I needed a large duffel for an international trip, so I bought the 40-inch version of this bag. It is certainly roomy – 178L, according to Amazon's Rufus – but since its design isn't significantly different from the smaller versions other than the size, this led to some unexpected problems.
The first problem is the shoulder strap: its material is too thin, its width is too narrow, and it has a shoulder pad that might be adequate for the smallest version of the duffel, but not at all for the 40" version. The shoulder pad is too small, offers almost no padding, and because the strap is so thin and narrow, the pad tends to slide around on it, which makes the shoulder strap uncomfortable to use.
The second problem is that this this duffel offers no organizers of any kind in the main compartment. It does have small zipper pockets along the outside of the bag, but since these are likely to be subject to a lot of banging around by luggage handlers in airports, you can't use the pockets for anything that might be fragile. I realize that the main purpose of a duffel bag is to provide unstructured storage, but a duffel this size really needs to provide internal cinches or organizers in order to keep the contents distributed within the bag. Since it doesn't have any, everything ends up in a jumble at the end of the bag where the wheels are (because that end of the bag is down when you're wheeling the duffel, which you'll want to do most of the time since carrying it by the handle or shoulder straps is unwieldy). You might be able to minimize this tendency by stuffing the bag as full as you can, but with the capacity this bag offers, it's really easy to end up with an overweight bag that way, and I'm not sure this bag is sturdy enough to survive a flight being packed so full.
Which leads me to the last item: durability, or at least my perception of durability. While this bag does have a rigid, telescoping pull handle and the "spine" to support it, it's very lightweight and the material is quite thin. Mine survived its first and only round-trip overseas flight (so far) with a lot of staining along the bottom but no tearing, but I'm not expecting it to stand up to too many flights like this. The staining isn't from dragging the ground – the spine and the wheels do a pretty good job of keeping the wheel end of the bag from doing that. However, a bag this size really needs a rigid foot for standing upright, and this bag doesn't have one. The result is that at times, I was holding it upright and the material at the wheel end of the bag was coming in contact with dirty floors, pavement and ground.
On my recent trip, I also learned, the hard way, that while most US airports can handle large duffel bags with regular luggage, some airports in other countries treat them as oversize bags because of the unusual shape. While I didn't get charged extra for this, it did require special screening and delay my arrival at the gate. Another inconvenience is that this duffel is too long to fit in the trunk of a compact sedan or small SUV, like the Hyundai Venue I rented during my trip. I had to put my 40-inch duffel in the back seat. This won't be a problem for you if your ground transportation will be a larger SUV, such as a Ford Explorer, or a larger vehicle. Just a couple things to be aware of. I'm thinking that for future overseas flights, I'll go back to conventional suitcases for checked luggage and not use any duffels that are too big to be carry-ons.
Given the low price I paid, I'm not complaining about the value. However, I don't travel much. A true road warrior or globetrotter will want to spend more money for something more durable and manageable.
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