What's the best carry-on luggage? Specifically, the best carry-on roller bag? Recently, I was hunting for a carry-on for my 7 year old, since the reality is that we've often put enough books and things in his backpack that it becomes too heavy for him to carry after awhile. For our upcoming spring break trip, I wanted to get him a wheeled bag that he could easily pull most of the time, just needing to carry it up or down stairs. Here were my criteria:
- Wheeled: Essential to be wheeled, rather than a shoulder carried bag or backpack
- Amazon Prime Eligible: Since we needed our new carry-on soon, I didn't want to chance ordering anything except luggage that qualified for Amazon Prime free 2 day shipping.
- Light: 7 pounds or under when empty, since low cost carriers can be very stingy with their carry-on baggage weight
- Small: Small enough to fit within the dimensions of most low cost carriers, e.g. 15 x 12 x 9 inches or less
- Water bottle carrier: Not essential, but nice to have
I was happy to find something that fit all of these criteria on a quick search on Amazon: a Travelon Wheeled Underseat Carry-On with Back Up Bag. It came today, and I'm very happy with its functionality. Sure, I would love it to have come in a different color such as my son's favorite color, green. And time will tell how well it holds up, of course. But for under $75 I'm very happy so far:
Wheeled
I don't need fancy swivel wheels, especially if it adds to the weight and cost. We'll be testing out the durability soon on our trip, but the adjustable handle means it's easy for either my son or I to pull it.
Amazon Prime Eligible
I rely heavily on Amazon Prime for last minute shopping, and this was no exception. There are sometimes better deals to be had off of Amazon, and in fact there is a slightly cheaper option right now on ebags, but we have so much credit loaded into our Amazon account from gift cards, as part of our 5X on all Amazon spend plan, that I bought it via Amazon anyway.
Light
Many wheeled luggage pieces, even relatively small ones, end up being quite heavy even empty. Not the Travelon, which is about 6 pounds empty. And the main compartment actually fits a fair amount–I'm happy that the main space isn't unduly sub-divided.
Small
The case's dimensions are 14 x 12 x 8.5 inches, enough space for my son's clothes and other travel gear. There are some inner organizer compartments as well as outer zippered pockets as well, good for books and a small toy or two.
The carry-on is too small for my laptop, but that's fine since it's for my son, not for me.
And my laptop would fit in the back-up bag that comes with the carry-on, and that's probably where you'd want to have it anyway for easy access.
The Verdict
If you're looking for simple, small, light and inexpensive rolled carry-on luggage, the Travelon should be part of your consideration set. While it won't win any awards on looks (I could do without the quilted pattern), it's the right size, weight and functionality that we were looking for.
What's your favorite small, light and inexpensive rolled carry-on?
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Purchased this luggage and used it twice since last year. Went to pack yesterday and the way the bag is made, the handles tore out from the top zipper. So much for using it tomorrow and I loved this bag with all the compartments. It wasn’t cheap and even purchased the inside compartment bags to go with it. Going back to get another samsonite.
Carole, that’s awful, sorry to hear your Travelon wheeled carryon had such a short life. On ours, it was the wheels that gave out first, although we did get a couple of years of use out of it. Instead we moved to Antler luggage, which doesn’t have all the convenient pockets, but has proved durable and is exceptionally lightweight. https://travelsort.com/antler-luggage-review-tiber-carry-on/