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Swany Wheeled Carry-On Luggage reviews
Two very different bags with unique
features
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Swany's founder
suffered from polio, and wanted a bag that was convenient to
trundle and which could double as something to variously
lean upon and sit on.
Nothing existed on the
market and so he invented the product he needed. The
result is the distinctive Swany series of bags.
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Scroll down or click these links to
jump to the review you wish to read
Swany Walkin'Bag Stick Chair Cart
Swany Quilted Walkin'Bag 22"
Swany Walkin'Bag Stick Chair Cart
Product 32912
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The EZ-Swany Stick
Chair Cart combines a light weight wheeled bag with a
small seat.
Unfortunately, the
emphasis truly should be on the word 'small'. It has a
very small seating area and is very low to the ground.
Comfortable for short people and
children, but not for adults and certainly not for anyone,
ahem, 'packing a few more pounds'.
The bag has a small
carrying capacity, can't be securely closed, and has no
external pockets or other features such as are common on
regular carry-on bags.
After being impressed
with the Walkin' Bag (below) we had high hopes for this bag,
but were disappointed. Unless you absolutely
need the seat, and are of small size yourself, this bag is
not recommended. It is expensive and under-featured.
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Price
and availability |
$180 direct from
their website.
A Google search might reveal alternative discount online
sources. |
Warranty |
Swany offer a five
year non-transferable warranty, excluding wear and tear
and abuse. This is a
disappointing level of coverage for a premium priced bag. |
Official size |
21" x 11" x
9"
(41" total) |
Measured maximum
external size |
21" x 12" x
9"
(42" total) - this is carry-on legal for almost all
airlines. |
Measured internal
size |
16" x
11" x 7.5".
This is small compared to almost all other bags
reviewed, and also a lower percentage of total space
than for most other bags. The actual bag part of this unit is soft
sided on all sides and so can stretch a bit to take
unusual shapes that might be larger in one or two
dimensions.
On the other hand, the closure at the top is very
unsatisfactory. There is a drawstring that pulls
the top of the bag partially - but not completely -
closed, and in the process, reduces its volume.
Then the fold over flap, which from the picture appears
to be buckled to the side of the bag is actually held in
place by a weak magnetic closure.
There is a danger that the flap could open and items to
fall out of the bag. It is absolutely not a bag
that could ever be checked for this reason |
Expandability |
No |
Weight |
6.7 lbs claimed.
Tests to about 7lbs. Very light. |
Construction |
The bag is
constructed of 1500 denier Teflon coated polyester
microfiber fabric. The frame/seat is a mix of
aluminium and plastic, and the bag is held to the frame
by velcro loops.
Construction is a mix of screws and rivets.
The bag has thin plastic boards on three sides inside to
give a little impact protection. The base and back
of the bag is protected by the carry handle/seat frame. |
Color choices |
Black or wine |
Handles |
One handle (the
telescoping/towing handle).
Note there are no feet on the main bottom of the bag,
just its four wheels. Conceivably, if leaving the
bag on a slope, that might mean it would roll away if
unattended. |
Towing Handle
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A two piece
telescoping handle, which locks in three positions at 32.5",
28.5" and 24.5".
These heights are too short for most adults.
The handle seems reasonably solid and has no more than a
normal amount of wiggle in it, but is not very smooth in
opening and closing, and sometimes was hard to release
the lock.
The handle is mounted outside the bag but seems sturdy
enough to resist most normal damage. |
Wheels |
Like the
Samsonite
Sahora, this has four wheels on
its base, all mounted on castors that can turn in any
direction. The wheels
are all completely exposed, and measure about 1 3/4" in
diameter and 5/8" in width. They spin freely, and
have a slightly curved profile. |
Stair skids |
No, indeed the
non-smooth exterior of the frame makes this bag ill
suited for dragging up stairs. |
Outside
compartments |
None |
Inside compartments
in base |
The bag has a single
open mesh pocket, measuring about 7" x 7.5", at the top
of the bag. It can't be secured shut. |
Inside compartments
in lid |
None |
Suit carrier
included |
No |
Other Removable
holders inside |
No |
Waterproof
compartment |
No |
Packing Straps |
No |
External carry
hook/strap |
No |
ID holder |
No |
Other features |
The big feature of
this bag is its folding seat. Unfortunately, we
found the seat too low to the ground and the actual seat
to be too small in size, and the bag made an unstable
base for the seat.
The seat is 13.75" above the floor level. By
contrast, regular office/home chairs are 17" - 18.5"
high. Most normal and tall people will find this
too low to conveniently sit down, too hard to stand up,
and uncomfortable while so seated.
The seat itself was small - about 8.75" x 7.5".
This compares with regular chairs that measure about 16"
- 18.5" in both width and depth.
A danger was that when going to sit on the seat, there
was a possibility that the bag would roll back as you
lowered yourself onto the seat, causing you to end up on
the floor. If using the seat, be sure to press
down on the front of it so as to cause the rubber
friction pad to firmly engage on the floor, before
sitting on it. While
seated, the experience was not very comfortable, and the
seat didn't feel very strong or secure, and indeed, the
seat/bag tended to swivel around in a circle, pivoting
on the one rubber friction pad in the front.
The seat is rated to hold 400 lbs. |
Swany Quilted Walkin'Bag
22"
Product 00990
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As you can probably
tell, we were disappointed in the Stick Chair Cart (above).
However, this bag is a much better product, with plenty of
extra features.
The most distinctive
feature of this bag is that its handle is on its long side
rather than its short side (see photo on left). This
gives it more stability and it is claimed the bag is six
times easier to roll than a normal bag.
