LEVEL8 30” Voyageur and 18” Luminous Review
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It has been a couple of years since our initial review of LEVEL 8 Voyaguer luggage. Since that time, we have been using the LEVEL8 Voyaguer 28” checked bag, the 20” Carry-On and the 20” Luminous Carry-On for multiple international travel assignments.
Preparing to take another trip with our LEVEL8 luggage
We have been very pleased with how the LEVEL8 luggage has performed. The Voyageur series features the wide handle (see photo above). This design frees up space inside the luggage by placing the handrails along the edges of each bag. This makes these bags very easy to pack. Personally, I use the 20” Voyageur as my go-to carry on bag for this reason. Rickee, on the other hand, prefers the more traditional narrow handle on the Luminous (green above) carry-on so that she can slip her personal hand luggage over the rail.
When we learned that LEVEL8 had added a new 30” Voyageur checked bag to the lineup, we saw an opportunity to use that as a replacement to an aging large duffle that we have been using.
LEVEL8 28” Voyageur and duffle (soon to be replaced)
Unfortunately, the 30” Voyageur arrived the day after our luggage was scheduled to be picked up by the shipping company (Ship&Play) for shipping to our hotel in Japan. However, we are very excited to use the new 30” Voyageur on our next cruise.
30” Voyageur Check-In
30” and 28” Voyageur Check-In
The Voyageur Check-In is available in three sizes: 26”, 28” and 30”. We now have the new 30” model to complement our existing 28” Check-In. You might think that the 30” is not that much larger than the 28”, but when you consider how wide and deep these bags are, the volume increase provided by that additional; 2” is significant.
These Check-In bags are shaped more like a trunk than a traditional piece of luggage. The shell is a German-made Makrolon® polycarbonate construction, which Level 8 claims to be light and durable. While these bags are offered in different colors, we prefer the bright yellow and black. When these bright yellow bags come off of an airport carousel, they are very easy to spot.
The base, or bottom, of the Check-In is 8.5” deep while the lid (the yellow part) is 8.5” deep.
The zipper has Level 8 branded pulls which appear sturdy. The zipper is not waterproof, so care should be taken not to leave the luggage in the rain. The zipper is the most likely point of failure on any piece of zippered luggage. After more than two years of use on at least a dozen international trips, the zippers have held up to the rigors of airline baggage handlers. The zipper does glide easily and the pulls can be secured into a TSA lock mechanism on the side of the bag.
The four casters each swivel 360 degrees to turn this into a spinner bag. Each caster has two wheels and each wheel has a rubber tread. The bag glides easily on hard or carpeted surfaces.
The aluminum telescopic handle has three detents and is one of the distinguishing features of the Voyageur line up. Unlike on the more traditional spinners, the handle spans the entire width of the bag, making it quite sturdy and stable while placing the support rails inside the bag at the very edges.
Edge-To-Edge Handle
This design places the support rails on the interior of the base at the far edges of the bag rather than in the center of the base. This design makes it easier to pack the base without the need to work around the handle support structure inside the base of the bag.
Opening the shell of the Voyageur Check-In may lead to some confusion as the interior designs are not consistent from bag to bag. For some reason, the Voyageur luggage interior comes in two different layouts. On the Check-In sent to us, the black base is covered with a zippered mesh fabric, underneath which are compression straps. On the lid (the yellow piece), is another zippered panel with two zippered pockets. One pocket is a breathable mesh and the other a vinyl “moisture proof” design. The interior configuration of the other version is just the opposite with the two zippered pockets being placed on the black base side.
Interior versions are shipped randomly
You won’t know which configuration you get until your Voyageur arrives because the bags are selected for shipping ‘randomly’. There is no option to select which version you actually want. Our Check-In also had compression straps affixed to the inside of the base, even though the accompanying literature does not show any straps. This confusion continues to the Voyageur Carry-On, as we will discuss later.
As for the zippers, there is a reference on the Level 8 website to suggest that YKK- brand zippers are used, but with zipper pulls branded for Level 8. This is good news since YKK is known for making the highest quality zippers. While the shell material of the Voyageur bags is completely waterproof, the zippers are not. Therefore, the Voyageur bags should not be left out in the rain.
Luminous Carry-On 18”
18” Luminous Carry-On
While the 30” Voyageur is the largest bag LEVEL8 offers, we also wanted to add the smallest Carry-On to our luggage collection. That would be the 18” Luminous Carry-On.
We already have a 20” Luminous as well as a 20” Voyageur, so you might be wondering, why do we need an 18”? There are some airlines that have very strict size and weight restrictions for carry-on luggage. Turkish Airlines and Air France come to mind. We wanted to have a piece of luggage that would easily work for us should we travel on one of these airlines.
Also, there are some short “weekend trips” where we simply do not need the additional space offered by the 20” models.
The 18” Luminous is virtually identical, as far as features, to the larger 20” Luminous. You can see our video review of the 18” Luminous Carry-On here.
Unlike the 20” Luminous Carry-On, the 18” version is only available in black.
For more information on the 18” Luminous, or to order your own, click here.
