Rolling Duffel Bags

Tough rolling duffel bags are handy for long trips

The two-wheeled rolling luggage and the spinner luggage discussed in this report also come in bigger sizes, so you can buy larger luggage that matches your carry-on bag. Since checked luggage is handled roughly, it's a good idea to step up to the highest quality. A warranty that covers accidental damage is a big plus.

The top-rated REI Wheely Beast 28-Inch (*Est. $150) comes with REI's unlimited return/exchange guarantee. It wins Outside magazine's 2009 Gear of the Year award. "I packed this thing 25 times during a walking tour of England," writes Outside's Ted Alan Stedman, who used the 28-inch version. "The 6,000-cubic-inch main compartment ate gobs of clothing and gear." The bigger 35-inch duffel (*Est. $170) holds so much and rolls so smoothly that owners say they have to be careful when they pack, so they don't exceed the airline baggage weight limit.

Two pricier runner-up wheeled duffels won Outside's top honors in 2008. That year's Gear of the Year, the Eagle Creek Take 2 ORV Trunk 28 (*Est. $315), outweighs the REI Wheely Beast, but half of the duffel is actually a smaller bag that you can zip off. Named Outside's 2008 Killer Value, the smaller Osprey SpaceStation 100 (*Est. $220) can still "eat two pony kegs," Stedman says. The Osprey's exterior compression rod and straps "clamps loads like a giant taco." Both Eagle Creek and Osprey offer lifetime defect and damage warranties.

Two more Outside magazine Killer Value award winners get good reviews. In 2006, Stedman took a High Sierra AT3 Sierra-Lite 32-Inch Drop-Bottom Wheeled Duffrite (*Est. $110) on a "20-bag squashfest trucking over 13,000-foot passes in Bhutan" and kept fragile souvenirs intact. The bigger High Sierra A.T. Gear Access 36-Inch Drop-Bottom Wheeled Duffel (*Est. $95) earns high ratings from owners at LuggageOnline.com, eBags.com and Amazon.com, with praise for its unlimited lifetime warranty. The Case Logic 29-inch Lightweight Rolling Duffel (*Est. $165) wins the Outside award for 2009; its rigid body looks like a regular piece of luggage with a tailored duffel handle, but Stedman says it includes all of the dividers, pouches and toughness to withstand hard travel.