The bag has just about every feature you'd find, and a few
that are not commonly found elsewhere.
Size wise it has one very problematic dimension (19" instead
of 'official' airline max of typically 14") that might give
you trouble when trying to carry the bag on board planes. |
Price
and availability |
$180 direct from
their website.
A Google search might reveal alternative discount online
sources. |
Warranty |
Swany offer a five
year non-transferable warranty, excluding wear and tear
and abuse. This is a
disappointing level of coverage for a bag that is
premium priced and which otherwise
offers a great deal of potential. |
Official size |
22" x 15" x
8" (45"
total). |
Measured maximum
external size |
22.5"" x 19" x
9"
(50.25" total) - this is illegally large for most
airlines, especially on the 19" dimension. |
Measured internal
size |
21.5" x 14.5".
Depth of base is about 8" and depth of lid is about
1". Can slightly overpack the lid but not the
base. The bag has
moderately large radius corners, slightly reducing the
overall space inside. |
Expandability |
No |
Weight |
11 lb claimed. Actual weight about
11.5 lbs. |
Construction type |
Water repellant
treated nylon in a fine weave.
The four small sides are solid, made from honeycombed
plastic, covered with the fabric. The bag is
described as being able to withstand 188 lbs of pressure
(whatever that means).
Almost all components are riveted rather than screwed.
There is ribbing on the outside edge and this thickens
around the corners.
This is described as a 'quilted' bag and there is some
minor 'quilting' - sewn padding - of the two large sides
of the bag.
Both pairs of zips have locking eyelets through which
you could run a narrow padlock hasp.
Compartments are all lined. |
Color choices |
Black |
Handles |
Two, plus extending
handle.
Has four feet on the short side adjacent to the carry
handle. If you are placing the bag down at rest,
you might want to turn it 90 degrees so it rests on the
feet and doesn't move away, rather than leaving it on
its base with four wheels and no brakes. |
Towing Handle |
Three section telescoping handle that extends to 36" and
to several shorter lengths also.
This is much shorter than normal tilt and pull behind
type wheeled bags, but is perhaps okay because you are
more likely to wheel the bag at your side rather than
tilted and pulled behind you.
The handle feels sturdy and has some wiggle in it, which
the manufacturer says is normal and ensures easy
movement. Hmmm.
Mounted internally and well protected from external
forces. |
Wheels |
Like the Stick Chair
Cart, this has four wheels on
its base, all mounted on castors that can turn in any
direction. The wheels
are all completely exposed, and measure about 1 3/4" in
diameter and 5/8" in width. They spin freely, and
have a slightly curved profile.
This means you can move the bag either as a normal 'tilt
and tow behind' type bag, or you can propel the bag with
all four wheels on the ground, with the bag alongside
you (as shown in the picture at the top of the page).
If going down the aisle of a plane, you'd want the bag
to be in front (or possibly behind) you, with the narrow
side rather than wide side across the aisle. |
Stair skids |
No. It is not
recommended to drag the bag up stairs. |
Outside
compartments |
There is one
open sleeve compartment on the back of the bag, measuring about
21.5" wide by 12" deep. This compartment
is not gusseted at all so can't hold anything very
thick, but is great for sticking a newspaper or
something thin like that.
There is one compartment in the front that runs the full
width and most of the height of the front, and with a
zip that opens all the way across the top and two thirds
of the way down each side. This measures about 22"
x 14".
Inside this compartment are a couple of zip closing mesh
web pockets, each measuring about 7" x 8", and a couple
of larger sleeves behind, measuring about 9.5" x 8".
There are also two narrow sleeves, each suitable for a
pen.
One distinctive feature of this bag and front
compartment is a zipper that opens between the front
compartment and an inside compartment. This is
intended as allowing you access to eg a laptop computer,
that is kept with more protection inside the body of the
bag, but which can be accessed without needing to open
up the main part of the bag. |
Inside compartments
in base |
There is a zipped
pouch measuring 19" x 7" that is fastened to the back of
the bag by a couple of snaps. This is presumably a
'wet things' pouch.
There are no other compartments as such, but there is a
suit carrier and three other smaller bags, discussed
below. |
Inside compartments
in lid |
The lid has a mesh
pouch with a full width zip. Loose inside the
pouch are a shirt bag and two shoe bags and also a zip
which opens through to the external compartment
discussed above. |
Suit carrier
included |
Yes - a tri-fold carrier. It
has a loop and hanger at the top, and two mesh pockets
on the back.
It has wire stiffening around the four sides of the
inner most of the three folding sections to help it keep
its shape. |
Other Removable
holders inside |
In the lid are three bags. Two have drawstring
closures and are described as shoe bags - it might be
possible to fit a pair of shoes in each bag, depending
on the size of your shoes. The other has a zip
closure and measures 16" x 15" and is described as a
shirt bag.
Fixed by velcro to the base of the bag are three
removable pouches with webbing fronts and zip closures
running down the middle of their long sides. Two
measure about 13" x 5.5" and the third measures 12" x
4.25". These fit in the three recesses around the
two parts of the carry handle and provide a clever way
of packing things into those difficult to fill spaces. |
Waterproof
compartment |
The bag that is
fastened inside the main compartment by two snaps. |
Packing Straps |
Two elastic 'V' straps
that meet with a fastener in the middle of the base. |
External carry
hook/strap |
No.
For a bag that has
just about everything else, this was a surprising
omission.. |
ID holder |
Yes, attached via a
loop to the handle. |
Other features |
Also comes with two
miniature padlocks which are not TSA approved.
Don't use these. |

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
4 Mar 2005, 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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