High Sierra Ultimate Access Duffle

Zipper wears out – The bottom zipper is exposed to the ground when you wheel this bag and subsequently has torn and become unusable. I could repair this, but it seems it will continue to tear as it looks like a design fault, which I wasn’t informed of when purchasing.

Weak zippers and brittle reinforcing mean it won't last long at all – This wheeled duffel bag sounds perfect for a young traveller with lots of sports gear, but it is a dud. We started with a 91 cm High Sierra model. The reinforcing rods along the bottom were broken when it came back from its first overseas trip. Perhaps the airline dropped it on something, or perhaps it was badly designed and/or made: either… Read more

way, we didn't realise soon enough to claim from the airline, and Samsonite weren't helpful. It would be cheaper and faster to buy a new one, which we did, as it looked good and had plenty of usable space. This time we got a shorter on (66cm) becasue it would not have the same stresses on the reinforcing rods, and it looked functional.

The reinforcing in the second one is fine, but after a year (four separate trips) one of the end pocket zippers broke. We made do by tying it permanently shut, but another two trips later the stitching and glue holding the main zipper started coming apart. That left a growing gap under the zipper for anything to fall out (or hands to go in). It was far too costly to repair, and the second person we asked was not even sure it could be done. We will try to get a refund or (if there's no choice) a replacement from Samsonite/High Sierra, but after the first incident I am not holding out any hope.

So: looks good, but really poor quality, and not worth buying. Luggage should last a few trips at least, not just one or two. Very disappointed with Samsonite/ High Sierra - I thought they and their products might be trustworthy, but I was wrong.