Osprey Ozone Convertible 22"/50L Wheeled Luggage

I have lived out of this bag for the last two years. I have rolled it around hundreds of airports, train stations, bus stations, and cities. I used it in backpack mode over cobblestones, in jungles or traveling to remote islands on tiny boats. The frame did break at about the 14 month point, but I just bought a tent pole and duct taped it onto the broken frame. This bag has lived a very rough life and is still functioning just fine.It is carry on sized and I've never had to check it in the US, however, because I pack it full it usually weighs in between 10 to 12 kilos which makes it too heavy to carry on many of the budget international airlines. If you just put clothes in it I'm sure you can easily keep it under the 8 kilos many airlines require.In the main bag I like the side pockets to keep some smaller things accessible, and I love the top pocket to keep my toiletries. The main pocket has plenty of space and even though I often pack it to the point of bursting I've had no seam or zipper issues. I use the straps to compress my clothes as much as possible and they have helped a great deal and held up very well.I have used a backpack for most of my travels in the past, but I am now a convertible convert. Being able to roll the bag through airports is great on the back and easier for both checking or carrying on. At this point my wheels are pretty much bald, but it still rolls along just fine. I use it in rolling mode probably 90% of the time. The backpack is easy to convert and comfortable. It's nice to be able to clip the day pack on the front when walking around while keeping my hands free. Especially since my smaller bag is usually the heaviest being filled with my electronics.The small bag is great. There were many 2 or 3 day hiking trips where I lived out of this bag alone. It's not really a hiking bag, a bit too puffy as it's designed more for electronics, but it has more than enough space for a few days trip and has held up very well. Most of the time it was my "valuables" bag. My laptop, go pro, passports, cards and cash. All the little pockets made it easy for everything I needed to be easily accessible no matter how full the bag was.I put this bag through a long brutal two years off the beaten path and it lived. It's a bit faded and beaten up now, the bottom frame is duct taped to a tent pole, but it will continue to be my bag until I'm done traveling. It keeps everything easily accessible. It's super sturdy so can handle being tossed up on top of buses, slept on in train stations, rolled across cities, or backpacked through jungles. It's quality construction, versatility, and practical design make it a great bag for long adventures.

I love travel. What I love when traveling is simplicity and convenience; I'll usually opt for non-stop if the price is not too much more, I like the Early Bird check in feature on Southwest Airlines (even though it costs money) and I like traveling light. You should too.This luggage replaces some 15 year old Eagle Creek Latitude bags with day packs. It is nearly the same luggage as it is replacing. I find the backpack to be more shallow than what it replaced but that slight deficiency is compensated by the day pack, it is very spacious and makes up for the room I used to have in my old Eagle creek main unit. In fact, total room in this luggage slightly beats out Eagle Creek in the same category. It is well built, well engineered, and lightweight.As I mentioned earlier, honestly, do you NEED 2 huge suitcases to go to Europe or even cross country? Really? You think you do? Well how many of those clothes that you packed have you worn? Or things that you carried along have you used? Trust me, traveling with a couple pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shoes, several shirts, a couple belts, socks and undergarments, maybe even a suit and ties (everyplace has an iron or steamer) is plenty of clothing. I have been to Europe twice, and many, many trips elsewhere and this luggage is all you need. Run, don't walk, and buy one. Simple and easy to get on and off of a plane. No misplaced bags, no lost bags, no checked baggage fees.

