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Great post. Putting things in perspective makes a huge difference to understand what you are dealing with – in landscape photography as well as when shopping for luggage or cars for that matter. I remember when the Audi TT came out the first time and I saw pictures and videos all over the place. The problem was that none of them where put in perspective in regards to size, so I was confused for quite a while in terms of putting the car into the right ‘category’.

Ooooh – me likey. Initially I preferred the first one, but the second gives a better idea of just how big the suitcase is to each person’s size. You’re asked to do a little more imagining in the first one. I prefer the stylized illustration over the generic family pic though.

Reminds me of the online bag shop that I bought my last laptop bag from. You could either provide the dimension of your laptop, or select the make and model and it would give you a short list of the bags that would fit. Annoyingly this was several years ago and I can’t remember the address :o(

It was actually a Crumpler reseller and should be a lesson for Crumpler on how to build a website that is actually useful and not just a triumph of “wacky” style over substance and usefulness. After about half an hour of bashing my head on the official website I gave up and it was only the resellers that actually enabled me to actually buy one of their products.

P

What does Shop 19” Luggage mean? It doesn’t make sense. Is it supposed to be Shop for 19” Luggage?

Slightly off topic, but what do you think of the ZÜCA? The price is high, but if it works as advertised and lasts quite some time, I’d buy one!

I would last a long time with the 19” but my girlfriend needs the 29” for a weekend..

But it does provide enough context to place yourself like I just did though :)

Great, show what mere mortals look like next to the luggage.

What if you’re 201cm tall and the fscking handles don’t come up to the ends of your arms?

I’m a big fan of the way crumpler put their bags size in context – with six-packs of beer and pizza boxes.

is one of their wheely bags and is the bag i have

apropos of nothing, after baggage handlers broke off the lock and the zipper pulls (or TSA took a bolt cutter to a TSA approved lock) that were connected by the lock, I will never again spend a lot of $$ on luggage. No point.

In a former life, I was required to spend the vast majority of my time on the road and essentially living out of a carry-on bag. I remember going to buy a rolling bag for the first time and being terrified that I’d wind up with something ultimately useless because all the numbers and comparisons meant nothing to me. The manufacturers and airlines use different measures (length vs. linear inches – which is a very strange measurement to begin with) and make all manner of claims about what will or won’t fit in various situations. I wound up with an Eagle Creek 22” bag which has been great in most situations, but to this day I’m always skeptical whether the bag will fit in the overhead until I actually get the damn thing on the plane. Not to mention the mad rushes for bin space and the arbitrarily-applied restrictions that seem to be the norm nowadays.

I’ll end with a bit of shameless self-promotion (I know, I know, but at least it’s relevant). A few friends and I have put up a site where folks can share their experiences with various bags/airlines/airplanes. I’m hoping it will develop into a somewhat useful resource to help people make more informed decisions when buying bags or packing for trips. The site’s called Bag vs. Bin (http://www.bagvsbin.com/) – if you have time to check it out, we’d certainly welcome thoughts and feedback!

@Jay

That Bag vs. Bin site is one of the dullest Rails sites I’ve ever seen! However, if people are getting value out of it, then why not? Wonderful!

Jay, the tagline for your site should be:

“Bin or bare it.”

Who gives a crap how tall it is?

Tell me what it will HOLD …how many shirts, sweaters, socks, etc… That would really be helpful. The “2-4 Day Trip” thing isn’t bad, but that depends on who it is and where they’re going.

Totally agree with 1st post (Peter). One of my client goals for ‘09 is to make sure that all the products that can be compared to each other have a comparison tool or graphic.

On a side note, had 3 connecting flights on different carriers from Charlotte to San Diego on the 26th. My carry-on fit perfectly in everything except US Air. For the life of me I couldn’t get the thing to fit and I had to check it in.