The 11 Best Luggage of 2023, Tested and Reviewed

Best Overall

Samsonite Eco Advance Medium Spinner

4.9

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Our Ratings

• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Durability
  5/5
• Value
  5/5

Make your travel easier by choosing well-organized and well-equipped luggage for the journey. The Samsonite Eco Advance Medium Spinner scored high across all categories during our testing and offers interior and exterior pockets to keep your travel essentials accessible. It’s our top choice for luggage and is made of durable recycled polyester from rPET bottles, making it an environmentally friendly choice. A unique feature that improves the suitcase’s maneuverability is its telescoping handle, which adjusts at 1-inch increments to match your personal height preference. The 360-degree spinner wheels carry the load when you’re pushing or pulling the suitcase, although our tester found that the suitcase tracked better when tilted on one set of wheels. Otherwise, it struggles to track perfectly straight. 

Opening up the Samsonite Eco Advance Spinner, you’ll find a deep and roomy interior—enough for us to neatly stash seven pairs of pants, seven shirts, two sweaters, five dresses, a pair each of short boots, heels, cleats, and sandals, plus two purses, two books, a mug, a bottle of wine, and liquids. Compression straps assist in keeping your folded items securely in place while maximizing space. This feature is important since this Eco Advance Spinner isn’t expandable. However, it does feature multiple exterior pockets that are handy for stashing travel documents, electronics, or even liquids. We found no fault with the organization of this suitcase, though it’s worth noting that the deeper top pocket on the exterior of the suitcase does take up a few inches of interior space.

A quality suitcase must be durable and protect your belongings inside, so we were impressed to see the resiliency of this soft-sided luggage option. Even after being pushed off a ledge onto a cobblestone street below and dropped multiple times from an 8-foot-high ladder, the suitcase and its wheels were perfectly intact. When we beat the suitcase with a baseball bat, nothing inside was broken and only minimal welts were visible on the tough, polyester fabric exterior. 

Price at time of publish: $260

Dimensions: 26 x 17.5 x 11.5 inches | Weight: 8.7 pounds | Capacity: Not listed | Expandable: No | Lock Included: No | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: 10-year limited warranty

Best Budget

Made by Design Hardside Carry On Spinner Suitcase

4.5

View On Target

Our Ratings

• Maneuverability
  5/5
• Durability
  5/5
• Value
  4.5/5

The Made By Design Carry-On Spinner Suitcase is available in a mix of eight attractive colors with a sleek exterior design that could easily pass for one of the top trending hardside suitcases. This version impressed our testers with its durable polycarbonate and ABS shell and 360-degree spinning wheels. When paired with the telescoping handle (adjustable to five height settings), we found it easy to pull across various types of surfaces and over ledges. According to our testers, the top and side carry handles are handy for lifting the suitcase in multiple ways, although the handles were placed tight to the body of the suitcase, leaving less room than expected to slide your fingers underneath.

The listed weight capacity for this suitcase is 50 pounds, and we found it had plenty of room for two small pairs of shoes, several shirts, and a few pairs of pants. Interior organization was nothing outstanding, but it’s sufficient for a budget suitcase. You’ll find a zipper compartment with a mesh pocket, plus cross straps to compress clothes in the main body of the suitcase. It’s worth noting that the manufacturer lists the weight as 8.7 pounds, but we found it to be just 6.9 pounds when weighed in our Lab. 

Price at time of publish: $90

Dimensions: 21.75 x 14.25 x 9 inches | Weight: 8.7 pounds | Capacity: Not listed | Expandable: Yes | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: 1-year limited warranty

Best Carry-On

Travelpro Luggage Platinum Elite 21-inch Expandable Carry-on Spinner Suiter

4.7

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Our Ratings

• Organization
  5/5
• Maneuverability
  4.9/5
• Durability
  5/5

A carry-on suitcase excels when it’s both compact and well-organized. In addition, it should be durable to handle extensive travel through the airport and hoisting into a plane’s overhead bin. The Travelpro Platinum Elite Expandable Spinner is a trusted option for frequent fliers, and it’s our pick for the best carry-on suitcase. 

