Rockland Luggage Expandable 2-Piece Spinner Set Review

Rockland Luggage is known best for its approach to taking a tried and true design and innovating it with the newest fashion trends, popular styles, and technological innovations. Their 2-piece Expandable Set is easily one of their most popular products, first because travelers prefer a collection when they’re buying luggage, and second because these suitcases fit more while protecting all the contents during a long trip. Rockland Luggage has taken the basic two piece medium and carry-on suitcase set and upgraded it with unique expandability and ultra-strong materials, transforming a traveler’s experience for the better. In the following review we’re taking a look beyond the ‘face value’ of this Rockland luggage set to really get at the facts and discern what makes this luggage so great and why it makes Rockland an excellent choice for your every traveling need.

Rocklands premier set design features two suitcases, the first medium checked suitcase measuring in as a 28-inch full, while the secondary carry-on is much smaller at 20 inches. Together they’re designed to maximize a traveler packing potential by offering more space for better organization and extra outfits. Another design feature is the hard shell exterior crafted for all-around protection against impact from all sides; this includes dropping damage to the corners, back, sides, and front. The design features an interior aluminum bracing along with durable materials for a rigid exterior that’s uniquely styled and ready for travel. These suitcases roll along on smooth 360-degree spinner wheels and are built with three-position locking telescopic handles. As we analyze this luggage, we’ll explore each of these design features and how they affect the value of the suitcase, including how they work to improve your travels.

Unexpanded and at 20 inches, the carry-on luggage for this set offers an interior maximum of 40 liters for around a 3-day trip; upon expansion this suitcase offers 2 extra inches of width (that’s 15% more packing space), transforming your weekend trip to a full 4-day getaway. Additionally, when traveling with the 28-inch large suitcase – make sure you check this at security – you gain an additional 110 liters with even more room upon expansion. Other storage features include a zipper divided interior with top and bottom organizational space, cross tie-down straps, and a hinge situated full length zippered toiletry kit. Each of these additions offers bet use of the storage space for containing your clothes and even separating wet/dirty clothes from your clean ones.

The Rockland Luggage collection offers the advanced motion of 8 spinner wheels; capable of 360-degree multidirectional motion these cases can wheel beside you, behind you, and directly in front of you as the crowds require. Each case is equipped with a multi-level locking telescopic handle with a push button extension. On the sides and top of the suitcase are strong haul handles for easier handling of the weight when lifting your luggage into or down-from a luggage carousel or overhead compartment. Interior features include a watertight polyester lining as well as cross straps for containing your clothing; the entire suitcase is divided top and bottom with a zippered semi-permeable lining. Finally, this suitcase also includes a stitched-in toiletry kit which folds snugly into the interior side of each case.

Although these are hard shell suitcases, they have been designed for the lowest weight possible while still maintain the desired durability you want out of harder luggage. The 28-inch large suitcase weighs in at 10 pounds, which is a medium-low weight for a full suitcase and leaves you 40 pounds of packing weight to still stay within the imposed limit for national and international airlines. Next in line is the carry-on suitcase which weighs only 6 pounds and can be packed up to 40 pounds for carrying directly onto the plane; this suitcase has been rigorously tested to meet the size of all national and international overhead bins. Each suitcase also comes equipped with top and side haul handles for better management of the weight.

Rockland’s Luggage Set is entirely made from ABS materials which are lighter than many hardshell materials – especially full aluminum suitcases – but is somewhat less durable than aluminum and PC materials. These suitcases are extremely light but still resistant to most drops and scratching. The spinner wheels for this case are made from durable polyurethane and are incorporated into the body of the suitcase with screws rather than weaker rivets; additionally, the telescopic handle is made from extremely durable aircraft grade aluminum and extends smoothly without any sticking. The zipper pulls are uniquely designed with small carabineer pull tabs which can hold a tag listing your address or are great for hanging your keys; these are made from strong steel, though shorter than most pull tabs and therefore not as easy to use. What you typically want are longer tabs like the ones featured with the Travelcross Chicago Collection.

The style of this Rockland luggage set is more along the lines of adventurous and fun than professional or fashionable; these are suitcases which would be great for a cruise destination or for a road trip with the whole family. The entire collection of styles feature bold colors and a little of something for everyone, along with a unique stylistic exterior texturing which adds to the ballistic durability of the suitcase. Each case is marked with the embossed Rockland logo in silver, and each also features the unique carabineer zippers. Style options include well over 30 different unique colors, some of which are more casual than others; this is easily one of the largest collections of color schemes for a collection. Our personal favorite styles include Navy Blue, Lime Green, and the more feminine Quilted Black.

The large suitcase measures 28 X 17 X 12 inches and will need to be checked with your airline before security; at this size, especially when expanded, you’ll want to keep an eye on how much you pack in case you go over the weight and size limits for your airline (typically this is an imposed weight limit of 50 pounds). The carry-on, however, will wheel right onto the airplane with you and it measures 20 X 13 X 9 inches and is great paired with the large suitcase, or even just traveling on its own for a weekend business trip. Though if you only need a carry-on for business trip purposes, Rockland does sell their Rockland Melbourne Carry-On separately.

Rockland offers a fantastic collection with a great 3-year warranty that will cover the repairs or replacements of any parts, as well as cover fixups on rips and tears so long as they are the fault of a manufacturing or airline error and not the fault of a careless owner. Usually you can contact Rockland for a luggage consultation and tell them the issue you’ve been having, then typically all shipping costs to their repair facility are paid out of pocket; any repairs or replacements are covered by Rockland as well as return shipping.

This item was ranked #3 in the list: