Hard shell vs. Soft shell Luggage

Parent Cafe
1

I am likely buying my DIL two pieces of luggage - a carry on and a 24" bag. Probably going to buy at TJ Maxx because you can hardly beat their prices (though open to other suggestions at somewhat comparable costs!).

Seems to be a good amount of the hard shell luggage as choices now as opposed to soft shell. Help sell me on pros/cons of both.

Pros of soft that I see: more outside pocket areas (hard shell, no outside storage). Easier for jamming in the over head compartment - has some “give”.

Pros of hard??? I haven’t had any hard luggage.

If you have purchased luggage recently or for young adults (so perhaps not top notch luggage) what did you choose and why??

2

I would check on ebags.com , too. I travel a lot and have both hard (very light material) and soft bags. I agree for the carryon I like the soft side, although with the framing you can’t smush it down too much anyway. The hard ones usually have an expander zipper, too, so you can make it bigger. The ebags site is good with reviews and dimensions, so it might be worth using for research even if you wind up purchasing at TJM. I also reall like the spinner feature so you can just push the thing through the airport and down the aisles. The downside is that the infrastructure for that takes up some more room inside the suitcase.

3

I noticed when we were travelling in Europe a couple years ago that a LOT of people had the light wieght hardshell style of bag, many with a kind of fabric cover for it.

4

We compare prices online…and also at Macys, Kohl’s, TJMaxx.

With all,the coupons and discounts…Macy’s was the least expensive for what we bought.

So…check for sales at the brick and mortar stores,especially now with all the sales.

I have travelPro…soft sided…and I love it.

5

D1 loves her soft (ish) sided. It’s light, which helps when you’re lifting it overhead. But still rugged.

I have a couple of completely soft bags which I like because they’re squishable, if I decide to put them under the seat instead.

6

I like my Eagle Creek soft bag a lot. I had a TravelPro bag my H paid hundreds of dollars for. It was all packed for a ski trip, and I went to pick it up and the handle came off in my hand. Fortunately I had my Costco special lugguge, and could quickly repack. I never did have the handle replaced, and I may have finally thrown the bag out.

7

The pros of hard is, in my experience, it lasts longer. It is also good for protecting fragile and delicate items. Whenever I traveled internationally, I’d always take a hard shell to protect the inevitable bounty of arts and crafts that I would purchase on the trip and nothing was ever damaged. I find it easier to pack, and items are more easily accessible.

The cons are that hard is heavier (but a 24" wouldn’t be bad), and yes, more difficult to fit into a spot because it’s rigid. I don’t feel that they are harder to maneuver though, since everything is on wheels these days.

I got a set of Samsonite hard luggage for my college graduation over 30 years ago. I didn’t leave my home state until I was 16 and when I got my first professional job after graduation, I expanded my list of states visited to three as it was two states away. I started dating one of my coworkers and when we planned to go on a short trip, he made a sarcastic remark about my nice luggage set, saying “Why do you have such nice luggage? You’ve never been anywhere!”

Well, I married that knucklehead, and we spent the next 30 years travelling all over the world - and that luggage lasted about 20 of those years.

We got another set of the same brand (I think at Ross), but sadly, it only lasted for about 7 years - I guess the quality was not the same as it was 30 years ago.

The pros of soft are what you mentioned. Plus I think you can squish a lot more stuff into soft luggage like a wheeled duffel. The wheeled versions are very maneuverable, but you can’t compress them as much as a totally soft shelled piece as they have a rigid bottom.

A few years ago, I bought our whole family of four a set of LLBean rolling duffels (each in a different color) with a matching small duffel for the carry-on. But I don’t like the lack of organization with duffels (one big compartment) as opposed to the hard luggage I’ve had. Even though you can get more stuff in - I have to use big ziploc bags (the storage kind in 2 gallon and bigger) for each type of item - like one for socks/underwear, one for shirts, etc. just to get our stuff organized somehow. Otherwise, it all ends up in a big jumbled mess after a couple of days.

My husband has traveled the most with his set and his big duffel showed signs of wear after a few plane trips - where luggage seems to get more abuse. My daughters and I have traveled mostly by car and train, and ours still look almost brand new. I do love the small duffel - it has a shoulder strap and I use it like a carry on with all my personal items and it works very well for that.

