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| Tarmac 25 and 28″ Rolling Bags |
As you may remember from our earlier post, the newly redesigned Tarmacs from Eagle Creek have arrived. And since we think that these bags represent the single best value in the luggage industry, and because our blog now gives us the perfect forum to do so, we’ve decided that a pocket-by-pocket review is an excellent thing to do.
First, a little background on these rolling, “soft-sided” bags. The Tarmacs are a combination of rigid and soft. There is just enough structure to durably mount the wheels and the handle. The rest of the bag is a tough, flexible material with rounded corners and soft sides. And soft is a good thing, because the softer a bag is made, the longer it will last. A soft bag will give when it takes a hit or a scrape. Hard sided bags on the other hand do not give and thus have specific and acute wear points.
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| Flexible exterior provides increased durability |
As an analogy I’ll bet many of you own a basic duffel bag that you’ve had for years. Despite all the abuse you might have inflicted upon it, nothing has gone wrong with it because there is nothing to go wrong with it. It has no hard edges or corners and the only moving part is a sturdy zipper.
Durability issues really begin when moving parts are added and when bags become rigid in order to accommodate handles and wheels. Eagle Creek have always done an outstanding job with the Tarmacs, employing an extremely durable foundation for the wheels and handle without adding much weight. With this new edition Eagle Creek has produced an excellent refinement of an already great bag. They’ve improved upon what was good and made the necessary tweaks to the few minor shortcomings of the original Tarmacs.
