Three International Airports, Seven Countries, Three Days Missing In Germany & Still Going Strong!
Written: Jun 06 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome travel gear for any Lego lover, cross-over packing straps, baseplate on the front.
Cons: Hard to find!!!
The Bottom Line: A great suitcase if you can find it, sure to make any Lego lover beam with excitement ...
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| Freak369's Full Review: Lego Cargo System Lego Cargo Backpack |
For the past two and a half years my boys have had plans on going back to England to visit relatives and for little vacation from American food – but something always came up that prevented them from actually making the trip. It’s not that they dislike this grand country but – and this is something that I will openly admit as well, your idea of English food is comical at best. When my two oldest were invited to attend some classes at a private school it was a non-stop barrage of request forms, paperwork and me almost bludgeoning my ex-husband to death to get him to sign the necessary papers. Through all this Chris sat in almost silence but he had one of those “heh, heh, heh, I got me a secret” sort of grins on his face. I must have taught him well because he managed to find not one, not two but four of these awesome suitcases online and had them all delivered, wrapped and ready to go for the party we had for my two oldest before they left.
Since I talk to them both every day – whether on the phone or via email – they give me updates on what’s made it “across the pond” and what hasn’t. One of the bags was lost for three days and eventually found in Germany, something that airline could not explain but they had it delivered to my sisters house about five days after it was found – how it took five days to get there still puzzles me, maybe they were playing with the baseplate on the front of it. Since Chris purchased four of them and the other two boys were “stuck” here with me, the two youngest handed them over for the other two to use, so I figured that if they had four of them in action eventually one of them was going to end up getting drop kicked across an airport. My boys are book smart but lack the gene that gives them the will power to resist airport food, so as they are strolling along they buy pretzels, sodas, treats and pizza without really planning their purchase – there’s still suitcases and bags to be carried – which led to one of them kicking his bag for the final twenty feet to the waiting area. Hey, his bag, his pretzel, his popcorn … if he wasn’t going to share his food with me then I wasn’t going to carry his bag. Besides that, my arms were full and I wanted to see how it would hold up to a few kicks.
Lego Cargo System Lego Luggage
If you had any doubts about what the theme of this luggage is – it’s 100% Lego. From the bold primary colors of the case, piping and pull tags to the built in baseplate – even those who don’t have kids or aren’t into toys will be able to guess the theme as soon as you see it. Since we stated out with the Cargo Backpack and had great success with it, I knew my hopes for the matching luggage / suitcase would be pretty high. The biggest difference between the two is that the suitcase is a lot “harder” than the backpack – you can’t squish it down to save space, you can’t toss it in the sink to wash it and you certainly can’t use it for school or on a daily basis unless you have one hell of an impressive passport. The backpack is more versatile but can’t carry the amount of stuff as the suitcase so both of them have pros and cons – but both are sturdy, strong, durable and well worth the price. The size is a little smaller than most standard sized suitcases but this is designed with kids in mind – they don’t have the tendency to overpack like adults or have a different pair of shoes for each outfit. If you are someone that needs to know the exact measurements – here they are: nineteen inches in length, seven inches high and fourteen inches wide. These are “top to tail” measurements, the inside specifics are obviously a little smaller. It’s made of plastic and nylon with hard plastic and a little metal used for the pull out carry handle. The wheels on the bottom make it easy for kids to get mobile with this, basically it’s the same portability system that you see on the larger school bags with the pull out handle and wheel assembly.
Inside the suitcase there’s a nice cross over elastic strap that helps to keep things from sliding around, great for when you don’t have a ton of clothes to pack however these aren’t a necessity – if you aren’t using them, simply tuck them into the corners to keep them from getting in the way or stuck in the zipper when you open and close the case. The pull tags are shaped like Lego pieces however they can’t be removed and replaced with other pieces so don’t even try it. The boys used this for their most common items – books, a change of clothes, toothbrushes, electronics and all the paperwork they needed to carry. I checked with the airline and they said that the bag could be stowed under their seats however not all airlines have large under seat areas so be sure to check and see if this bag can be checked as carry on luggage or not. It’s better to call and know ahead of time than to have to risk having expensive or fragile items stolen or damaged if it needs to be check in.
This comes with a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects however if you purchase it from a reputable online vendor, most of the time they honor the same warranty so you won’t have to deal with a third party fulfillment company should anything happen to the suitcase. Since Chris ordered these from different sites I had to try and keep track of them in case something should happen to them – this was solved by writing the boys initials inside the case then putting their initials on the invoices that came with the suitcases. My oldest was a little unenthused about the suitcase when he first saw it – even the large Lego logo on the front of it didn’t manage to get him excited about it when it was given to him at the party – I chalk a lot of that up to him getting a little older as well as the impending separation anxiety that he was experiencing – not from me and how brothers but from his girlfriend Aimee. Eventually he warmed up to it and tossed it on the pile of luggage to get packed. He managed to fit almost all his personal effects in it [minus clothing and shoes] – all his CD’s, CD player, video games, snacks, camcorder, digital camera and all his “Aimee related material”. The small front pouch is great for pens, disposable cameras and things that you need to get to quickly but it’s not so big that things get lost.
The Bottom Line
These bags have really gotten a hard-core test so far and have held up nicely according to my boys. After hitting several airports, one of them getting lost and making the rounds to seven countries so far – none of them have fallen apart, ripped or needed any type of repair. If you knew my boys and how rough they can be on things, you’d appreciate that comment and know that these bags are just as sturdy as the Lego Cargo Backpack I reviewed. If you have a Lego lover that visits their grandparents or does any bit of traveling, this is a great suitcase to invest in for them. The baseplate allows them to get in a little “Lego time” while on the road and makes spotting it on those airport luggage carousels a complete snap!
These may be a little hard to find at retail stores since they are no longer being manufactured however online stores seem to have tons of these, some of them are selling them for as much as $50.00 while others are just trying to get rid f their stock and letting them go for about $19.99 – so it really pays to shop around! Chris paid about $27.00 each for them – a few dollars more for a few of them, a few dollar less for the others but the average price was $27.00. In my opinion these suitcases are well worth it but the true test will be the return flight – with three stopovers and five kids coming back [can you say ‘invasion of the relatives’?] instead of just two – it will be pretty interesting to see how these hold up.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2004 Freak369
Other Lego reviews …
Learning To Speak Lego – A Lego Primer
What Should You Know About Lego
• Lego Creator Board Game • Lego Magazine •
• Lego World Shop • LEGO Island 2 for PS1 •
Colgate Electric Toothbrush Bionicle Tahu Nuva •
Recommended:
Yes
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