Antler suitcases

[KeithMEL]

I know everyone raves about Tumi but it's just out of my budget range and so I'm looking at cheaper alternatives.

Need something that's durable and yet aesthetically pleasing.

What do people think about Antler?
Specifically - I'm looking at buying the Antler Litestream range which comes in a 4 piece set for A$375: http://www.luggagedirect.com.au/cata...5b421ba5b4bfcb

Comments?

[jjpb3]

I like Antler. IME, they make more durable checked luggage than Samsonite (which is a good comparator), and they know how to make the luggage light. Their zippers seem more unobtrusive as well. They need to hire a designer with more panache, though , though the style quotient seems higher on average than that of TravelPro.

I'd urge you to find a store where you can carefully inspect the rollaboard in the series. You have to check out the details on that piece, because you should be able to gain access to pockets where you can get to a reading material, your QC2/3 or Sennheisers, travel documents, and other in-flight comfort materials like, oh, moisturizers without having to lay the rollaboard on its back and unzip the main compartment all the way around. It's inconvenient to do that in-flight, and even in the departure lounge.

For the large checked luggage, the fewer outside compartments with zippers, the better. You'd need another lock for them. A lawyer friend in Asia tells me those outside compartments are the ones that drug smugglers like to use to insert something 'extra' in your luggage. If their airport accomplices don't retrieve it, you might be in for trouble at customs.

By the way, IME, the single-bar pulling handle, while ergonomic, doesn't work as well if you try to use it to rest a smaller piece on it. If the smaller piece has a compartment that unzips so you can wrap something around the bar, any instabilty will make the smaller piece fall off then rotate around the single bar. If the option to wrap around the bar isn't there, then that smaller piece usually won't rest on the single bar and will need to be carried on its own. No synergies possible whatsoever. My humble conclusion: single bar works for a rollaboard, not really for a large checked suitcase.

All this is JMHO, so please take with a grain of salt.

[KeithMEL]

Thanks for that, jjpb3.

Yeah I was thinking of heading to a store downtown later today to do some research, then order it online.

Thanks for the advice about outside compartments. After the whole Schapelle Corby saga I've been quite paranoid about these things and thus the baggage wrapping folks at Melbourne Airport have enjoyed a booming trade. Notwithstanding the fact that she might actually be guilty but still...

[CGK]

Looks like we have luggage experts on SQT!

[SQFAN]

A lawyer friend in Asia tells me those outside compartments are the ones that drug smugglers like to use to insert something 'extra' in your luggage. If their airport accomplices don't retrieve it, you might be in for trouble at customs.

My samsonite does not allow for locking of certain compartments. That's why paranoid 'ol me checks those unlockable compartments after luggage retrieval but before passing customs. Having said that, I would not know what to do if I had been set up. Go to the loo and dispose the stuff?

[Lobster]

I have one Antler case can't remember what model it is as it has lasted me so long. It has done 7 years of fairly constant travel to some fairly remote places and yes it looks rather beaten up but nothing has broken. It has gone into semi retirement now as I splashed out on a Tumi suitcase which although obviously higher quality in some areas (when pulling it on its wheels it is just so smooth) it zip has broken and needed to be repaired. Also it has no side handle which is a really poor piece of design.

[KeithMEL]

With Lobster's endorsement (with ** kind of traveling in mind) - I think I'm right with Antler. They've got a 7 yr warranty too.

[StarG]

I haven't tried Antler, but from the picture I am not really into the look.
I like Victorinox's Werks model, which is priced significantly less than Tumis.
For cabin, I also have this very lightweight MUJI rollaway I bought in HKG. The model is now discontinued in Asia but I saw it in London during my visit. The MUJI was around USD100 in Asia I think.

[jjpb3]

For cabin, I also have this very lightweight MUJI rollaway I bought in HKG. The model is now discontinued in Asia but I saw it in London during my visit. The MUJI was around USD100 in Asia I think.

And £100 in London . Nonetheless, because it got the coveted StarG stamp of approval, I got one.

[hsf]

Got a set of Antlers a couple of years ago.
Looks good, light, but little bits coming loose, after only a few trips.
Handle extension sometimes doesn't want to come out, and part of the zip broke.

[KeithMEL]

Welcome to SQTalk, hsf.

My antler set is covered by a 7 year warranty - so good to know that they have that degree of confidence in their products. Only time will tell I guess.

[hsf]

There seem to be all kinds of exclusions to the warranty. I've got those warranty cards too, but seeing that I bought them overseas, hardly likely that will make a claim! Interesting to see what the successful claim rates are like!

[StarG]

Sorry to go OT, but I heard that Victorinox changed their warranty to lifetime. Is this true?

[9V-JKL]

Sorry to go OT, but I heard that Victorinox changed their warranty to lifetime. Is this true?

Yes its true. Think they're trying to match Tumi
http://www.swissarmy.com/CustomerSer...avelgear.htm#1

[UMD]

TUMi is now only for 5 years. At least that's what I was told at MSP and SIN the other day.