Eagle Creek ORV Trunk 22 bag fits the bill and will probably keep rocking your travels for many years to come.
This is basically an Eagle Creek Orv 22 duffel bag that’s been fitted with wheels. As I got off a turboprop plane in Costa Rica last week, I had the surreal experience of seeing the two side by side as another passenger grabbed her wheel-less one in the same color. It holds 43 liters (2,600 cubic liters) and adds a few pounds because of the frame, handle, and wheels. It comes in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, which is a tad below most (but certainly not all) competitors in this size class.
This is a rugged, tough bag that feels like it will take a beating, however, and the company chose not to reduce weight at the expense of function or durability. You get quality wheels and a quality telescoping handle, plus carrying straps in three different places, which I really like.
It is designed to be used with Eagle Creek’s Pack-It packing cube system. As I’ve said before, I’ve got mixed feelings about packing cubes, but for the two-week trip to Costa Rica I’m just finishing up, I decided to go with their system and use packing cubes: one full Pack-it Cube for the main clothes, one for the socks and underwear, the included shoe pouch, and a toiletry kit. That’s how they’ve got it pictured in their accompanying guide, but with an additional Pack-It Folder for the shirts.
There’s even a little picture book enclosed in the packaging showing you how to use all these cube products to maximize your space. I still don’t think it helped me pack any more clothing than my regular roll-and-stuff system, but unpacking and finding what I wanted was much faster, which can be useful if you’re moving from hotel to hotel or are living out of one bag for an extended time.
As for features, the ES2 wheels performed admirably and I liked the ergonomic handle. Even when I piled a daypack on top with my laptop and camera, it all felt sturdy. This qualifies as a carry-on though, so I didn’t have to check a bag on my international flights. It also worked well for all the internal flights I took on Nature Air where the cheap tickets have a really low weight limit. Despite stuffing this full, I was easily able to carry it when I couldn’t use the wheels.
I like the built-in shoe pouch a lot. It holds two or three pairs of shoes easily and keeps them away from your clean clothes. There are two small pockets on the front, one being an exact fit for the compact Sea to Summit toiletry kit I take when I’m not checking a bag. The quality zippers aren’t grabby either: a problem I’ve run into a lot with cheaper bags.
As with all Eagle Creek products, they stand behind ORV Trunk carry-on bigtime. There’s a lifetime “no-matter-what” damage repair warranty if something goes wrong.
The ORV Trunk 22-inch Carry-on Bag comes in several color combinations and lists for $250 at EagleCreek.com. Check the sites below for sales and specials.
ORV Trunk 22 at eBags
Eagle Creek ORV Trunk 22 at Backcountry
Get it at RockCreek.com
See other carry on bag reviews
Posted by Tim L. in General Gear, Travel Light on December 15th, 2010
