Peak Design Roller Pro evaluation: rethinking the carry-on

Let me lay my playing cards on the desk: I’m a giant fan of Peak Design baggage and have been for nearly a decade. That’s why I jumped on the probability to evaluation the corporate’s first curler bag with admittedly excessive expectations.

Like Peak Design’s new Outdoor Backpack I lately reviewed, the four-wheel curler bag didn’t elicit an excellent first impression. It’s simply one other wheeled carryon, I believed, and my god, the worth! It took a 10-hour practice journey to the French Alps, two bus rides, and 10km of dragging it over cobblestones, ice, snow, muck, gravel, curbs, and silky easy walkways to grasp how this bag improves upon the competitors.

But I’m nonetheless not satisfied by the $599.95 checklist value, and that’s earlier than spending one other $139.95 for Peak Design’s new XL Camera Cube. Fortunately, these costs are barely improved throughout the firm’s conventional Kickstarter launch cycle.

Peak Design says the Roller Pro is made with “entirely-custom components and assemblies” — not low cost off-the-shelf catalog elements with sloppy tolerances — to maximise the usable inside area that, notably, may be expanded from 34L to 39L with a zipper.

But my favourite side of this bag is the way it opens. Instead of utilizing a conventional clamshell design, requiring twice the footprint when splayed, it opens like a drawbridge. The hinged opening works with or with out two nylon help cords that may be adjusted to higher maintain the lid when weighed down by heavy gadgets within the pockets. This method simplified entry when in confined areas like a practice and my tiny lodge room. Conversely, it meant I needed to stack gadgets contained in the bag, requiring some digging, however I used to be proud of this tradeoff.

I additionally like the flexibility. I examined it as a journey bag, however given Peak Design’s heritage, it’s additionally designed as a gear bag for photographers that converts right into a workstation upon arrival at your job web site. The bag works with Peak Design’s ecosystem of digicam and packing cubes, together with the brand new XL Camera Cube which fills your entire cavity and in a position to match a large 400mm prime lens utilized by sports activities and nature photographers. With the drawbridge open, you might have fast entry to all of your gear protected by the dice, and your cables, playing cards, batteries, and different equipment saved within the three translucent pockets of the group panel.

The Roller Pro comes with a pair of elastic bands for Peak Design’s “Cord Hook” system. It’s the identical method used on the corporate’s Outdoor Backpack, and allows you to lash gadgets to built-in gear loops scattered throughout the within and out of doors of the bag. I discovered these to be tremendous helpful for carrying my helmet and / or snowboard jacket on high, for instance, with out blocking the deal with or the drawbridge opening. Those bands also can safe a tripod to the aspect of the bag.

According to San Francisco-based Peak Design, the Roller Pro is designed to compete with high-end manufacturers like Briggs & Riley, Tumi, Manfrotto, “and even Louis Vuitton” — baggage that begin at round $400 and peak effectively above $1,000 — not carry-on rollers from best-selling manufacturers like Travelpro, AER, and Away which might be priced nearer to $300 and carry out very effectively for most individuals.

There are so many extra helpful and considerate touches discovered on the Roller Pro — like a hidden pouch for Apple’s AirTag tracker; an opulent entrance pocket for fast entry to passports, chargers, keys, glasses, and earbuds; and a protected sleeve for a laptop computer/pill — that it’s value significantly contemplating Peak Design’s first curler bag when you can afford it and also you’re already available in the market for a brand new carry-on.

But there’s nothing right here that will compel me to retire one among my present rollers, bought for lower than half the worth and nonetheless going sturdy after ten-plus years of worldwide journey. I’m additionally not an expert photographer and have lengthy thought that Tumi baggage are grossly overpriced.

The $599.95 Peak Design Roller Pro may be preordered with Kickstarter reductions beginning at present. The finest deal will get you the Roller Pro for $425 with deliveries set to start in August and past relying upon demand. If you don’t need to wait, then you’ll be able to pay $525 to have a Roller Pro shipped in May from a batch of baggage already produced. The XL Camera Cube can also be quickly discounted to $99.

Photography by Thomas Ricker / The Verge