****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I needed a carry-on piece for a trip abroad, all of the sub-$60 luggage including this one, had mostly good reviews but some bad ones that scared me away, I have a tendency to mentally amplify bad reviews disproportionately, out of options since all of them had some bad reviews, I chose this one. I’m glad I chose this one because it performed above expectations.Some people complained the handles broke, I carried mine by both plastic handles, fully loaded up and down staircases even, never a problem. The handles are extremely comfortable, they are spring-loaded with a very soft rubber padding on the underside where your fingers will touch. The retracting handle hasn’t given me any grief either, adjustable to multiple positions, I’ve carried it by that handle sometimes with the full weight of the carry-on applied to it, no problems.The wheels were rolled around on all sorts of surfaces, brickwork, concrete. If you're concerned about wheel durability, I rolled them for miles on the streets of Seoul and the Seoul Metro too, they still look nearly new, check my picture, on the tires you can still see the parting line from the rubber mold used to manufacture the tires.This luggage even fell out of a taxi van hatch from a height of about four feet, it was stacked on top of other luggage and fell right out when the hatch opened, hit the ground with the full weight of its contents (around 22lbs) on its corner and not even a crack or dent, just a slight discoloration from stressing the material, see the pictures.The interior is great and designed to make it easy to pack both halves to their limit. One half has a cover that zips up to completely seal it, which is important if you want to be able to close the luggage without a bunch of stuff falling out from that side. The other half has an adjustable strap and cinch that's wide enough to cover that entire half, with a buckle system to clip it in. Just pack that half as much as you want, put the clip in the buckle to lock it, then pull on the strap by the buckle to cinch it as tight as possible, which compresses the contents of that half down for you. This makes it possible to "overfill" the luggage by a few inches since the strap will compress it for you. Very easy to pack, very easy to close. I think I read a review where someone ripped the zipper off the luggage, unless they overfilled it by an extra seven inches before trying to zip it up, I don’t see how this is remotely possible, I overfilled it by even three inches, a light push down while zippering and it was fine.The combination lock also performed flawlessly, easy to set the combination and the YKK zipper tugs go right into the lock without you having to hold the lock open, just press the zipper tug into its slot and it snaps in place with a one-way locking mechanism, do this for each tug, scramble the combination wheels with your fingers and away you go. If you need to change the combination it's possible to do so as well.The attached pictures show the extent of any wear or damage after three weeks abroad, you be the judge. I see myself using this for a long time and many trips.In addition to a tag I recommend you customize the rather generic exterior shell. It’s a carry-on so it will be close to you but the “louder” you make it the better, it makes it more intimidating for a thief to take. A generic one is easier for them to take since they look like they just bought the same one. Paint it, dog or cat stickers, whatever.EDIT: Took it to another trip to Korea in 2024 (original trip was in 2023). This time it went through even more torture, I took it around the streets of Seoul, in the metro, onto the KTX, around Busan, to and from various hotels, not even a single problem, nothing broke, wheels still look good, will continue using it every year.
