I love my body glove rolling duffel

I prefer soft-sided luggage because it "gives" and you can really cram stuff inside if necessary.

If you have them near you, I'd recommend that you look at TJ Maxx and/or Tuesday Morning...their selections vary, but they usually have a pretty big selection of luggage for much, much less money than you'd find retail.

I've seen $800 luggage for $200 and $200 luggage for $40 at TJ Maxx and Tuesday Morning.

I'm crazy about my Eagle Creek soft sided luggage. The unique two toned luggage is easy to spot on the luggage carosel.

What ever you do don't get black luggage! 98% of the traveling public has black luggage!!

I always buy soft sided because of the weight of the hard - they weigh so much before you put anything in them 🙁

Costco had great rolling duffels for about $45.00 and they are huge - we have 4 of them !!! 🙂 🙂

Pia

I don't know that I've even SEEN hard luggage in years! I suppose if you have stuff that's really fragile, it would be good, other than that - soft-side is the only way to go. The ones with wheels and a pull-up handle.

We always have one of each. That way if we bring back something breakable from wherever we were travelling to/from, we put it in the hardside one. A little protection goes a long way.

I agree with the expandability and weight of the soft side. Have had both and have had both wrecked. We are in to soft side. We buy cheap and we buy often. Expensive ones fare no better than cheap ones from the cargo gorillas. Best advice is to get a unique color so you can spot it at the baggage claim.

Soft or hard is a personal preference but make sure it has 4 wheels. I bought new luggage for our Xmas trip & with 4 wheels the case just glided next to me ( not behind) through the airports with me using 1 finger!!!. The security guy at STT watched me walk up to him & said he was going to get one with the 4 wheels after watching me!

Thanks everyone for your opinions! Costco was on my list to check, but now I'll check the other stores mentioned too.

Thanks again!

Definitely soft for reasons duly noted above. One thing to keep in mind though: the new weight restrictions on bags have rendered the larger rolling duffel bags almost useless. By the time you come anywhere close to filling them, you're over the weight limit and forking over additional $$$ as a penalty. Heck, I've come close to the limit with a well-crammed carry-on.

I also sort of disagree with the notion that cheap stuff is as good as expensive. Cost alone is of course no guarantee, but we've found that our Travel-Pro luggage has held up way better than the cheaper items we've bought in the past. Granted we do a lot of traveling (and if a baggage gorilla really wants to, he can destroy anything) but all other things being equal a really well designed and built bag is worth the bucks in the long run.

I agree with Regan. I think you get what you pay for no matter what you buy. I've found it doesn't pay to get the cheap stuff. Some won't even survive 2 trips. I also agree that you have to careful how much you put in those great big duffels. I always weigh my luggage before I get to the airport just be sure I'm not over weight.