Gadling gear review – Briggs & Riley Baseline collection 20″ upright

by Scott Carmichael on

In this Gadling gear review, I’m going to introduce you to my newest favorite piece of luggage. The Briggs & Riley Baseline 20″ wide-body expandable upright is a carry-on compatible rolling suitcase filled with some awesome features and brilliant design.

The first thing that stands out, is the color – the bag pictured above is their “chocolate” version, and I have to say, it looks stunning. The bag itself is made of ballistic nylon, and every part of its exterior has been designed with heavy travel in mind – the corners are all protected by heavy plastic bumpers, the YKK zippers are “self repairing” and it has fantastic leather handles on the top and side.

The Outside

One of the best features of the bag (and the part I love the most) is that its handle is on the outside. This Outsider® handle design may sound boring, but anyone who has dealt with a rolling case where the handle mechanism takes up space on the inside of the bag, knows what a hassle this can be. By placing the handle construction on the outside, you reduce wrinkles and gain a couple of inches of extra space.

In addition to this, the wheels are on the outermost corners of the bag, giving you even more space on the inside.

The handle itself feels extremely sturdy, yet opens very smoothly with a single button. The handle has 2 different locking positions, making it perfect for shorter travelers.

On the back of the bag is a pocket large enough for smaller items you want to keep safe, as well as a retractable ID holder. The front of the bag features 2 pockets, including what Briggs & Riley call the SpeedThru™ pocket with an orange lining, to make it obvious if you leave it open.

On the top of the bag is where you can attach the SmartLink™ hanger, which makes it possible to drag one (or more) extra bags with you. The SmartLink™ is nice and compact, and when I tested it with my (insanely heavy) laptop bag, it handled the weight without a problem. The hanger can be extended, which means you can adjust it so your hanging bag sits on the ground when your rolling bag is upright.

Included with the bag is a sturdy combination cable lock, with TSA friendly unlock option and the main zippers have locking eyes.

The Inside

The inside of the bag is where the brilliant design continues – the tri-fold garment sleeve is one of the best I’ve ever come across. It includes a foam “bar” to help neatly fold your clothes, and 2 velcro panels to keep things in place. Even the worst folder in the world will be able to neatly fold their clothes in this bag. On the outside of the garment sleeve is a large pocket.

In the bottom of the bag is a compression net with easy to snap closures, which is perfect if you regularly overpack (like I do). If you find yourself bringing more home than you left with, then you can add about 2″ of space by unzipping a single zipper on the outside of the bag.

The bag weighs 9 lbs and measures 20″ x 8″ x 16″. The expanding feature adds 24% extra storage space to the interior.


Final thoughts, price and retailers

All in all a perfectly designed rolling case. The 20″ Baseline upright looks and feels fantastic, and I loved all the little touches (like the metal inlays around the handles).

At $369 it’ll possibly scare away anyone used to paying no more than $40 for luggage. There is however a very strong case to be made for high quality luggage like this. For starters (and most importantly), the Briggs & Riley warranty is one of the best in the industry. The bag is guaranteed for life, and that includes damage caused by the airlines!

The only exceptions in the warranty are for cosmetic wear and cleaning or for lost or stolen bags. This is a bag you buy for the rest of your life – the build quality and warranty will most certainly make that possible.

PRO’S: Great design, excellent build quality, outer handle/wheel construction.
CON’S: Price could be a deal breaker for some

If you are regularly on the road, dump that cheap luggage and consider investing in something like this bag. If you treat it right, it’ll be the best investment in travel gear you ever made. Of course, this assumes you are not planning on taking it mountain climbing.

You can find the Briggs & Riley Baseline collection 20″ upright on their website, or at your favorite luggage retailer.

Passenger thoughts on carry-on bags: Wear a helmet

by Jamie Rhein on

In yesterday’s article “Travelers Weigh in on Policing Carry-ons” in the New York Times, Joe Sharkey said that he received 300 e-mails with complaints about overhead bins and carry-on bags. According to Sharkey, people are fussing right and left regarding other people’s carry-ons.

