Peak Design, the San Francisco company known for pricey but ingenious camera bags, backpacks, shoulder bags, and camera accessories, has introduced their first suitcase, a rollerboard called Roller Pro. Considering the success of its other products, many of its fans have been eagerly awaiting to see how they might improve on the widely-used 22-inch rollerboard.
The company has been gradually revealing the product using a Kickstarter campaign that has amassed $6.5 million in advanced orders. Now that the product has been revealed, they’re offering the product at a sizable discount in advance of shipping.
First impressions are positive. The Roller Pro incorporates a number of innovative concepts that make it easier to transport and easier to access the interior. The bag can also do double duty; it can be converted to a rolling photo case with the addition of an insert ($140).
Like it’s other products, it reeks of durability, with its tough materials, water-resistant zippers and oversized wheels.
The illustration below from the company provides a quick overview of its major features.
The bag is a standard rollerboard size, 21.8 x 14 x 9 inches (55.4 x 35.6 x 22.9cm), and weighs 8.8 pounds (4kg), about a pound heavier than an Away’s 22-inch hard-sided polycarbonate bag and similar in weight to a Tumi soft-sided rollerboard bag.
The Roller Pro has hybrid construction, using a polycarbonate shell and hinged cover, all covered with a very thin, durable fabric used in its backpacks. One of its unique features is the drawbridge-like opening. Unlike conventional clamshell designs that are hinged along the length of the bag and require much more space to fully open to pack and unpack, the Roller Pro’s lid is hinged along the short dimension and the packing volume is confined to the bottom section. This design lets you more easily open the bag in tight spaces, such as in an airplane seat or a suitcase rack in a hotel room, letting you access your belongings without fully spreading the bag open. The lid uses friction hinges to stay open over a range of angles.
The inside of the lid has mesh pockets for smaller items; it that can be rolled up and tucked out of the way when not in use.
The clothing goes into the bottom of the bag, much like Tumi’s and Briggs & Riley’s soft sided bags. Adjustable elastic cords are used to hold the piles of clothing in place, rather than a compression panel found in most other suitcases. The product has similar capacity to a Briggs & Riley soft sided bag. Like many existing bags, it can be expanded by unzipping around its middle, adding about 15% of volume or about another 1.5 inches of thickness.
One of its features is its retractable handle. Peak replaced the conventional off-the-shelf aluminum 3-section collapsing handle used on most other bags with their own 2- section design using sheet carbon fiber. The result is a much thinner handle that takes up less storage space when retracted inside the bag, leaving a bit more room for packing. The handle is also more rigid than conventional handles when extended.
This images shows how thin it is.
One of the features is a zippered compartment at the top front of the bag that holds a computer, tablet, phone, and other accessories. The compartment is cleverly engineered to prevent items from slipping out, yet allows easy access to remove and store things when going through security. If you’re not carrying a briefcase, it’s very useful, but of lesser value for those carrying their computer in a separate bag.
Their in-house designed, oversized wheels are 60mm in diameter, about a third larger than typical, and can be easily replaced. There’s also a small pocket for an AirTag. One feature I like is that they have grab handles on all four sides, making it easy to pull quickly out of an overhead compartment or trunk regardless of its orientation.
The Peak Roller Pro is priced at $599.95, at the midpoint of rollerboard bags from Tumi and Briggs & Riley and twice that of an Away bag. They are currently offering a Kickstarter special price for $425 with a delivery a few months from now. A faster delivery option is available for $525.
The Peak Design Roller Pro is an impressive and attractive design offering a number of new conveniences, a modern design take using quality materials not often found on other suitcases that makes it competitive with Tumi and Briggs & Riley. It’s not for those that prefer a basic rollerboard suitcase from Costco, Samsonite, or others that are a quarter to a third the price, but rather for those more likely to consider a Tumi or something similar.
As clever as it is, they’ve not been able to solve the impossible challenge of increasing its capacity, something frequent travelers are always searching for. But if you prefer a modern design with high durability and a bag that stands out, it’s worth considering.
It also should be noted that Peak is a company that uses Fair Trade certified factories, emphasizes the use of recyclable and carcinogenic-free materials, and has a lifetime guarantee on this product. They also buy back their products and resell them at a small profit in order to reduce waste.
