CT+L Road Test: The Ultimate Carry-On?

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We’re always looking for the perfect carry-on bag: wheeled, lightweight, capacious, durable and – because we’re more than a little vain – stylish as well. So on a recent trip to the Grenadines, we took Briggs and Riley’s BRX Explore 22” Upright for a spin.

Weighing only 7.5 lbs this rollaboard is much lighter than bags we’ve used before. And even when we packed seven days’ worth of clothes, shoes, accessories and electronics, it only tipped the scales at around 20 pounds. We particularly appreciated the interior elastic-strapped panels that kept all our clothes tightly compressed, preventing the shifting that inevitably leads to wrinkles.

This is the first bag we’ve used with a handle housing on the outside - but it won’t be the last. Having an exterior handle leaves a surprising surplus of room for your stuff inside – a super handy feature on longer trips.

The Explore also has a variety of zippered, mesh and waterproof pockets on the outside, including a large main pocket that easily held our iPad and is large enough for a laptop. And four exterior nylon straps kept the bag’s form as compact, and all our items securely cinched.

One thing we’d like to have seen: four wheels instead of two. The Explore wasn’t unwieldy but in our experience, four-wheeled “spinner” bags are easier to roll along airport concourses with noticeably less stress on the arms and back.

So would we buy it? At $290, the Explore is a considerable financial investment. But its weight, practical features and, most of all, Briggs + Riley’s lifetime free repair Simple As That warranty (which even covers airline damage), make us believe that this could be a wise one.