Reading the responses that Sharkey highlighted reminds me a bit of people’s complaints about other people’s driving. Instead of grousing about the lack of blinker use, people driving too close, people driving too slow in the fast lane, or too fast in the slow lane, or talking on a cell phone instead of paying attention to the road, people are turning other people’s carry-on bags into modern day travel hazards and symbols of human rudeness.

For example, one person suggested that with the amount of stuff people are cramming into overhead bins and the dangers of falling objects, wearing a helmet while flying isn’t a bad idea. He might have a point.

Here’s an idea. Like Sharkey also mentioned, maybe the airlines could rent helmets as a way to make more money. Hard hats, for that matter, could easily be decorated with an airline’s logo.

Less space in overhead bins? Blame it on the airplane

by Jamie Rhein on

There’s a video of Aaron trying to close an overhead bin. He’s a determined sort, so eventually it looks as though he hits pay dirt once he moves the bag to another location. If you noticed the first bin, you’ll see it was full. Very full. So was the final bin, for that matter.

That’s becoming a common problem according to this article originally published in the St. Petersburg Times. More and more overhead bins are proving to be quite the challenge for passengers scoping out space. Is it that people are carrying on more than ever before to avoid those pesky fees? One of Scott’s posts today pointed out how those fees are continuing to climb.

Actually, the number of carry-ons hasn’t increased that much.

What is happening is that as flights are becoming fewer as airlines have cut back the number of flights each day, planes are becoming more crowded. More crowded planes equal more carry-ons because there are more people. In research terms, this is what can be called a direct correlation.

Also, because airlines are tending to fly smaller, older planes, the bin space is smaller. Newer planes are the ones with the bins that look like they could double as sleeping quarters. Think of the closet space difference between brand new homes and those built before people could buy so much inexpensive stuff.

And here’s one more reason given to explain the lack of bin space. Last summer the baggage fees weren’t charged to people who had purchased their tickets prior to early June. Now, we’re having a different scenario.

Regardless of why bins are becoming more full, know that they are more often than not stuffed to the maximum and be prepared. Hopefully, you won’t have to work as hard as getting the bin to snap closed as Aaron did.

Gadling gear review – The Tom Bihn Tri-Star

by Scott Carmichael on

Let me open with a quick re-introduction to Tom Bihn bags. We first covered them here on Gadling when they announced their Checkpoint Flyer “TSA friendly” laptop bag. That bag was so impressive, that it went on to win a spot in our top 25 travel products of 2008.

Tom Bihn bags are a rarity in the luggage world – they are all designed, and hand made in the US, using many US sourced materials. The Tom Bihn Tri-Star is an interesting bag- it is the first bag that has actually made me excited about a piece of luggage.

When the bag was first announced, only a few details were released, and when the final product was shown, I knew it was going to be high on my “must review” list. So, here it is – the first ever review of the new Tom Bihn Tri-Star bag.

The Tri-Star is, as the name implies – a three in one bag. Previously, we took a look at the Tom Bihn Aeronaut, which offers similar features. The Tri-Star is a backpack, shoulder bag and carry-on bag all rolled into one. Best of all, these three features are extremely well implemented, and allow you to carry the bag in whatever way you want, each providing a ton of comfort. The Tri-Star holds 33 liters and weighs 3.4lbs. It measures 19″x13″x8″.

Folks following Tom Bihn bags will be interested to know that the Tri-Star falls between the Aeronaut and the Western Flyer (the Aeronaut holds 45 liters, and the smaller Western Flyer holds 26 liters). The size of the Tri-Star makes it ideal for a two or three day trip. In an upcoming article I’ll show you just how much stuff I carry with me when I travel!

One of the biggest innovations with the Tri-Star is actually the color. For the first time ever, Tom Bihn used blue in a piece of their luggage. I normally don’t pay much attention to things like fabrics and colors, but when you dive a little deeper into the technology behind luggage fabrics, you’ll be confronted with terms you’ve never used before, including “Dyneema/Nylon rip stop” and “ 1050 denier ballistic nylon”. What it boils down to, is that Tom Bihn spent a ton of time picking the perfect fabric for this bag, and actually had the “urethane coated, 1050 denier” specially dyed for them in the US.

