Which Lightweight Luggage Is Best For Me?

You will find there are good options for both alternatives. There are good and bad hard shells just like there are good and bad soft shells. Whatever your preference, hard or soft; you want to make sure the bag is light. With airline weight restrictions as they are, and they aren’t getting any more lenient; you don’t want to face the premium fees if your bag is over weight. You also don’t want to end up losing some of your things just to lighten the load. Keeping this in mind, you want to go for a strong material which is also very light. When looking for both strong and light – it will be slightly more expensive than having one of these, but in the long run; you will benefit from it and it will be much less hassle!

Traditionally soft shell bags have been lighter than hard shell bags, but with today’s technology and the materials available, you can have hard shell which is very strong at the same time as being quite light. With added locks, handles and wheels – its features like this that are necessary but also add weight to the bag! Good quality bags will of course have good quality locks and good quality wheels as well as retractable handles.

Whatever bag you decide to go for, you want it to last a fair few years. The durability of the bag is one of the most important aspects when you make the decision looking for a bag so you want to make sure it is one that you are 100% happy with.

For overnight bags, cotton or apparel bags are great and will withstand the test of time to an extent and they also look good. They do need a little more looking after and care than the other materials as they are prone to tear easily and any dirt will clearly show depending on the colour. If you go for a polyester-blended nylon or a canvas, this will be more durable and strong, it will withstand tearing to a higher degree and it is the general better option for overall ruggedness.

The the longer haul bags, the suitcases, the hard shells are almost always going to be more durable than the soft shells. A ballistic nylon or even something like the Cordura are both great when it comes to being a durable soft material, they are tough and sturdy. A polyester-blended nylon in this scenario will also be a good alternative to a hard shell.

When looking at hard shells, look at materials like the ABS or poly-carbonate. Both very strong materials and they are also very light. poly-carbonate is generally completely made from the base colour, since there isn’t an underlying colour, any scratches to the suitcase will not be see clearly. Some say this is scratch resistant. Since ABS is painted; the base colour will differ from the outer colour, so any scratches etc. will stand out. On the whole, both very good materials!

Having an inner mesh pocket/compartment in a suitcase is quite important. This is where most people would keep photocopies of their travel documents, toiletries and things like that. For carry on luggage, it is more important to have small pockets and compartments as once you are in the plane or even when you are travelling, you want easy access to your things. You dont want to spend 3 minutes in the middle of an airplane isle looking for your iPod when there are people trying to walk past you (we’ve all seen these people!). Where if you had your iPod neatly seated in the side pocket, it would take less than 10 seconds to grab it! Having neat little zipped pockets on the side of your bag is also a good idea for easy access for things like your camera memory cards, batteries etc.

For luggage with wheels, and particularly for the ones with two wheels; there will always be retractable handles. Sometimes these are situated inside of the bag, and sometimes outside. For the ones situated outside of the bag; you want to make sure that the mechanism is mounted properly and will not get damaged in transit.

The extending of the retractable handle should be smooth and fluid. It should lock at the top and there should be a button which you can easily press to unlock to lower the handle shut. This minimises unnecessary stress to the handle extenders.