This soft-side spinner suitcase weighs less than 8 pounds and has an interior capacity of 46 liters. Whether you’re packing for a business trip or a short weekend getaway, you’ll find this suitcase is well-equipped. It includes a garment bag for dress shirts or similar items you want to stay wrinkle-free, plus a wet bag for damp swimsuits and the like. In addition, the compression straps incorporate two small mesh pouches, which are perfect for odds and ends, including packing toiletries. The small wheel casings don’t take up much room from the inside of the compartment, plus the whole suitcase expands up to 2 inches for last-minute additions. It also comes with a USB port for convenient charging on the go, but you’ll need to supply the power bank.

Living up to its expectations as a trusted travel companion for flight crew, the Travelpro Platinum Elite Expandable Spinner is a winner when it comes to wheeling it around. It has four sets of magnetically aligned wheels, giving it a reputation for tracking easily and responding well to changes in direction. The high-quality nylon exterior features a protective coating to resist stains and dirt. In our durability testing, the suitcase passed with flying colors when dropped from a ladder or absorbing blows from a bat. It was a little dirty and scuffed from being pulled up a ledge, but not enough to warrant a penalty. Plus, the suitcase comes with a limited lifetime warranty against airline-induced damage. Travelpro will cover the repair cost, as long as you register your suitcase within the applicable time period. 

Price at time of publish: $370

Dimensions: 23.5 x 14.5 x 9 | Weight: 7.8 pounds | Capacity: 46 liters | Expandable: Yes | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty

Best Duffle Bag

Thule Chasm Sport Duffel Bag

4.3

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Our Ratings

• Design
  4/5
• Maneuverability
  4/5
• Durability
  5/5
• Value
  4/5

Unzip this duffel bag’s large, wide-mouth opening, and you’ll see why Thule named it the Chasm Sport Duffel. This alternative luggage option has an impressive capacity of 90 liters and holds all your gear for camping, hiking, or a long weekend away. It was easily one of our testing team’s favorite duffel bags, and its waterproof tarpaulin fabric is rugged enough to stand up to wet weather and log lots of miles. It earned high marks for durability in our testing, partly because of the high-quality materials and padded bottom of the bag.

The Thule Chasm Sport Duffel easily accommodates four full outfits plus two pairs of shoes and includes a bonus packing cube. Two zippered mesh pockets on the bag’s lid offer some internal organization, but be aware that this duffel bag has no external pocket. That, plus the lack of a shoulder strap, are the two features that users are most likely to notice. However, our testers felt like the convertible straps were more than helpful in carrying this bag, even when it was fully loaded. If it gets too heavy or cumbersome as a handheld duffel, make a few quick adjustments and carry the duffel backpack-style. We tried it that way and found it to be very comfortable. The smart design also includes compression straps to keep everything orderly, even when the bag is carried vertically as a backpack. 

Price at time of publish: $170

Dimensions: 29 x 17 x 13 inches | Weight: 4.4 pounds | Capacity: 90 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: No | Wheels: No | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty

Best Design

Monos Carry On Plus Spinner

4.7

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Our Ratings

• Capacity
  5/5
• Design
  4/5
• Maneuverability
  4/5
• Durability
  5/5
• Value
  5/5

Take a glance at the Monos Carry-On Plus, and you’ll see why our testing team tagged it as the best-looking luggage. But there’s more to this hardside spinner suitcase than its sleek polycarbonate shell. Despite the lack of expandability, it has excellent interior organization features, like a built-in compression pad and straps that we found to be very effective in making the most of this suitcase’s 48-liter capacity.