The end result is a combination of abrasion resistant material in an amazing color. Seriously, when I opened the box containing the Tri-Star, the sun made the bag light up unlike I have ever seen in any piece of luggage.

The Tri-Star I am reviewing is a combination of their new Indigo (blue) and Solar Yellow (on the inside). This combination simply rocks, and makes the bag stand out from anything else you’ll find at the airport.

Now, on to the features of the Tri-Star. The basics are quite straight forward – you get 3 large main compartments, and 4 zippered pockets on the front. On the pack is a zippered portion for storing the backpack straps when you are not using them.

The rear compartment is the largest, and is designed to hold large items, like pants or shirts.This portion also features 2 tie-down straps, making it easy to stuff full of clothes and compress. The entire compartment folds open, making it easier to fill with garments.

The middle portion is designed to be able to hold more larger items, including a laptop sleeve (like their optional Brain Cell shown in the photo above). On the top of this compartment are 2 special clips which can hold the Brain Cell in place. Of course, you are also free to use this part for anything you want. This compartment opens on the top and a portion of the sides.

The third compartment is perfect for thinner items, like documents or a newspaper, but is also a great place for the “Horizontal Freudian Slip“, which is an optional accessory, but one that I can highly recommend. It is a removable “office” designed for pens, documents and other office-on-the-road items. The compartment can be split in half with a zippered divider. When you unzip the divider, the entire compartment can fold open.

On the front of the bag are 4 pockets – 3 horizontal, and one vertical. The three horizontal pockets reach to the bottom of the bag, and provide a ton of “give”. The largest of the pockets holds a removable key strap.

The vertical pocket to the right of the other 3 is a smart one – it is designed to hold a water bottle, and is fitted with what Tom Bihn refers to as “bellows”. The bellows prevent your bottle from falling out if you open the zipper. This feature can be “undone” by opening a button.

The zippers on the Tri-Star are as impressive as the bag itself. They are “YKK splash-proof Uretek zippers”, which means you won’t have a puddle in the bottom of your bag if you encounter a bit of rain. The zipper pulls are normal metal pulls, but Tom Bihn include a bag of cord zipper pulls with the bag. These can be attached to the metal pulls, or can completely replace the metal pulls (if you chose to remove the metal pulls, you won’t be able to send it back asking them to replace the pulls under their warranty).


(Photo showing the backpack straps stored inside the bag)

The Tri-Star costs $240 and is available in 4 different color combinations (Indigo/Solar, Steel/Solar, Crimson/Steel and Black/Steel). On its own, the bag does not include a shoulder strap. During the order process, you can pick one of two different shoulder straps. If you add the Horizontal Freudian Slip, a Brain Cell laptop case and a shoulder strap, the total price is $370.

Let’s be honest – this is not a cheap bag, and if you are used to buying $25 bags, then this price may seem quite insane. There is however something to be said for investing in a quality bag, and one that is designed to last for years.

Luggage like this is an investment, and if you treat high quality luggage well, then it’ll travel with you for years and years. If you are on the road a lot, then your luggage becomes part of your “home”. You can be in a different plane or hotel every night, but the one thing that always joins you is
your bag.

All Tom Bihn bags come with a lifetime warranty, and purchases have a 60 day money back satisfaction guarantee.

My conclusion about the Tom Bihn Tri-Star is simple – this is an absolutely amazing bag. Every portion of the bag feels like someone sat down and spent a massive amount of time trying to think like a traveler. The end result is a bag that not only looks great, but also works. With the current trend in airlines charging passengers for all their checked luggage, any bag that is designed to help you carry more of your stuff on board will eventually start saving you money.

In the coming week, I’ll take the bag on a trip and will report back (with photos) on how well it performs in the “real world”.

Gadling gear sneak preview – big blue bag in a box

by Scott Carmichael on

Sadly I won’t have time this evening to review what I just got in the mail – you’ll need to wait a few days for a full review. But I felt compelled to at least post a photo, and tease fans of this luggage brand.

We’ll have a Gadling exclusive on this fantastic bag, so be sure to check back with us in the coming days to see what it is, and how it may very well be the best bag of 2009!