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Lower
Priced Carry On Bag Reviews
Lower price but still acceptable quality
for less frequent travelers
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It isn't essential to
spend many hundreds of dollars on your carry-on bag,
particularly if you're an infrequent traveler.
Here are three bags that
you might consider to be of acceptable quality, and at
markedly lower prices than the mainstream carry-on bags.
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Is it really necessary to
spend $500 on a bag when you can often find one for only $50?
Or to spend $250 when you can
find a bag for $125?
Scroll down or click these links to
jump to the review you wish to read
American Tourister/Walmart
Meridian IV
Costco
Kirkland Signature Executive 22" Expandable Trolley
American Tourister / Walmart
Meridian IV
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American Tourister is a
lower priced brand belonging to the Samsonite company (see
also the two Samsonite reviews here).
Walmart's reputation
for providing reasonably good quality products at very low prices
remains secure with this bag, which is an acceptably good product
at a very low price.
However, there is a
tangible improvement in quality to be experienced by
upgrading from this bag to the Costco bag reviewed below
this review.
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Price
and availability |
$39.42
This bag - and at this price - seems to be only available
directly from
Walmart |
Warranty |
American Tourister
offers the same
limited ten year warranty as does its parent company,
Samsonite, which excludes wear and tear
or abusive treatment.
A positive feature of their warranty is that Samsonite
have world-wide repair facilities, although the chances
are very unlikely you'd have enough spare time while
traveling to arrange for repairs to your bag.
The warranty politely says 'retaining the following
items would be helpful' and lists proof of purchase,
product tags, shipping carton, and, strangely, the
warranty certificate which is just a standard
mass-printed sheet of paper with no specific data on it,
but doesn't imply it is mandatory to keep these things. |
Official size |
21" x 14" x 7" (42"
total) |
Measured maximum
external size |
22.5" x 14.5" x 9" |
Measured internal
size |
20.5" 13.5" x 6.75"
The bag has tightly radiused corners making best use of
space. |
Expandability |
Yes - sort of.
Plainly someone wanted to add an expansion gusset just
so they could claim that feature. But the gusset
only opens a pathetic half inch, making it almost not
worth the bother. |
Weight |
10.5 lbs claimed.
Tests to about that weight. |
Construction |
The bag is made from
1200 denier polyester fabric.
It has panels of plastic material around the sides to
give it rigidity, and a soft front lid that allows for
some overpacking flexibility.
Construction is by rivet rather than screw.
Some extra ribbing is on the front of the bag, but not
on the top back sides.
All compartments are lined.
Overall, construction does not appear as sturdy as with
other bags, but in terms of what you get for your money,
it is excellent value even if not excellent quality. |
Color choices |
Blue |
Handles |
Three handles, not
very comfortable when carrying a heavy load.
There are no support legs opposite the carry handle on
the long side. |
Towing Handle
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Extends 39.5". Easy to open and shut, with just
the one extension position.
Telescoping design with three sections. Doesn't
wiggle much.
Mounted internally and protected from external
forces. |
Wheels |
Two wheels that
roll with a little resistance, measuring 2.5" by 0.85".
About one quarter of each wheel is protected inside the
bag structure. |
Stair skids |
Sort of - plastic
strips above the wheels. |
Outside
compartments |
Two front
compartments, both generously gusseted with about 2" of
room to expand. The
top compartment measures13" wide by 6" deep. with an
opening 10" wide x 4" deep, with a single zipper around
three of its sides but no side flaps to stop things from
falling out. The
lower compartment measures 13" wide by 13" deep, with a
single zipper opening along the top 10" wide and 6"
deep. |
Inside compartments
in base |
There are no
compartments inside the base. |
Inside compartments
in lid |
The cover has a mesh
cover over its entire opening, with a full length zip
most of the way up. There are no other
compartments in the lid. |
Suit carrier
included |
No |
Other Removable
holders inside |
No |
Waterproof
compartment |
No |
Packing Straps |
Elastic straps in an
X shape half way up the base. |
External carry
hook/strap |
Yes - one adjustable
piece of webbing that clips onto the top of the bag,
loops around and then clips onto itself. |
ID holder |
Yes - plastic holder
on flimsy metal chain looped around top handle. |
Other features |
No |
Costco
Kirkland Signature Executive 22" Expandable Trolley
SKU 00007 36155
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Costco's latest wheel
aboard bag is fully featured and seems to be very well
constructed and thought out in every respect apart from one
weakness - a sloppy towing handle that feels like it may
quickly wear and become a problem.
Apart from the weak
handle, everything else about the bag is very impressive.
Reflecting the
solidness of its construction is its weight - about 13.5 -
14 lbs with all accessories included. This makes it
the heaviest bag tested.
Unlike Walmart, Costco
do not disclose who the actual manufacturer of their bag is.
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Price
and availability |
$89.95.
This bag is only
available at Costco stores, not through their online
site. |
Warranty |
The promotional tag
on the bag says 'Lifetime warranty' on the front and
'Every Kirkland Signature product is guaranteed to meet
or exceed the quality standards of the leading national
brands. If you're not completely satisfied, your
money will be refunded' on the back. There was no
formal guarantee/warranty or anything else.
What does this actually mean? Your guess is as
good as mine! But it sounds impressive. |
Official size |
22" x 14" x 9" (45"
total). |
Measured maximum
external size |
23.5" x 15" x 8.75"
(47.25" total) - this is illegally large for most
airlines. The
external depth of the main 'box' is 6.5" for the
reinforced box itself, the extra thickness is caused by
the various extra things on the lid. |
Measured internal
size |
21" x 12.5" - depth
difficult to determine and varies with overpacking and
the various layers of inner compartments. |
Expandability |
Yes - you unzip a
gusset that allows the bag to loosely expand - 2.5"
extra claimed, 2" as measured. |
Weight |
No official weight
given. Actual weight
about 13.5 - 14lbs, making it the heaviest bag tested. |
Construction |
DuPont Cordura
1050D. Some extra protection on ribs around
corners. Semi-soft
sided, with extra padding on the lid and a solid seeming
opposite side. Honeycomb panel sides.
Everything is screwed rather than riveted except the
small feet on the side opposite the carry handle.
The bag seems solid and well constructed.
Zips have replaceable zipper pulls and the bag comes
complete with two replacement pulls.
The twin zips to open the main bag and the large lid
compartment all have locking holes through which you
could pass a padlock hasp in them.
All compartments are lined with a softer material. |
Color choices |
Dark Blue and Black |
Handles |
Three - on both
short sides and one long side.
There are extra feet on the long side opposite the long
side with the handle enabling the bag to be placed on
the ground either on its side or base. |
Towing Handle |
Extends 41.5". Easy to open and shut, with just
the one extension position.
Telescoping design with three sections. Appears
flimsy and wiggles excessively. This seems to
be the weakest part of the entire bag's construction.
Mounted internally and well protected from external
forces. |
Wheels |
Two solid wheels
that turn with slight resistance.
Wheels measure 3" in diameter and 1" wide, with a curved
tire shape so only a small part contacts the ground.
Three-quarter recessed, but with no side protection.
This is probably not essential, because the wheels are
flush with the long side of the bag. Keeping the
wheels to the very outside of the bag also helps improve
stability. Repair
would seem to require replacing the entire wheel
assembly and mounting. |
Stair skids |
Yes, and assisted by
the recessed wheels. |
Outside
compartments |
Three on the
front/lid. There is a small compartment at the top,
measuring about 12.5" wide and 5" deep, and a second
below that, also 12.5" wide and 11" deep. These
each have a single zip across the top of the
compartment. The third
is a full
size compartment the entire width and almost complete
height of the lid, one layer in from the first two, with padding
protecting its contents from any external impacts.
It measures 14" wide and 20" deep and has two zips
opening along the top and down about ¼ of the way down
one side and ¾ of the way down the other side.
The compartments are not very thick.
There are no compartments on the back. |
Inside compartments
in base |
Two zipped
compartments - one on each of the long sides.
Plus an unattached zippable waterproof bag about 21" x
14" that can do double duty as a divider.
The base is fully lined, and the lining is held in place
by velcro, making it easy to access the exterior parts
of the bag (eg for repair purposes). |
Inside compartments
in lid |
Unzipping a mesh
cover reveals the removable suit carrier, and behind the
removable suit carrier, on the lid, are two elastic
pockets (perhaps for shoes) and a full length zippable
compartment. The lid
would get fairly crowded with two full size shoes plus
also a suit in the suit carrier. |
Suit carrier
included |
Yes - a nice
tri-fold carrier with hangar to hang it in the wardrobe
plus two internal hangars to hold clothes with.
Two carry handles.
Has open pouch at the bottom, two wire stiffeners (one
at each fold) and space for a name tag. |
Other Removable
holders inside |
One large waterproof
holder mentioned above. |
Waterproof
compartment |
Yes - the removable
holder plus one of the side pockets in the base are both
waterproof. |
Packing Straps |
Two adjustable but
not elastic straps that go cross-wise over the items in
the base. |
External carry
hook/strap |
Yes. An
adjustable webbing loop that clips securely shut, and
which in turn clips into a slot on the top of the bag. |
ID holder |
Yes, nice leather
one with privacy cover on both the exterior of the bag
and on the suit carrier inside. |
Other features |
The replaceable
zipper pulls are probably the most distinctive special
feature of this bag. Two replaceable zip pulls are
included. Also has a
junky key operated padlock that is not TSA approved -
don't use this. |
Review methodology
Please note that weights and
measurements are approximate. Measurements in particular
are surprisingly subjective, and almost no bag/case has even
measurements across every part of the bag.
External measurements are
usually taken at the largest possible part - like an airline
would do if trying to negatively prove your bag was illegally
oversized.
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Originally published
17 Sep 2004, last update
30 May 2021
You may freely reproduce or distribute this article for noncommercial purposes as long as you give credit to me as original writer.
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