Luggage Bags and Packs
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We use Briggs and Riley luggage for this reason. Jody still spends 12 weeks a year on the road for work, not including vacations. Recently, Southwest Airlines crushed her large bag to the point where the tube aluminum frame was bent in half (all the contents were soft, so no damage there), plus the zipper and fabric were ripped, and Briggs and Riley repaired the luggage completely for free, no questions asked
Yup, I 'do' B&R as well for the same reasons. When doing research their lifetime repairs really held up world wide!
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A couple of years ago, Southwest crushed one of our suitcases. As compensation, they gave us a travel voucher sufficient for a free trip and a surprisingly decent duffel bag. Decent enough that we still use it when we travel. I occasionally joke to Julie that I wish they'd destroy another suitcase, so we could get a matching set (and another free trip).
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how crush are you talking? crushed suitcase vs free travel and duffle bag. now that's not only a good deal. it's good customer compensation
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It got caught in the machinery somewhere in the bowels of the airport and one of the wheels was ripped off. When that happened, it took off the zipper and part of the cheap plastic internal framing, which meant it couldn't roll, the lid wouldn't shut fully and even if it did, there was a hole in the bottom leaking clothes.
Oh, and when I say a travel voucher worth a free flight, I think it was a max value of only $125-150 or so- flights on Southwest can get really cheap. They gave us the duffel bag for our stuff, and then the option of reimbursement for the suitcase or the voucher. Since we only paid about $50 for the suitcase, the voucher was the easy call. If we had a quality piece of luggage, it would have been different.
But yeah, the overall message of that story is that Southwest has always been great to us.
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I have a Tumi bag that I use for long trips (such as the one I'm on now). It's super nice, but I do have a couple of gripes.
The first one (and this is probably unique to this model) is that the release for the telescoping tow handle is on the body of the suitcase instead of in the handle. Awful ergonomics on that piece. The base plate of this handle has somehow cracked, which shouldn't have happened. Great built-in suit hanger though. Otherwise the ergonomics and features are kind of "meh" next to B&R, but again, I'm just talking about one model here.
The other annoyance is that the warranty isn't quite what it should be anymore at the price point. Because of this, I haven't filed a claim to fix a few minor issues with it.
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Tumi has changed their business model the last couple of years. They used to have one of the best warranties in the business, now they only warrant their products for a couple of years and won't cover damage from the airline. AFAIK, only Briggs and Riley offer that kind of warranty these days
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The rationale for Tumi of limiting warranty to 5 years is that after 5 years they claim there couldn't be a factory attributable warranty claim. That's in effect saying you build your expensive bags to last 5 years. That dog won't hunt for me.
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I have had good experience with the Red Oxx travel bags.
The Air Boss is a really nice constructed bag that I have used extensively. Red Oxx offer a lifetime warranty on all their luggage.
Certainly a brand worth considering if you are looking for something overbuilt and made to last.
There are few pictures of my Air Boss bag on page 14 of this thread.
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The rationale for Tumi of limiting warranty to 5 years is that after 5 years they claim there couldn't be a factory attributable warranty claim. That's in effect saying you build your expensive bags to last 5 years. That dog won't hunt for me.
Which is exactly why I buy Da Kine. After 5 years I can replace and its only cost me $30 per annum….
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@Cutlasshound , nice write-up! I'm sold. How thick are the spade lock pouches? I'm curious how much interior space they take up. I'm also planning on getting the Stick It, outside pouch/pocket. I've sent an inquiry to MR asking about the lead time for ordering.
Hey mate apologies for delay! Pockets take up a little less than half the pack I would say….. Used it to take the lil man to gosport today and both the pack and the pouches performed exceptionally well!
My mate, who is six feet seven, carried the pack for a bit and said it was the most comfortable pack he has used (and he owns the Tad gear Fastpack litespeed).
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^Thanks. The first picture is hilarious. You really need to get on edcforums and post it. A little bit of a change from the other pictures of the pack with ammo, radios, and other 'assault' gear. Sometimes I miss my kids being in the baby stage but I don't miss carrying all the stuff.
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^^^ seconded. but i do prefer carrying my son's stuff over the ammo, comms set and fast ropes that i used to..
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Just picked up a Tumi hanging travel kit in leather. Did some research and it had the best combination of features. Super nice if anyone is in the market for a wash bag.
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@Cutlasshound my MR ASAP with Stick-it Pocket should be delivered tomorrow! I got lucky and they had both (black) in stock.
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@Cutlasshound my MR ASAP with Stick-it Pocket should be delivered tomorrow! I got lucky and they had both (black) in stock.
Glorious news old chap. Damn that's quick! Let me know your thoughts when you get it!
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they over engineer the crap out of their gear.
