I’m a big fan of Peak Design and I have ordered their Everyday Zip Backpack 15L (Amazon link) as my go-to backpack for travel. And before that I ordered their Outdoor Backpack 25L as my new default backpack (Amazon link). What I didn’t order is their latest invention - the carry-on luggage Roller Pro despite looking very cool:
What I usually love about Peak Design’s things…
As I mentioned in my Everyday Backpack ZIP 15L review I love that the backpack is very well made, has amazing zippers, great materials AND is very light and is not outrageously expensive. It was around $200. Yes, it’s not cheap by any measure but all quality backpacks are between $100-$300 so this price was very much acceptable.
The Roller Pro (Kickstarter) is NOT light and NOT cheap… and its measurements are… weird. Let’s analyze the three main issues I have with it:
1. Sizing… or why so narrow?
According to official carry-on specs by major airlines all carry on that can be used on board an aircraft measure:
- Height: 55cm or 21.5”
- Width between: 35cm or 14” and 40cm or 16”
- Bulk between: 20cm or 8” and 25cm or 10”
- Weight between: 7kg or 15lb and 10kg or 22lb
The Roller Pro is: 55.6cm (21.8”) x 35.6cm (14”) x 23cm (9”) and weights 3.9kg or 8.6lb.
At the end of this blog post I embed a video which shows how this bag barely fits some measure cages of some airlines. What I’m most concerned is that it doesn’t really fit the one by Ryanair:
It’s a little tall, but I believe it will fit most airlines in that regard. But why so narrow? Instead of full 40cm or 16” they chose 14”. I think it was a wrong choice because then you lose on capacity. The Roller Pro has only 34L capacity and expanded 39L.
Compare that to my usual carry-on, the Upscape by Samsonite which measures exactly 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, so it’s wider and thinner and still has a capacity of 39L. When expanded to 23cm of thickness it gets me 45L which is much better!
2. Weight… or why so sumo-heavy!?
The Roller Pro has an amazing carbon fiber handle and it looks and seems to work awesome:
Apart from that the bag has many cool Peak Design specific features which I love, like dedicated pockets, hook points, quality materials and zippers. However, my Everyday ZIP has also all these things and weights only 1kg… and this carry on weights a whopping 4 kilograms! When it’s empty.
I’ve been traveling a lot in the past years and every time I was buying a newer carry on, the first thing I’d check was it’s capacity (see above) and second it’s weight when empty. My carry-on of choice by Samsonite weights only 2.3kg, which is almost half as much. HALF. On the US Amazon I haven’t found my carry-on, but a comparable one would be Samsonite UpLIFT 19” Lightweight which has correct measures and weights only 5 pounds.
Now, compare that to the limits set by airlines, from 7-10kg, when your carry-on is already at 4kg, you cannot really put much stuff in there. Plus the bag gets heavy quickly, and as a carry-on it should be very light!
3. Price… or why overpriced? Even for Peak Design?
As I mentioned above, most backpacks by Peak Design are not very cheap, but not really much different from quality backpack manufacturers. They are on a premium side, but still reasonable.
The Roller Pro is not. You can get it on Kickstarter at a discount for $425 but the retail price is going to be an eye-watering $599 or six hundred bucks.
That is a LOT of money for a carry-on. Typical carry-on bags can be had for around $100 and the pricier options, like my favorite ones from Samsonite cost $200 or more…
Even the most expensive Samsonite C-lite costs $400 which quite a lot (and it weights below 2kg!), but Peak Design is still $200 dollars more, or basically 3 times of my favorite carry-on!
Summary - not for me, but I encourage Peak Design to try again…
Again, I’m a big fan of Peak Design and have many accessories from them as described in my recent review of the Zip backpack that’s why I’m a little disappointed that this bag is not for me. It’s too impractical, too heavy and too expensive.
I’d like to challenge the Peak Design team to try again in the future and aim for a better sized bag which is lighter and priced around $300 dollars.
Or I’ll just stick to my Samsonite Upscape for now. It is a great carry on and in my family we have 3 of them in different colors.
P.S. This video shows the real-world use of this Roller Pro
I love how this YouTuber checked out this bag testing it out at the airport. One note is that he assumes he won’t be checked by the airline and over the past years this has also been a case for me, but over my 6 last flights I’ve been checked 3 times and once had to pay a penalty because my backpack was too large. (That’s why I got the ZIP Backpack from Peak Design). Anyway, here’s the full video: