( 2 reviews )
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( 10 of 10 found this review helpful ) Posted: Aug 19 2008
I have always used Travelpro, Tumi and Andiamo Valoroso luggage for all of my domestic business travel and have been very pleased with every piece I own. Since weight isn't a factor for my carry on pieces, I've never really had to think about that for my own use. However, when it came time to send my daughter to Europe for 3 weeks the four main criteria were: 1) ruggedness 2) weight 3) space 4) price 1) Ruggedness: Delsey Helium is well constructed and did not look like it would fall apart. The Delsey Logo looked a little big and seemed like it was a candidate for breaking off, possibly, but who cares about that? I have learned over the years that it doesn't matter what the brand or price of luggage is when it breaks, when a wheel stops rolling, a handle falls off, etc. It doesn't matter what the warranty is. Because luggage always fails when you least want it to and when it does it makes travel infinitely more difficult. The Helium is durable and tough and it made the journey unscathed, it's a little dirty in a few places, but that's to be expected since the color is a bright blue, not black which is more forgiving of dirt. I'll clean the bag up with some industrial alcohol and it will look like new. 2) Weight: Travel to Europe is getting tricky. Airlines are looking for ways to pay for fuel and one way they have done that is by charging fees for bags and enforcing weight restrictions. This is important to the airlines since weight adds to their fuel costs. You have to be very careful about the weight. I bought a digital luggage scale for $25 and weighed the various pieces of luggage that I was interested in and the Delsey Helium was one of the lightest. Note: the non-digital scales I tried were off by 6-8 pounds, so the digital scale was indeed a better buy. Another good pick is the Eagle Creek Load Warrior, in this category. The Helium is lighter than a lot of other similar sized rollers - which means we could pack more clothing and necessities and stay under 50 lbs. We weighed the bag after it was packed and it came in at 49.7 lbs. Since she had a leg from one US city to JFK and then JFK to Athens and then Athens to the final destination there were multiple legs that could have incurred extra baggage fees for exceeding the 50 pound limit. Those fees would FAR EXCEED the cost of the luggage, regardless of what the luggage cost. 3) Daughters need to carry a lot of stuff. We are talking hair driers, hair straighteners, hair this, hair that, lots of electronics. The capacity of the Delsey Helium is on par with other 25" luggage in its class and it has a more or less standard layout with pockets, etc. 4) Price - well, as I mentioned, the key factors for me were reliability and weight but the Helium is also very competitively priced. I could buy 2 or 3 pieces of the Helium for the price of, say, a Valoroso. So I bought the 25", the 21" and the carryon. This luggage is tough to beat from a value standpoint. (Note: I have had 22" luggage that didn't fit in the overheads, so I travel with a 21" Travelpro and find the 1" makes a huge difference in portability with no significant loss of capacity.} I was please to see that Helium went with a 21" instead of a 22" carryon rollaboard as it is a more practical size in the real world. So, the litmus test was being bounced around, loaded down, carried around and making the trip without incident, exactly what I look for in luggage. All while keeping weight and price to a minimum. I should add that it's useful to take the digital scale with you. That way when you load your (expandable) bag with souvenirs, etc. you can re-weigh it at various times along the way to make sure you can distribute your stuff in the different bags and carryons as your trip progresses accordingly without incurring extra charges. If you do exceed the weight limits, consider shipping stuff back via UPS, etc. as that will likely be substantially cheaper than the weight penalty fees.
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( 11 of 13 found this review helpful ) Posted: Jan 9 2008
I bought this product 9 months ago and only used it on 2 trips and the zipper pull broke off on one of the zippers. I can't find Delseys phone number or company address because they took down the contact us and customer service information off of their website as of 1/08/2008. I had to find their address via the Better Business Bureau and still can't reach them. Dont buy this luggage unless you want to use pliers to open your bag. They are not honoring their warranty.
