Question Rolling luggage recommendations (40kg+)

[mwerle]

Looking for additional rolling luggage for (mostly non-air) scuba travel.

I'm a tech diver so lots of heavy gear plus save-dive-kits, so looking for something very robust.

A friend of mine has an older The North Face Longhaul 30" which seems to be perfect, but they no longer make that particular model. Specifically the telescoping handle and wheels are very robust, and the u-shaped zipper instead of the full-surround zipper seems to hold up much better. Having various grab-handles on it makes it easy to handle even with significant weight.

Everything else I've looked at so far seems fairly flimsy in comparison. Luggage I've got at the moment is a Beauchat rolling gear bag, on which I've already had to replace the wheels and they're breaking again, as well as the rest of the luggage starting to fail. To be fair, it's been abused quite a bit and is nearly 4 years old now.. it was great for my "travel" scuba gear, but not really up to the extra weight I drag around these days.

Appreciate any personal experience recommendations of heavy-duty luggage that is still available to buy.

 

[tbone1004]

why not look at Pelican or Nanuk? 40kg+ is a lot of weight and while the fabric of a normal bag can easily handle that, the stitching and frame for the wheels are unlikely to be able to cope with it long term. The Pelican/Nanuk style cases are more than capable of handling that kind of weight and are only marginally heavier than their fabric counterparts.
Longhaul 30" is 31.5x16.5x12.5"/79L and weighs 10lbs
I use a Pelican 1615 which is a bit smaller at 32x18.5x11/70L and weighs 14lbs.
The Pelican 1626 is a bit closer and is 31x17x13/76L and 14.6lbs.
I would argue that the 4lbs of extra weight on the case is well worth the benefit of having a fully waterproof, secure, and highly durable. These things also last for approximately eleventythousand years under military-grade abuse, so flying a few times a year for divers is not going to do much of anything other than give it a couple of scratches.

 

[mwerle]

I do have a Pelican case for my DPV, but have discovered it is very unwieldy when trying to make "luggage trains". They also make packing into cars difficult - we have one diver who insists on bringing one and he takes up 1.5x the room of most other people.

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Further information: our standard dive weekends involve people (myself included) travlling on public transport to a trainstation where we then carpool for the 2+ hour drive to the dive sites.

 

[Tournesol2000]

Lots of choices out there. I like Eagle Creek myself, no issues for me (non technical diver). Only downside is that I heard on this site (I have not followed up with EC) that they may be closing shop in which case their amazing warranty my not be valid much longer. Again, this needs to be clarified, but I have not had time or inclination to do so.

 

[rongoodman]

I'm a Patagonia fan. Their Black Hole duffels are solid.

 

[scrane]

There are some available on ebay. Not cheap and ships from GB.

North Face Long Haul Trolley, Luggage, 30” Khaki Green NEW | eBay

<p>North Face Long Haul Trolley, Luggage, 30” Khaki Green NEW. </p><br><p>RRP £225, absolute quality luggage</p><br><p>Condition is "New with tags". </p><br><p>Dispatched with Royal Mail Tracked 48.</p>

www.ebay.com

 

[boulderjohn]

Lots of choices out there. I like Eagle Creek myself, no issues for me (non technical diver). Only downside is that I heard on this site (I have not followed up with EC) that they may be closing shop in which case their amazing warranty my not be valid much longer. Again, this needs to be clarified, but I have not had time or inclination to do so.

I am shopping for bags now myself. I heard the same thing about Eagle Creek from a luggage shop employee.

 

[GF99/99]

I have tried lots of the outdoor brand and high end roll bags from Patagonia, TNF, Eagle creek, Osprey, Samsonite, Tumi, Rimowa (these actually last just as well as Pelican but they dent and are not weatherproof and cost a lot more than Pelican) and found that none of them lasted for heavy gear. Pre-Corona I use to travel alot sometime 70+ flights a year. I have had everything from wheels braking off, handles brake, fabric rips, internal frames bend, stitching splits, zippers split, straps rip off, etc.

For me the only thing that seems to last is Pelican cases. I have accumulated a fleet of them for different travel applications. Currently I for larger cases I have 2ea. 1607's, a 1615, 1626, and 1637. I have had no issues with any of them and they have housed several rebreathers, DPV's etc. on all kind of adventures in 3rd world countries from roofs of public buses, horse carts, trains, boats, in the rain, snow, mud sand, etc.

I see that you have motioned they do not pack well but I feel like if you fill a pelican box full or fill another brand roll bag with the same amount of gear they both take up the same amount of space. Now yes if you grab a 1637 case and just put your BP, wing, wetsuit in there then yes that is waste of space and a duffle bag would make more sense but if you fill completely it then the only wasted space the the thickness of the case which is not much. Also making "luggage trains" I find works very well you just buy some of the luggage strap things like this and connect the handles. you can get them off Amazon for $10

 

[mwerle]

There are some available on ebay. Not cheap and ships from GB.

North Face Long Haul Trolley, Luggage, 30” Khaki Green NEW | eBay

<p>North Face Long Haul Trolley, Luggage, 30” Khaki Green NEW. </p><br><p>RRP £225, absolute quality luggage</p><br><p>Condition is "New with tags". </p><br><p>Dispatched with Royal Mail Tracked 48.</p>

www.ebay.com

Thanks, but those are the new ones - different zipper design, internal compartments, and no central carry handle. I think the one my mate has is the 2017 model.

For those interested, can get these new ones (slightly) cheaper from here (I've bought lots of kit from their sister-store, diveinn; love the fact Japan has zero import tarriff on watersports equipment):

The north face Longhaul 30´´ trolley bag Black | Dressinn

Buy The north face Longhaul 30´´ - Black, Trolleys from Suitcases and bags for only 0 €. Find fashion deals in Dressinn | Fast delivery

www.dressinn.com

 

[tbone1004]

Old school style weight belts work well for luggage trains as well as the commercial ones and can be double duty!

Also I would disagree that a pelican takes up 1.5x the space, volume is volume. If the car has a weird trunk and you are deforming some of the duffel style bags to squish them in there then that is a packing efficiency issue, but if you sized the Pelican properly it's not going to take up any more room than anything else.
If you can't fit all of your tech gear except tanks/dpv/exposure protection in a 1615 then you are overpacking.
A couple of weeks ago I had everything I needed for cold water diving in a Pelican 1615. 7mm steamer, heated vest, XXL Deep6 Eddy fins, bp/w, double hose regulator, and all of the accessories in there. It was VERY tight because those XXL fins are gargantuan and a XXL 7mm is also not small, but the double hose takes up more space than a set of doubles regulators and a deco reg, but it still fit. One of the bigger ones like the 1646 you could fit a smaller DPV and everything else in one case.