I have been scouring the net for the perfect companion for my 2 month trip across Europe. I fell between this luggage pair, the Meridian and the Eagle Creek Lync System 22 (I do not think Amazon sells this piece yet but it is at REI).I will have over 10 flights and did not want to check any baggage. I also wanted a day pack to trek around the cities and possibly do some climbing. The Meridian and the Ozone had these components. I chose to look at the Ozone first because outdoorgearlab.com recommended the Ozone over the Meridian. I also could not justify the extra 10L the Meridian gave for the extra money.The Eagle Creek has 43L of space in its pack. When I initially got it, I found that the front or back superficial pocket could maybe be used to store an un-used daypack if I purchased one separately since it did not come with one itself. The measurements though would have only allowed me to bring a very, very small pack (maybe 10L if I was lucky) and even then, the measurements would have me folding the daypack to fit it into the slots (thus, losing the extra bit of space I would have had).The Ozone has the zip-on daypack on the front of the luggage piece, thus eliminating the need to find somewhere to stick it into if I were to use the luggage as a pack. The daypack only has locking capability on the largest pocket, so either you have to keep your important items in that pocket alone while you have it zipped on the luggage piece OR you can clip it to the front straps of the luggage piece (kangaroo pouch)....this way you have the daypack on your front clipped onto the shoulder straps of the luggage piece. I found this to be a very well-designed aspect of the luggage...I can keep my documents (airline tickets, passport, ID, money, etc) in the daypack and have immediate access to it while keeping everything safely in front of me.When opening both units, I was also very surprised (as were other reviewers) at how much the internal frame of the Ozone took up so much space in the luggage piece (it bulges substantially into the unit). The Eagle Creek did not have this problem.When having them side by side, it visually appeared that the Eagle Creek was shorter than the Ozone but the specs prove otherwise. Apparently, the Ozone has 35L of luggage space while the Lync has 43L.As seen in my photos, I used the packing cubes to help find out which luggage piece would work better for me (fit more). I used two eBags medium sized cubes for my clothing and one slim (large) packing cube for underwear, socks and camera. Here is what I packed into each for reference:1 Medium Cube: 1 jeans, 1 khaki, 1 traveling fleece lined pant, 1 slim workout pant, 1 thermal pant and 1 long-sleeved denim dress.1 Medium Cube: 1 sweater, 2 sleeveless shirts, 1 flannel shirt, 1 thick thermal, 1 light thermal, 1 bra.1 Slim Large Cube: 1 bikini, 5 socks (1 of which were thick wool), 5 underwear, Nikon D3300 camera with attached lens, 1 extra Nikon lens.1 pair of Toms1 pair of flip flops1 belt1 REI waterproof jacket (I lined the bottom of one piece with it and laid it over the top of everything in the other one)This is not what I am bringing on the trip essentially but it packed the cubes and the luggage. I could have added items to both Medium cubes (probably 1 item to each would have filled it to capacity).Both luggage pieces fit everything. It was much easier to pack it into the EC (obviously, with that tiny bit of extra space) but both bags were full inside their main compartments. I could not have added anything to either side inner pockets unless they were very, very small items (maybe jewelry, watches, soap, photocopies of documents, etc).I probably could have used the very front flap pockets to pack my underwear in and use the space from the slim cube to pack heavier shoes (a real pair of sneakers).The daypack is nice on this bag. It is just big enough for my needs. I could easily pack my Samsung 10-inch tablet, camera, water bottle, some books, travel-sized soaps and a light sweater in it for my trip. The pockets are well-lined and the laptop compartment is heavily padded for protection.Although the Eagle Creek has that extra bit of space, it lacks the daypack and it also lacks the hip-belt when converting it to a pack. The hip-belt is essential to ensure everything is evenly distributed while wearing it and being comfortable (who wants to carry their luggage solely on their shoulders?)The frame of the Ozone does take up a lot of room but it still fit the same amount of stuff as the Lync. The ozone also has better padding and strap system than the Lync (the Lync has very little back padding, allowing the frame to cut into your back and the straps attach via velco to the bag...makes me think its possible for it to come undone easily).I will be returning the Eagle Creek today and potentially getting the Meridian to compare the Ozone to the Meridian.I am posting my photos in the hopes of helping someone else having the same issue as me trying to decide on a pack. I am 5'4" and 115 lbs for clothing size comparison and photo deciphering.Only reason there is not 5 stars is because the frame does take up a LOT of room and the colors are limited.