KathrynDay

The company that makes Swiss Army knives makes luggage, and just a few months ago, they created a new line of ultra-lite luggage. It's rather pricy for my budget, but it does appear durable. Has anyone had experiences with it, good or bad?

JackOneill

Swiss Army, from what I can tell, has two lines of luggage. One line, which is the first they introduced, is pricey, but well built. The newest line, which was introduced last year, is lighter weight, and less expensive. I have a piece of each. I prefer the lighter weight because, even though it has wheels, you still have to pick it up occasionally.

I find them to be of equal quality. As to whether either line is worth the extra money, I can't really answer that. I can say I have been on a few trips when other luggage (of lesser quality) has screwed up, e g, zippers snagging, handle breaking etc. So, I tend to spend a little more for luggage nowadays (not that that is a guarantee.)

KathrynDay

Thanks, JackOneill. That helps a bit!

Stephanie

Kath:

Go on e-bay and get Atlantic luggage. I got 4 pc Atlantic set for $20.99. Can't beat that price. Swiss Army luggage is nice but no nicer than Atlantic.

Derek

There is one school of thought that checked luggage will be destroyed eventually (on trip #5-100 usually, usually not the first time).

Another school of thought is to buy good luggage, but not spend too much.

I don't agree on the school of thought to buy expensive luggage. Of course, if you are the Emir of Kuwait, expensive luggage is about as expensive as a free plastic bag from the grocery store.

Grasshopper

Does anyone else have a real problem with the zipper pulls always falling off? I've got a bunch of suitcases with no zipper pulls.

GoTravel

I fly very frequently and will not buy cheap luggage. When I first started traveling I bougt a pullman for around $35.00. After the fourth flight, it fell apart.

I now buy super durable pieces made out of ballistic nylon with enforced zippers. I don't pay a lot for it because I buy it at places like TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning. I have some Tumi and Hartman peices.

soccr

The most important part of luggage is, as everyone seems to agree, the strength of the zipper. I bought a succession of Protocol luggage from JCPenney -- cheap but usefully designed. Zipper teeth keep pulling out so I started to buy luggage based on the zippers alone: metal not plastic teeth, fabric not plastic zipper-bed, and if the zipper and teeth look a little over-large, so be it. Worth the best I can afford because I cannot afford to have cheaper luggage fail in the middle of a trip.

soccr

Very good article on buying luggage (you need Acrobat) is: http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/4H/luggage.pdf

KenCT

The article soccr recommend is quite useful, but because it links to two luggage manufacturers at the end, I suspect the report might be skewed toward featured by those brands.

A more objective report appears in the December 2001 Consumer Reports magazane. Unfortunately you can't access the article online unless you subscribe to the magazine, but if you're planning to spend several hundred dollars, it might be worth a side-trip to the library to check it out.

Based on their recommendations, I went with TravelPro.

E

I just bought a Swiss Army backpack (on sale, 1/2 off), and while it has a lot of impressive little storage pockets and seems sturdy, it's overall design is poor: it's intended to be worn like a mailbag, or bandolier style, but even if you do up all the recommended straps, when it's fully loaded, it tends to strangle you.
As for full-size luggage, I vote for Samsonite, b/c it wears like the devil and b/c it comes in a vast array of sizes and b/c while it isn't cheap, it won't break the bank, either. Get the black soft-sided rip-stop models, and watch them take a licking.