Gearzilla » Luggage

Mountain Khakis Cabin Duffle

nborchelt — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:00:50 +0000

www.mountainkhakis.com
Retro fashion can easily be carried to the extreme of parody, but when one concentrates on the old school elements of high-quality craftsmanship, it hurtles the world of too-skinny jeans and the tired routine of “ironic” t-shirts. Take the Cabin Duffle, which merges 20-ounce and 18-ounce waxed canvas with a supple leather bottom and trim to create one of the most functional, stylish duffles on the market. The zippered main compartment opens wide for easy access to 32 liters of storage space, and the mouth keeps its shape thanks to a structured frame that makes cramming the bag to the hilt almost too easy (external compression straps help as well). The topo-map graphics inside speaks to Mountain Khakis’ love of travel, and the small internal storage bag can be snapped out. There is one small external pocket, and a removable shoulder strap. This bag proved truly bomber on several weekend escapes (to cabins and otherwise), and while some may yearn for more internal organization, we loved how we could toss in a ton of gear, zip it up, and hit the road. Oh, and the leather lining the bottom is so soft-to-the-touch that that you will worry about scratching it, though that’ll happen fairly easily, which makes the bag look even better.

Eagle Creek EC Adventure Upright Suitcase

nborchelt — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:00:11 +0000

www.eaglecreek.com, eight pounds, ten ounces
As much as we strive for minimalism in our active lives, outdoor obsessions typically means that every trip we take includes a bike helmet, bike shoes, climbing shoes, trail runners or day hikers, a puffy mid-layer, a rain jacket, soft shell hiking pants, and—ya know—all our other clothes. Thankfully, the EC Adventure Upright accommodates all our gear-centric activities with aplomb. We tested the 25 model, which boasts a cavernous 75 liters of storage space (that can expand to 82 liters), for a West Coast jaunt that included all the afore-mentioned gear specs as well as camera gear, extra bags, and space for wine and beer from California’s Russian River Valley and Portland, OR. The pack interior gives you tons of storage space—just one big, open container for your goods, along with compression wings on clipped straps to tie everything down. The large interior panel in the door also kept our folded laundry (which we love putting in one of Eagle Creek’s Pack-It Folders) from the rest of the guts of the bag, while the large zippered outside pocket let us stash our jacket before checking the bag; the smaller one is great for travel documents. The whole rig rides on a pair of durable wheels that handled copious abuse in both urban and outdoor environs, but when the bag was packed to capacity, the collapsible handle didn’t glide out as easily as it had at the start of our trip (read: before we acquired WAY too many bottles of rare beer). Other details—like the “piggyback” clip that lets you attach your day pack to the roller, a slip-away luggage tag, and exterior compression straps—round out features of this durable suitcase, and the colors schemes (black, green, and a burnt orange) will also let you tailor your pack to your own on-the-road aesthetic. Oh yeah, it also comes with Eagle Creek’s famed lifetime warranty.
Specs and testing were done on the Upright 25 model ; comes in two- and four-wheel versions in sizes ranging from 39 to 123 liters.

Outdoor Retailer: Eagle Creek No Matter What Rolling Duffle Bag

nborchelt — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:00:59 +0000

Seminal luggage/travel-solution company Eagle Creek unveiled two new packs in their No Matter What series. The new models are made of the same rugged hardwear found in the rest of the bags in this line, with hyper-flexible buckles and metal-welded D-rings. But these new duffles also have wheels to help you bring really big loads through the urban environs. Coming in large (6,400 cubic inches, pictured) and extra-large (7,800 cubic inches), both packs boast 420D ripstop fabric, oversized wheels, end and center haul handles, a front-exterior zipper pocket for quick-grab documents, and removable shoulder straps. As with the other packs in the line, the new rolling duffle bags compress into small stuff sacks; this may not offer much on-the-road advantages, per say. But as anyone who has a rolling duffle knows, the ability to collapse the bag in to an eminently stowable size is a godsend for the gear-clogged closets of the world. And, as with the rest of the No Matter What series, Eagle Creek will fix or replace any damaged bag for free, even when airline handlers treat your prized new bag as an oversized hacky sack.
On market now.

Outdoor Retailer: Arc’Teryx Preview

nborchelt — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:00:21 +0000

Looking toward spring 2013, Arc’Teryx will continue to develop some of the best-performing products in the outdoor industry. And while their price points are some of the highest, our experience with their line has proven that you’re buying a jacket, pack, or a lifestyle piece that’ll last a lifetime, not just a season. Here are a few things that have us excited.

