Luggage Help?

[pigletto]

I have a birthday coming up and I think I may ask for luggage. We currently have enough pieces, but it's sort of a mishmash of suitcases picked up over the years. Nothing matches, some are a little worse for wear.. you get the idea.

I am a little overwhelmed by all the choices. Ideally ds and dd would keep the 2 larger suitcases that are in the best shape and we'd get rid of the other older ones. This set would be mostly for dh and I.

So disers, what brands do you like? Hard sided vs. soft sided? Where do you buy your luggage?

Of all the pieces we've had, the Samsonite and American Tourister have held up the best so far. I am hoping not to spend a fortune and to find a decent set under $200 if that is possible. All recommendations are appreciated.

 

[Leleluvsdis]

I have a birthday coming up and I think I may ask for luggage. We currently have enough pieces, but it's sort of a mishmash of suitcases picked up over the years. Nothing matches, some are a little worse for wear.. you get the idea.

I am a little overwhelmed by all the choices. Ideally ds and dd would keep the 2 larger suitcases that are in the best shape and we'd get rid of the other older ones. This set would be mostly for dh and I.

So disers, what brands do you like? Hard sided vs. soft sided? Where do you buy your luggage?

Of all the pieces we've had, the Samsonite and American Tourister have held up the best so far. I am hoping not to spend a fortune and to find a decent set under $200 if that is possible. All recommendations are appreciated.

I got a 3 piece set at Kohls that is American Tourister that I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! I bought it 4 years ago, and it has flown many times and besides a little dirt, it in great shape. It was regularly a $250 set and I paid $99. It is soft sided and expandable. It doesnt have swirl wheels or anything like that, but I would buy another set in a heart beat.

 

[davedmaine]

You're not going to find a good set for under $200..

 

[PatMcDuck]

I have new luggage, and I love the bags with the 4 wheels, not 2 wheels, called spinners.

It is so much easier not to have to tilt them to move them around. Less of a strain on my shoulders. I also like wheels even on my carryon bag, which gets a little heavy because I may have my laptop inside.

 

[DisneyHumbug]

I bought DD a Samsonite 29" at Marshall's for $100. After using it once, one of the wheels broke. I took it to the Samsonite store in the Tanger outlets, where they shipped it for free to be repaired. I had it back within one week, like new, at no cost to me. Now I don't think the wheel should have broke after one trip, but I like their customer service.

 

[pigletto]

You're not going to find a good set for under $200..

I respectfully disagree. I have had luggage that I have been able to watch for sales for and the set I am replacing lasted over 10 years. I don't need it to be top of the line, just reliable and there are several sets I am looking at on Amazon at the 200 mark with consistently excellent reviews. One set has over 100 positive ratings with 6 negatives. I am ok with those odds.
I am also willing to spend a little more if I see something I fall in love with but I am not looking to break the bank.

Thank you for your thoughts so far everyone

 

[iheartwalt]

I have the Heys Exotic Spinners. I love them! They are hard sided so the outside wipes down easily, the prints are super fun and easy to spot on a luggage carousel, the spinners make them a breeze to push, and they have held up great. I don't usually buy a set because I don't need a duffel bag etc. but I bought the large one at TJ Maxx for under $100 and the smaller, carry on size, at Sams Club for $50 (same pattern and it was like two years apart).

 

[disney4us2002]

What kind of travelling do you do? The baggage handlers both at airports and cruise terminals are BRUTAL so I have never invested in spinners for that reason alone. The wheels that aren't spinners do not stick out so they there is less chance of breaking off. I have had really good luck with samsonite rolling luggage. I bought my samsonite at ebags on good sales.

 

[pigletto]

What kind of travelling do you do? The baggage handlers both at airports and cruise terminals are BRUTAL so I have never invested in spinners for that reason alone. The wheels that aren't spinners do not stick out so they there is less chance of breaking off. I have had really good luck with samsonite rolling luggage. I bought my samsonite at ebags on good sales.

Lots of travel overall. It's just been Disney for family trips for the last couple of years but I go to the UK with my sister every other year, and then some other domestic travel with the kids. A cruise will be in our future as well so I appreciate the tip about the Spinners. I've already sworn off any light color because of how filthy my lighter suitcases get on those trips. Big black streaks that never came out of my dd's new suitcase from one of our trips.
So I was thinking Navy or Dark Brown if I want to avoid black.

 

[gojoe]

We bought ours at Target Swiss Gear several years ago. Seems well constructed and has a couple of nice features (easy slide in for lap top). Wheel go in all direction and have straps with clips if have a lot of luggage like we do.

 

[mariapicardikenyon]

I have a birthday coming up and I think I may ask for luggage. We currently have enough pieces, but it's sort of a mishmash of suitcases picked up over the years. Nothing matches, some are a little worse for wear.. you get the idea.

I am a little overwhelmed by all the choices. Ideally ds and dd would keep the 2 larger suitcases that are in the best shape and we'd get rid of the other older ones. This set would be mostly for dh and I.

So disers, what brands do you like? Hard sided vs. soft sided? Where do you buy your luggage?

Of all the pieces we've had, the Samsonite and American Tourister have held up the best so far. I am hoping not to spend a fortune and to find a decent set under $200 if that is possible. All recommendations are appreciated.

I bought myself a Xmas gift of Disney luggage through aaa. They have the hard sided each with a different character on clearance.

 

[bookgirl]

Luggage is a crap shoot. I've had expensive stuff bite it after only a year but my last luggage was a department store cheap set (180.00) that lasted over ten years. I fly multiple times per year and it all depends on how it gets treated on any given airline.

I just bought new last year. I decided to go with mid priced samsonite. Around 200 per piece (bought two) but I bought them almost a year apart with sales and part of it was with gift cards that I got for Christmas. I have other small pieces or bags that coordinate but I spent the major portion of my budget on the two big main pieces.

Spinners, sturdy sides, black, lightweight. I just looked till I found the mid price that met those requirements best.

 

[TaraPA]

Another vote for Samsonite. Generations of my family have been using it. My mom still has her ivory hard-sided set from the 1970's! Best prices I've seen are at Kohls on sale with the extra 30% off. I've picked up a few pieces here & there at the outlets, but Kohls prices are better. I just got my 1st piece with the spinners, a new 21" carry-on for around $100 at Kohls. I prefer the soft-side.

 

[Baliezer]

We get all of our luggage from Marshalls. We used to buy expensive luggage and it did not hold up as well as it should have. We travel a lot and cannot afford to keep replacing luggage.

 

[KAYLI'S DAD]

I just bought this and actually got it in the mail yesterday. Got it through walmart with free shipping. It had really good reviews on amazon as well. Seems pretty decent we will use it next week. We had some american tourister from kohls that fell apart on the first use so we needed new ones.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rockland-4-Piece-Impact-Spinner-Luggage-Set/17018917

 

[aubriee]

I have the Heys Exotic Spinners. I love them! They are hard sided so the outside wipes down easily, the prints are super fun and easy to spot on a luggage carousel, the spinners make them a breeze to push, and they have held up great. I don't usually buy a set because I don't need a duffel bag etc. but I bought the large one at TJ Maxx for under $100 and the smaller, carry on size, at Sams Club for $50 (same pattern and it was like two years apart).

I too have the hard sided Heys Exotic spinners and love them. When I was looking several years ago I found mine at TJMaxx too, except they had all three sizes. I also saw them at Marshalls for about the same price. Since I normally fly, I thought the 29" would be too big, so got just the 25" and 21". I paid $79.00 for the 25" and $69.00 for the 21". Mine are the black and white plaid and other than a few surface scratches still look new. They fly several times a year and are still in good shape. I use packing folders and packing cubes and these seem to hold more than my other suitcases that are the same size or even an inch larger. The same day I found mine for $79.00 and $69.00, I was seeing the exact same bags in other stores for $199.00 per bag or over $400.00 for the set of three.

Here's the exact ones I'm talking about, just at a much higher price, due to a different seller:

http://www.luggagesource.com/HeysUSAExoticSpinners3PCSetPlaid-P2811.aspx

http://www.luggagetogo.com/exoticplaid.html

http://www.leatherandbags.com/product-p/d204-pld.htm

I also have a large rolling duffel that I bought from LLBean years ago. It's flown many times. I just looked and they no longer have the same color, but the price surprisingly is about the same (I think I paid like $89.00 for it and now it's $99.00). lol Mine is a really bright kelly green and I had them monogram my last name on it. No way can I miss that thing on the luggage carousel and no way can anyone else mistake it for theirs. lol Wish they still had the bright kelly green color. I was always sorry, I didn't buy the carry on to match at the same time and they discontinued that particular color right after I bought it. Here it is:
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/63916?feat=904-GN1&page=rolling-adventure-duffle-large

I like having luggage that's different and easy to spot on the luggage carousel. Mine really stands out against all those solid black and navy bags, you see coming around.