If I was going to get my daughters a set of the size you are thinking of, I think I’d actually mix a hard shell 24" inch piece with a small soft duffel carry-on. The LLBean ones come in many colors and you could probably get one to match a hard shell piece made by another company.

https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/63911?page=adventure-duffle-small

8

You might consider adding a set of packing cubes from Ebags. https://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/ultralight-packing-cubes-super-packer-5pc-set/309406?productid=10408193

9

We just bought some soft sided. S likes those a lot better. (I think he prefers a duffle bag but likes the wheels on the soft sided. The squishability is important to him. We just got some at Target because he was in a hurry and doesn’t really care. He will get better at some point but he takes his stuff to the ranch and camping so getting good stuff doesn’t pay. We got D’s at Kohls with Kohls cash and sales and it was dirt cheep and has lasted for years including a trip to Europe.

10

I always recommend the 30" rolling duffels by Ful sold at Costco. I think we paid $40 for each. They are incredibly sturdy - one of them survived 4 years of cross county trekking plus 3 international tours, and it is still alive and well.

11

I fold my clothes like i am filing them in a file cabinet so they stay orderly. The hard shell gives me two shallow halves so my personal packing process does not work. Also, I have an unfounded fear that the zipper will give out on the hard shell. Son loves his hard shell.

I also like the flexibility of overstuffing the soft cases…

12

I have Travelpro, and I’ve had things repaired for no cost. My luggage is 27 years old.

I’ve only bought soft, but they do sell hard. Lots of discounts on their site.

13

I broke down and bought a set of hard case luggage, (they were much more expensive than the soft) because I thought they would last longer. I was very wrong, the first time I used them the hard shell had cracked. I realize the airport personnel throw them around but I still expected them to last more than one journey. I do like how easy they are to roll around so I still use them for car trips but I would never trust them to fly.

14

I had a hard shell with a zipper. It might have been just that particular bag, but the zipper started to go much sooner than I would have thought. I think the rigidity of the shell along with the flexibility of the zipper wasn’t a good mix, and that I put too much lateral pressure (torque?) on the zipper.

15

Some people may have different preferences for soft versus hard side bags for carry-on versus checked use.

16

I have only had “soft” Delsey Helium and now Briggs & Riley. Both can be rolled aboard most domestic flights and fit nicely in all but smallest overhead bins. H always checks his bags and they still are doing great after over a decade and 4+ round trips/year.

I have looked at and considered but never purchased any hard-sided since we got some for our honeymoon > 30 years ago. So far my soft-sided rollerbags have adequately protected my fragile things when I hand carry or check the luggage (except when TSA opens and does not put bubble wrap back in — grrr!)

Costco has some nice pieces at great prices. Macy’s and Ross have also had nice prices and selections.

Our kids and we all like the 20-22” rollerboard soft-sided suitcase on 2 wheels, plus a backpack as a carryon.

17

We have lived and traveled overseas for 20 years. Like @LeastComplicated we use LL Bean Adventure duffels. We have various sizes. Used them a lot, they are durable. They are relatively light, so don’t make a big dent in weight allowance when traveling by air. They also take up less space to store compared to hard sided luggage, a plus in an overseas apartment or in our daughter’s dorm room.

18

I travel frequently for work and always check my bag. I have inexpensive hard sided luggage from Kohl’s, Travelers Choice, in an obnoxiously bright color. While hard sided, it’s light weight and flexible. Purchased 2 years ago (Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal).

Prior to this bag, I had a Rockland hard sided bag that cracked about a year in.

Heard good things about Away but haven’t tried one out in person.

19

I don’t see any benefits to hard. They get more banged up, have no give, are heavier, have no outside pockets for last minute adds and are more difficult to organize because they have 2 shallow sides vs soft with 1 deep side and a “lid”.

20

Thanks for all your comments. I have also been looking on ebags which has some great prices on certain models.

DIL likes to bring AS MUCH as possible when she packs for a trip. She is definitely NOT someone who wants to skimp on bringing. This is making me have second thoughts on hard case luggage - no outer pockets, expand-ability seems limited. I could consider a soft shell carry on and a hard shell larger size. Son says she would love purple luggage. :slight_smile: