Welcome to our AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage Review. In this article, we have tested AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage and have some guideline for you.
If you are frequent traveler, you probably already know the importance of owning a great bag. A durable luggage bag is definitely a must since they won’t be handled with care by staff.
You’ve probably seen how airport crews throw luggage bags around. They will do that to your bag, too. As such, you should always opt for durability versus aesthetics unless you have money for both.
For this reason, I will review a bag called AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage Spinner Suitcase Set.
This bag claims to be both good-looking and durable while also being cheap. It is priced at $169.41. At first glance, this may not seem very cheap but once you realize that this is for 2 bags, it’s almost unbelievable.
This bag is actually rated very highly on the platform but given that this is Amazon’s own brand, you would think that there may be adjusting the reviews to look good.
I doubt that they do but don’t just take my quick word for it. Let me walk you through the features of this bag by listing all of its pros and cons in the section down below.
By the time you finish reading this article, you should gain a good understanding of the true worth of this bag. Is this bag for you? Well, let’s find out here. Let’s start with the review.
Pros & Cons of AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage
When discussing the features of a bag, it is important that you go over both the positives and negative parts of it.
This is to ensure that you know exactly what to expect when you purchase the bag. Too many buyers have only been reading the good stuff about the items they want to buy. This in turn gives them a false expectation of the product.
To avoid this issue, make sure that you pay attention to the negatives as well. Even good products have their cons. That’s just the way it is. You just need to learn how to contrast these opposite qualities to determine if the item is worth your money. Let’s start with the pros.
Pros
Multi-Directional/Spinner Wheels
If you’ve been reading my reviews long enough, you must already have an idea of how much I love spinner wheels. Don’t get me wrong, I still own a couple of luggage bags that have inline wheels. However, it’s just not the same, convenience-wise.
If you have the time, you can go to the nearest store and compare spinner versus inline wheels for yourself. You would be surprised how much more mobile spinner wheels are.
You don’t need to put in as much effort when moving it around compared to inline wheels where you have to almost tip the bag over in order to get it rolling around.
Integrated 3-dial TSA-accepted Combination Lock
This has always been a feature that I search for when shopping for a luggage bag. Surprisingly, not a lot of luggage bags offer this feature. I’m presuming that’s because it would add to the total cost of manufacturing.
That being said, this 2-in-1 luggage deal, already considered cheap as it is, has managed to add this feature to their offering. I will be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed.
This is one of those features that can make me consider getting the bag even if I wasn’t considering it in the first place.
It’s just one of those features you don’t know you need until you’ve owned one that has the feature. What’s more, is it actually saves you a couple of bucks since you won’t need to buy a separate lock for your luggage bag. That’s always a plus.
Lightweight But Durable
The weights of these two bags (31” and 21”), are 6.77 lbs and 11.02 lbs respectively. This is surprisingly light given that lightweight options are priced at a premium by some brands.
The fact that Amazon was able to pull off this lightweight feature without increasing the price makes this deal almost a bargain.
Now, you would be thinking that perhaps they are able to make it light by using subpart materials and sacrificing durability. You’re mistaken.
I’ve gone over the reviews and there’s not a lot of complaints about the durability or rigidity of both these bags. If anything, most of the complaints are about the moving parts (wheels, handles, and locking mechanism), which is something that you would almost expect from any bag reviews out there.
2-in-1 Bag In Different Sizes
This 2-in-1 deal gives you 2 bags which are sized differently. One comes in at 31.3” (checked in) and 21.7”(carry-on).
This bag is also available in size 27.2” (checked in) but for the purpose of this review, we are only going to focus on the bags included in the 2-in-1 deal. If you want to, they have a 3-in-1 deal also available (31.3”, 27.2”, 21.7”).
Available In 5 Different Colorways
Here are the available colors for this bag.
- Black
- Cream
- Green
- Pink
- Sunset Orange
Take note that if you avail of the 2-in-1 package, you can’t choose to have different colors for each bag. You only get to choose one color. Both of your bags would come in with that, so bear that in mind.
Cons
Built-in Lock Is Hit Or Miss
If you go down and read all the negative reviews about this bag, you will notice that majority of them are complaints about the TSA integrated lock. They are saying that they can’t manage to open the lock even with the duplicate key that is included in the bag.
It also seems to not have any instructions included for operating the TSA lock. This is quite a bummer since a failed lock would almost render this bag useless. Imagine yourself landing in another country only to find out that your bags won’t open because of a malfunctioning lock.
To be fair, the complaints are far from being the majority. At the time of this writing, this 2-in-1 luggage deal only has 3% negative rating on Amazon.
Easy To Scratch
Because of the texture of this bag, which is smooth and shiny, it scratches very easily. I’ve read reports of users receiving their luggage bags with micro scratches.
You know how care-free airport staff workers are when dealing with luggage. Expect a bit of light scratching whenever you take it for your travels. Or you can buy a luggage sleeve to protect it.
The Wheels Are Very Light
Because this bag is designed to be lightweight, the have to sacrifice in some other parts of the design. From what I’ve seen, they must’ve decided to take a bit of weight from the handle and wheels, making them not as durable as I’d hoped.
It can still move around easily, no problem. It’s just that, there’s a small chance that the wheels may give out when carrying at full capacity.
Quality Rating
When it comes to luggage bags, quality is synonymous with durability. The more durable the bag is, the better quality it is. The reason for this need for durability is it needs to be able to take in more damage than your average bag. Remember that it gets thrown a lot by luggage handlers at the airport. You don’t want a bag that easily breaks.
That being said, it’s fair to assume that cheaper bags won’t be as durable as their more expensive counterparts. That’s just how it is.
You can’t expect a cheaper bag to compete because it uses less-durable materials overall. It’s just the fact you need to accept since you really get what you pay for.
However, there are certain cases in which a product is able to achieve a good quality rating while staying cheap by wisely selecting good materials to build the product with.
That’s exactly is the case with this bag. This bag is able to deliver a highly durable bag while not being hard on your wallets. It’s an easy 4.5 star rating.
Size Rating
This American Tourister Moonlight Hardside Expandable Luggage is available in 3 sizes – 21” carry-on, 27” checked in, and 31” checked in.
As for this particular review, we’re going to focus on the 2-in-1 deal which includes the 21” and 31” bag. It’s quite the contrast, these two bags.
The larger bag is one of the largest luggage bags I’ve reviewed on this website. Normally, the biggest bags different brands offer only go up to 28”.
Here are the carrying capacity and weight of these bags according to size:
Capacity: 21.7″ is 40L; 27.2″ is 71L; 31.3″ is 111L
Weight: 21.7″ is 6.77 lbs; 27.2″ is 9.04 lbs; 31.3″ is 11.02 lbs
Feature Rating
You really can’t expect something extra ordinary from these bags. Remember that these are cheap bags that is designed to be as economical as possible. It’s from the AmazonBasics brand after all, which is known to push for products that undercut the competition.
Surprisingly, they are able to sneak in a couple of features that I don’t see that often from bags of similar price point. For instance, the TSA integrated lock is a welcome example of this feature. Granted, their TSA locks have received plenty of complaints but it still a step in the right direction, feature-wise.
There’s really not much to talk about here apart from the fact that you will get more than what you pay for when you purchase this 2-in-1 AmazonBasics deal. 4.5 stars.
Brand Rating
The company is called AmazonBasics, and as suggested by the name, it’s the brand of Amazon. Think of it like an off-brand that’s cheaper than all the competition.
It’s a relatively popular brand if you are looking for cheap items. They offer all kinds of items that you can think of. It seems like their only goal at the moment is to make their items as cheap as they can in order to compete with other more known brands.
As such, you should expect a bit of quality issues when it comes to their products. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.”
For this particular bag though, that doesn’t seem to be the case. It’s surprisingly well-made, but given that we are only speaking of the Brand Quality and not the product quality itself, I’m going to go with a warm rating on this one.
3.5 stars. The quality of AmazonBasics products depend on the industry. It’s a hit or miss brand, is what I’m saying.
AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage: Product Specification
Capacity: 21.7″ is 40L; 27.2″ is 71L; 31.3″ is 111L
21.7” Spinner: 15″ x 10″ x 21.7″, 6.77 lbs.
27.2” Spinner: 18.1″ x 11.2″ x 27.2″, 9.04 lbs.
31.3” Spinner: 21″ x 12.6″ x 31.3″, 11.02 lbs
Department: Unisex-adult
Manufacturer: AmazonBasics
Final Verdict on AmazonBasics 2 Piece Geometric Hard Shell Expandable Luggage
What can I say? You can never go wrong with this bag. It has all the features that makes a good bag. The cheaper price comes in more like a bonus. To be honest, this bag could’ve been priced $50 higher and it would still be a good deal.
If you are looking for a budget bag that you can take for your travels, internationally or domestic, this 2-in-1 deal is one of the best ones out there.
Sure, it bears the brand AmazonBasics which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence but hey, it does its job well enough that you can almost ignore the branding.
You can always opt for something more expensive but knowing the financial situation that the country is in right now, every penny counts, and that’s where this brand excels. This is one of those 2-in-1 deals that’s hard to pass up especially when you actually need to buy one.