The bag line will expand next spring to include a variety of travel packs, which will appear in three sizes, from carry-on to checkable. The duffle-style Covert line will be made of 500D Cordura and a burly double weave for solid weather resistance, and come with stashable shoulder straps, strategically-placed grab handles, and light-colored inner lining to help you find what you need quickly. Meanwhile, the new Haku Rope Pack is destined to become a climber’s favorite crag accessory. The medium-sized shoulder pack incorporates a massive tarp at the bag’s mouth. When you’re ready to haul your rope to the next crag or hike out for the day, you spread out the tarp, dump the rope on it, pick up the tarp by the corners, lift, shake, and—viola—the rope drops into the bottom of the pack. Then you just fold in the tarp, roll the bag closed like a dry bag, and you’re ready to go. No more stuffing and jamming to fit everything in. (We also think it may offer great last-minute travel packing solutions for the less OCD-inclined.) On the backcountry side, the newly designed Aristo packs look interesting; they incorporate “wingman” side pockets at both sides of the pack base for easy, on-the-go access, which lets the pack ride against the lumbar for on-the-trail comfort.

On the apparel side, they’ll playing with a mixture of fabrics, employing patches of Gore-Tex Pro and Paclite in the Theta SL Hybrid Jacket for targeted, on-the-body performance, and mixing up cotton and poly in their 24 lifestyle line. We also love what we saw of the women’s Codetta (pictured), a three-quarter-length hooded jacket made from Gore-Tex, with a hem vent and fashion-forward storm flap over the zipper. This urban, travel-friendly jacket will run for $369.

Innate Caravan Compartments

nborchelt — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:00:12 +0000

www.innate-gear.com
Some may call it OCD, but we prefer to think of it as a place for everything and everything in its place, because nothing can ruin a day on the trail (or in a foreign city) quicker than misplacing your sunglasses, lip balm, or cold medication. Innate’s new Caravan Compartments fill this need. They come in small (with sufficient space to store socks or small toiletries), medium (suitable for tech shorts and shirts), and large (big enough for four folded dress shirts). Each one is constructed from fabrics that have been repurposed from scraps destined to a fiery end in an industrial incinerator, with PU-coated zips and stichless seams to keep the conditions at bay. Clear windows make it easy to spot what’s inside, and an exterior RF welded grab handle makes it easy to shuffle stuff around, even the cavernous duffle. We loved to pack ‘em on daylong kayaking or canyoneering adventures, when a dry change of clothes at the end of the day is most welcome. The small bags also found a home on multiday backpacking trips, keeping our nice-to-have camp items (flashlight, pen and paper, beef jerky) within easy reach and well away from the stinky base layers that we’d worn for the last 72 hours. The zips do feel a bit flimsy compared to more hardcore product like your day pack, but they’ve held their own over months of arduous testing. If that changes, we’ll let you know.

Eagle Creek Crossroads Roll Away 30 Duffle Bag

nborchelt — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 08:00:50 +0000

www.eaglecreek.com, four pounds, 10 ounces
Rolled up for storage, the Eagle Creek Roll Away takes up less space than a brief case. But unroll the duffle and you’ve a seemingly bottomless pit for packing (and overpacking) everything you’d need for long vacation. The Roll Away 30 has two lightweight but super durable rubber wheels and a rigid, rubberized grab handle. When not in use, the duffle folds up into a compact, velcro-secured package that you can tuck pretty much anywhere. Open it up and a front-loading zippered panel reveals a main compartment that will fit a variety of gear and apparel. One tester flew from Portland, OR,to Palm Springs for some spring camping—her two-person tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove, and apparel fit in the pack with room to spare. The soft sides puff out like marshmallows when you’re overpacked, but can be cranked down via four compression straps when not needed. This is the bag you’ll pack for ski vacations, long business trips, or multi-day escapes to exotic ports of call. On the front is a long, zippered compartment that’s ideal for books, maps, or even dirty clothes. The body is a durable polyester ripstop that will vex gorilla-like luggage handlers with its resistance to bumps and scrapes. The bottom is an even tougher Hellix Ballistic fabric that thwarts anything short of bullets.