It’s sized to fit in the overhead bin of most major airlines and glides along with four 360-degree spinner wheels that we found to be smooth and quiet on various surfaces. Other features that round out this suitcase include an antimicrobial laundry bag, a toiletry pouch for organizing makeup and other personal care essentials, two shoe bags, and a luggage tag. Greater than the sum of its parts, the Monos Carry-On Plus is our top choice when it comes to the best luggage design. 

Price at time of publish: $294

Dimensions: 23 x 15 x 9.5 inches | Weight: 7.38 pounds | Capacity: 48 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty with 100-day trial

Best Hardshell

July Checked Suitcase

4.2

View On July.com

Our Ratings

• Capacity
  5/5
• Design
  5/5
• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Durability
  3.5/5
• Value
  4.3/5

According to McCardell, hardshell bags tend to be best suited to travel for their durability and ease of cleaning: "They are more protective of your belongings. Your bags come into contact with a lot of other bags and surfaces between security belts, overhead storage, and hotel rooms." The July Checked Suitcase is our favorite option for hardshell luggage since it offers aerospace-grade German polycarbonate construction plus smart, traveler-friendly features—like a telescoping handle with an impressive 20 height adjustments and smooth-operating wheels that are virtually silent. Our testing team took this wheeled suitcase across carpet, concrete, and cobblestone, checking how easily it glides and how noisy it is. We found it to be super smooth with a great gliding action on carpeting and sidewalks. It handled cobblestone surfaces well too, we just had to tip it on two wheels for the same smooth spinning action we had become accustomed to. 

While this isn’t an expandable hardshell suitcase, its 80-liter capacity gave our testing team plenty of space to fit seven pairs of pants, seven shirts, two sweaters, five dresses, four pairs of shoes, and two purses, plus books, a mug, wine, and liquids. To keep everything neat and tidy, July outfits this suitcase with a Y-strap compression system. A unique feature is the integrated laundry bag. It’s odor-proof and hidden away, so that dirty laundry doesn’t end up tangling with your clean clothes.

To be durable and long-lasting, the best hardshell suitcases are made of a resilient material that can absorb impact and resist crushing or denting. Polycarbonate suitcases, like the July Checked Suitcase, are a great option because they’re stronger and typically more lightweight than ABS suitcases. When dropped from a ledge 5 feet above a cobblestone street, a few of the corners did dent—despite the fact that the suitcase has reinforced aluminum corners. Still, this bag protected the wine and mug inside and kept on rolling, even after being thrown from an 8-foot ladder three times. 

Price at time of publish: $325

Dimensions: 26 x 18.75 x 11 inches | Weight: 8.3 pounds | Capacity: 80 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty

Best Lightweight

Samsonite Winfield 2 Hardside Luggage with Spinner Wheels

4.3

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Our Ratings

• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Durability
  4/5
• Value
  4.3/5

A lightweight suitcase makes life easier when you’re hauling it through a busy airport, hoisting it into an overhead bin, or wheeling it down the sidewalk of a new city. McCardell points out that a lightweight bag is easier to maneuver and gives more room within weight restrictions for your items. Hardshell suitcases frequently take the top spot for the best lightweight luggage since the shells use ultralight materials like polycarbonate, ABS, or aluminum.

We tried a handful of lightweight luggage options that weigh 7 pounds or less, but our testing team gave the nod to the 6.7-pound Samsonite Winfield 2 for its maneuverability and organizational features. This 20-inch carry-on version of this Samsonite hardshell suitcase has a polycarbonate build, which is lightweight and impact-resistant. It scored above average in our durability tests and moved exceptionally well across three different surface types. Our testers found the interior organization to be stellar, with the only gripe being that the hardware for the handle takes up some valuable interior space. The 20-inch carry-on suitcase we tried out isn’t expandable, but other models within the Winfield 2 collection are if that is an important must-have for your suitcase search.

