Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Full Disclosure - I've been a Briggs & Riley (B&R) two-wheel suitcase user for the last 13 years, mostly for business travel with the occasional family vacation thrown in. This was a Christmas present for my wife whose generic two-wheeled carry-on tended to tip over while stationary if not loaded just right. My only previous experience with Travelpro was a wheeled suiter that I think I used for a grand total of two times due to functionality issues (my poor choice vs. any specific issues with Travelpro design or quality). To be clear B&R has been stellar, especially around their no questions asked repair warranty. I've had two different wheeled carry-ons and one 26 inch suitcase restored after airline/airport baggage handling destruction or B&R component failure. My two 28 inch suitcases lasted through several trips to Asia without any issue beyond cosmetic wear. I was willing to pay the price premium for the four current B&R pieces I have so that I didn't have to purchase anything in that size category again unless I wanted some feature/color upgrade - that is still my plan pending my comments below. Besides the price, the only other downside to B&R for me is that their pieces tend to be 1 - 3 lbs heavier than their competitors similarly sized bags which can be an issue, especially in Europe or Australia where the weight rules tend to be strictly enforced. My wife didn't want a new carry-on and the amount of personal travel that we do wouldn't necessarily need the B&R durability that I needed for business travel. Nevertheless I vacillated between B&R and Travelpro domestic 21 inch carry-on spinners based on my previous experience with B&R. What convinced me to go with the Travelpro was: a. The Platinum Elite wheeled luggage now seems to have a comprehensive warranty including airline induced damage as long as you register within the specified time period after purchase. b. The Travelpro weighed 1.5 lbs less than the comparable B&R model. c. The price of the Travelpro was a little over 60% less than the comparable B&R. d. The Travelpro magnetically aligned wheels seemed like they would be a good feature to have if they functioned as advertised. e. Wirecutter selected it as their top carry-on bag in a 2018 review. We just returned from a holiday trip where my wife packed a significant portion of her clothes in the Travelpro and wheeled the bag around the LAX and Seatac airports. This one trip alone is making me seriously think about getting a spinner for myself despite my B&R strategy articulated above. The difference in the effort needed to carry my backpack on her spinner vs. on my 2 wheeled B&R was pretty stark, especially when I projected that onto some of the bigger airports I’ve had to cross to make connecting flights – your arm gets tired with the two wheeled suitcase when the computer backpack resting on it weighs 15 - 20 lbs and you have to walk a considerable distance. Aside from the packing the capacity the magnetically aligned wheels seemed to work well for ease of movement in the crowds, all zippers functioned as they should when the bag was loaded, the adjustable height handle was used at a couple of different settings and she enjoyed the readily accessible outside pocket that easily held her 3 magazines and medium sized book. All in all the initial experience she had with the Travelpro was a good one. We didn’t use the bag in the expanded configuration (B&R has a better system and the Travelpro zipper expansion doesn't look to add much volume) nor the drop-in suiter, I doubt we’ll use the battery side pocket as intended and while having the telescoping handle rails inside the bag vs. outside (again B&R has a better system) is annoying for me personally my wife’s prior bag had the same configuration and she was used to it. I’ll update this when I have any data on durability/reliability or warranty fulfillment (which is why I only gave it 4 stars). I hope this helps people who had the same questions I had when considering Travelpro Platinum vs. B&R and couldn't look at the Travelpro in person..