STM Jet Roller Wheeled Laptop Bag

nborchelt — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 08:00:25 +0000

www.stmbags.com
If you judge your bags by the number of nifty, gadget-sized pockets they have, STM’s Jet Roller wheeled laptop bag tops the charts. It offers a main compartment, a padded laptop section with plenty of room for cords, a front organization panel with pockets galore, a quick-access pocket, and a slim back pocket for papers and magazines—in other words, this bag has a pocket for everything. The main compartment is just large enough for a weekend’s worth of clothes (for me, anyway, but maybe four or five days for my husband) making this a great carry-on bag for a short trip. A separate zippered section features a high-density padded laptop compartment with plenty of space for a 17-inch laptop and room to spare. The padding around this section is impressive—I wasn’t worried when one flight attendant gate-checked my Jet Roller and I watched a grouchy airport employee toss it into a pile of bags. The pockets up front are my favorites. There’s a zippered section with a padded pocket for my tablet, a mesh pocket for accessories (my mouse goes there), and about six other pockets that I use for my cell phone, jewelry, pens, charging cords, and every other accessory I need. And in front of that zippered section is an easy-access Velcro front pocket for travel documents, keys, and anything else you might need to grab quickly while scrambling through security.
-Erika Lloyd

Osprey Vector 25-Inch Rolling Duffle Bag

nborchelt — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:00:31 +0000

www.ospreypacks.com, 6 pounds, 4 ounces
We once scoffed at rolling bags. What if the zombie apocalypse hits and you need to run through a crowd? You can’t do that if you’re pulling a bag behind ya! But as we’ve matured (read: spent too much time hauling heavy gear on our backs through largely civil environs), the value of a rolling duffle became apparent, and the Vector 25-incher has become a go-to bag for weeklong winter trips. The 3,600 cubic inches of storage space is voluminous enough to swallow ski boots and all the apparel needed, along with a spare pair of shoes, après attire, and toiletries. Total weight? Less than 50 pounds, light enough to avoid the excess baggage fees (though we did have to stash our space-swallowing snow helmet in our carry-on). Two internal compression straps keep things tightly packed, and a variety of mesh zip pockets (at the side and along the front panel) help keep must-haves on hand. The bag also has a separate zipped storage area positioned between the bag’s chassis, which accesses a sizeable storage pocket that doesn’t impede the bag’s internal storage. Osprey suggests storing dirty clothes there to keep the filthy away from the clean, but we use it to stash our heavy coat when we get to the airport (and thus easily retrieve it when we get to our snow-choked destination). The telescoping handle and wheels both glide with the ease of fat skis through powder, and a hard-fabric exterior has proven durable across multiple intense-weather excursions. One tester had to replace the zipper pulls after overzealously trying to close an over-packed bag, but Osprey sent replacements gratis.

Eagle Creek Ramble 22 Rolling Suitcase

nborchelt — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 08:00:06 +0000

www.eaglecreek.com, 7 pounds, 10 ounces
I don’t usually get excited by luggage, but the Eagle Creek Ramble 22 made me a convert. It’s stylish enough to use on business trips, but has all the rugged characteristics to make it perfect for an active vacation. What really made me fall in love, however, was how much stuff I could fit in the bag. The large-capacity main compartment fits more cubic centimeters than most carry-on rollers. In addition, there are two zippered sections that hold a surprising amount of clothing–accounting for a full 3,539 cubic inches in all. I was able to pack clothes for a four-day kayaking trip in just one of the zippered sections. And since each zippered section is also laminated, they can be used to separate wet or dirty clothes from clean ones, which happily kept my clothes from smelling like lagoon water for the two-week journey after the kayaking. The Ramble 22 is tough. My trip involved multiple subways, trains, planes, and ferries. The wheels handled miles of walking and bounced along cobblestone streets with no problem. The fabric is water-resistant and the waterproof bottom was thoroughly tested several times while walking through rainstorms and puddles. The handle is sturdy, easy to raise and lower, and is height-adjustable. Rolling suitcases make travel tolerable, but this one had me swooning.
–Josephine Parr

Burton Wheelie Flight Deck SS

nborchelt — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:00:56 +0000

www.burton.com; 9.35 pounds
Burton tends to have some “creative” patterns, and their new series of luggage isn’t any different, but the garishness of the colors makes it super easy to spot your bag as it rolls around on the baggage carousel full of boring, black bags. Burton’s Wheelie Flight Deck is not super lightweight (weighing in at 9.35 lbs), but that heft lends the bag some undeniably durability. It also has stretchy material inside that feels just like neoprene, includes breathable zipper dividers, and sports these totally awesome skate wheels that will never fall off. The telescoping handle on this bad boy will probably outlast the bag and me, it seems so strong. The luggage has plenty of room for a weekend or even a week—but it may be too roomy, since it didn’t pass as a carry-on on my domestic Delta flights. Only other bummer? At the end of several trips, the bag exterior started to get pretty dirty…which reminds me why most people have that plain ol’ black suitcase.
–Jennifer Seabolt