Love it, Like it, or Thumbs down to HARD Shell Luggage

We have a set that we love but rarely use it any more because of weight. If we are flying it's usually on a dive trip and our equipment alone is heavy, much less camera gear and clothes so we have gone to cheap light weight luggage that if it gets ruined on a trip it's no big deal
 
Timely thread. I'm looking to buy a GIANT suitcase for my upcoming trip to Disney (2 weeks) and have been looking at the hardsided ones. I'm only shopping in places like Homegoods for it as I don't travel much; however, the hardside seems to be lighter than the fabric ones they are selling.
I'm not sure if you're looking for something plain or a little more stylish, but Marshalls carries a lot of this kind of thing. I'm partial to the Betsy Johnson patterns and the largest-sized ones are positively HUGE.
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We use both as our trips involve many pieces of luggage. And both soft and hard shells serve their purposes differently. Hard I like because it protects delicate fragile things better. I honestly don’t have a hardshell that I can say is lighter than fabric. And I prefer the huge fabric ones as I could simply stuff more things in there with a hardshell you’re physically limited more with space if they don’t give us much. With fabric suitcases you can really stuff those things and they expand. I also like the outside pockets where I can for example stuff my wet swimsuit in last minute while waiting for the MDE pick up. . With a hardshell you have to open the whole dang thing. My carry-on though is hard shell which I love more actually because it’s a Rimowa ( Loui Vuitton of luggage) and looks great. Though with a soft shell carry-on I know I could stuff a lot more things into it. Hard shells can get dented and scratched we’re soft shell can get ripped. I’ve traveled a lot these past 40 years and just recently or soft shell suitcase got a big rip in the back it didn’t rip all the way through to the contents and I was able to fix it with an iron on patch.
When flying we always run out of weight-allowance long before running out of space. We could put much more into our hard-siders than we do. We pay for checked baggage and the fines for being even a little overweight are ridiculous. We've had to re-pack on the airport floor to juggle things around more than once for being just a pound or two over. :o
 


I'm not sure if you're looking for something plain or a little more stylish, but Marshalls carries a lot of this kind of thing. I'm partial to the Betsy Johnson patterns and the largest-sized ones are positively HUGE.
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When flying we always run out of weight-allowance long before running out of space. We could put much more into our hard-siders than we do. We pay for checked baggage and the fines for being even a little overweight are ridiculous. We've had to re-pack on the airport floor to juggle things around more than once for being just a pound or two over. :o
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/trav...ggage-fees-by-putting-on-all-her-clothes.html
 
We had to buy luggage a couple of years ago when we flew to Oklahoma and ended up buying a hard shell after years and years of using soft. It was fine and quite lightweight.
 


I really like mine. It is lighter than any soft sided I have previously owned.
 
I’ve never gone quite that far but I do make sure we all wear our heaviest shoes onto the plane. :lmao:

When we were flying home from New Zealand several years ago they even weighed our carry-ons and mine was overweight. I took out my leather jacket and put it on -- problem solved. Even had room for a souvenir so I went shopping at the airport.
 
We bought a set of hard sided luggage many years ago, after having several soft sided bags get holes ripped in them when flying. Overall, I like it. It's definitely tougher. It's at least 10 years old and still looks brand new. And it's mostly waterproof, so you don't have stress when you see the baggage carts sitting outside the plane in the pouring rain.

The obvious disadvantage is that it doesn't collapse at all, so storing it in a small hotel room or cruise cabin can be challenging. Also, maybe just because of the specific stuff ours is made of, it is very slippery. It makes it hard to stack multiple bags in the back of the car, because the bags just slide off of each other. But I would probably still go with hard sided, if I had to choose again.
 
We have hard sided and really like it. Originally we bought a fairly inexpensive set from eBags, but as someone above mentioned, baggage handlers were rough on them and one of the wheels got damaged really badly after only a few uses. I replaced it with one from TJ Maxx that is still lightweight, but the wheels are reinforced with a hard piece of plastic surrounding the corners and it has been much sturdier.

I highly recommend going to TJ Maxx or Marshalls and looking at them - they have great prices on name brand luggage.
 
I'm looking to update my 19 year old luggage. Personally, I don't understand the appeal of Hard Shell luggage but it must be popular enough because I see it everywhere. What do you think about yours?
With the bed bug outbreaks in airports, hotels, and other public places, hard shell luggage is better than cloth. We replaced all of our soft luggage with hard.
 
I'm all about hard side. My preference for brand is Kenneth Cole. They make great bags with amazing storage pockets inside.
 
Just another tip don’t spend too much money on luggage and also don’t go super cheap. If you go super cheap you risk getting a set that just reeks of cheap plastic. And don’t spend too much because either the TSA will cut your TSA lock, happened to us. Or it will be banged scratched dented what not
I've lost four locks to TSA (the kind that TSA can unlock), so I don't bother locking my luggage anymore. I sometimes use zipties, and if they aren't cut off I just use a nail clipper at the other end. It works for me.

I've only had soft-sided luggage for the past 30 years, so can't speak to hard-sided luggage.
 
I mostly prefer the soft-sided for the configuration inside (one large compartment, rather than two halves).
I can't argue that it isn’t much trickier to pack hard-siders. Typically one half will have a zip-up fabric cover that keeps the contents in place and the other side will have a crisscross elastic belts that join in the middle with a clasp. (Sounds weird but if you've seen it you know exactly what I mean.) You have to make sure you don't put anything that can fall out on the side with the elastic and make sure that side is on the bottom when you flip it closed.
 
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We love ours. We made sure to get one that was noted for being lightweight, its easy to clean, it protects items inside the luggage which is important considering how the bags are thrown around by handlers and inside an airplane - I have had more than one hair tool broken in the past, and it also keeps items dry which we like as we've had our bags sit on the tarmac in Orlando and show up with things all wet inside. As far as packing it, I put my packing cubes with my clothes in the side with the elastic straps, and I put all my shoes and toiletry bags in the side that has the zippered flap over the top of it. It stays very organized and things don't shift much at all.
 
I can't argue that it's trickier to pack hard-siders. Typically one half will have a zip-up fabric cover that keeps the contents in place and the other side will have a crisscross elastic belts that join in the middle with a clasp. (Sounds weird but if you've seen it you know exactly what I mean.) You have to make sure you don't put anything that can fall out on the side with the elastic and make sure that side is on the bottom when you flip it closed.

Yeah, it's just a different approach and a matter of preference. My sister likes the hard sided ones better. I like packing that one big compartment, as some of my things fit better (I have a pretty large toiletry bag, for one).
 
We love ours. We made sure to get one that was noted for being lightweight, its easy to clean, it protects items inside the luggage which is important considering how the bags are thrown around by handlers and inside an airplane - I have had more than one hair tool broken in the past, and it also keeps items dry which we like as we've had our bags sit on the tarmac in Orlando and show up with things all wet inside. As far as packing it, I put my packing cubes with my clothes in the side with the elastic straps, and I put all my shoes and toiletry bags in the side that has the zippered flap over the top of it. It stays very organized and things don't shift much at all.
Excellent strategy! I do wonder though why the bags are designed that way. Both sides with zippered flaps would be much easier. :confused3
 

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