Price at time of publish: $310

Dimensions: 23 x 14.5 x 9.5 inches | Weight: 6.7 pounds | Capacity: Not listed | Expandable: No | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: 10-year limited warranty

Most Durable

Timbuk2 CoPilot Luggage Roller XL

4.5

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Our Ratings

• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Durability
  5/5
• Value
  4.5/5

The Timbuk2 CoPilot Roller Suitcase may be soft-sided, but it has a reputation for being tough enough to withstand the rigors of extensive travel. We packed the XL version with six pairs of pants, six shirts, two jackets, one dress, three pairs of shoes, a purse, plus books, a bottle of wine, and a mug. Then we pushed it off a ledge 5 feet above a cobblestone street, dropped it three times from an 8-foot ladder, and beat it with a baseball bat. After all of that, the suitcase only showed some dirt and a little bit of welting on the fabric. No items inside were broken and the important components, like the handle and wheels, remained intact and fully functional. Needless to say, this option is our top pick for the most durable luggage on the market. 

Plenty of travel professionals, including pilots and flight attendants, have made the Timbuk2 CoPilot series their go-to pick for luggage, and the brand is known for its lifetime warranty. Despite its supersized capacity of 108 liters, this suitcase weighs only 10 pounds. It has two exterior pockets, including one that is roomy enough for an extra pair of shoes. The aesthetics of this suitcase are a bit basic, but the CoPilot's maneuverability picks up the slack. Although it only has two wheels, our testers found it rolls extremely well and is totally silent.

Price at time of publish: $319

Dimensions: 28.3 x 14.8 x 15 inches | Weight: 10 pounds | Capacity: 108 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: No | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty

Best Splurge

Rimowa Original Check-In L

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If you’re ready to make an investment in your luggage, the Rimowa Original Check-In L is an option worth splurging on. Constructed of an aluminum-magnesium alloy, the shell of this hardsided suitcase has a timeless, classic look. Aluminum is also one of the most durable luggage materials, although you will have to accept the fact that scratches and small dents are part of life with a Rimowa. 

The Original Check-In L has several features that enhance its appeal. Ball-bearing spinner wheels are made to glide effortlessly along, and a telescoping handle offers height adjustment and a comfortable grip. Inside the suitcase is an adjustable divider that keeps your belongings in order. Its height is adjustable, giving you options on how to most efficiently pack your suitcase. A latch closure with TSA locks keeps the contents of your suitcase secure, especially when compared to zippers that can be pried open. Zippers have become the more standard option for suitcase closures since latches add more weight. This is true of the Rimowa, which is one of the heaviest checked bags we considered. But if the added security of a latch closure is important to you, the extra few pounds of weight is worth it.

Price at time of publish: $1,750

Dimensions: 31.2 x 20.1 x 10.7 inches | Weight: 13.7 pounds | Capacity: 82 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime warranty on purchases after July 25, 2022

Best Smart

Away The Bigger Carry-On

4.7

View On Awaytravel.com

Our Ratings

• Maneuverability
  5/5
• Durability
  4.5/5
• Value
  4.7/5

Smart luggage gives you on-demand access to a power supply for your devices, saving you from running out of juice on a long flight or searching for an outlet in a crowded airport. While it’s true that you could just pack along a USB power bank, not all devices are TSA-approved. Away has made a name for itself by integrating power packs into its polycarbonate hardshell luggage and saving you the hassle of fumbling for your USB charger the next time you’re stuck waiting for a layover flight. 

While it lacks features like expandability and the handle encroaches on interior space, the Away Bigger Carry-On won us over as a smart luggage standout in our testing. The 10,000-milliampere (mAh) power pack has two USB ports, including a fast-charge port for when you need more power stat. We found that the power pack works well and nicely integrates into the suitcase’s design. The design allows you to eject the USB charger from the suitcase with a quick push, which might be required when traveling with some airlines, to specific destinations, or if you end up checking your bag.

Price at time of publish: $295

Dimensions: 22.7 x 14.7 x 9.6 inches | Weight: 8.4 pounds | Capacity: 47.9 liters | Expandable: No | Lock Included: Yes | Wheels: Yes | Warranty: Lifetime limited warranty