Bellroy Lite Carry-On Review

On paper, the Bellroy Lite Carry-On is a unicorn. It’s lightweight, utilizes recycled materials, has easy-to-use organization, and works as a carry on for many airlines. However, just because it technically accomplishes all those things doesn’t mean it’s the perfect bag for you, so we’re here to help you decide if it is.

This bag is Bellroy’s first go at rolling luggage alongside the Transit Carry-On and Transit-Carry On Plus. Though they’ve been a staple of the carry game for years, rolling luggage is another beast entirely. We’ve seen other brands try and fail, but things look promising so far.

Let’s dive in!

External Components

The exterior of the rolling luggage is crafted from ripstop nylon, which utilizes recycled materials. The fabric is lightweight and feels highly durable, considering its thinness. In testing, it has performed well in light rain and shows no signs of tearing or peeling. Plus, the recycled materials offer a sustainability angle for travelers looking to lessen their carbon footprint.

The zippers are from YKK, the best brand in the business in our testing. The main compartment has a hole for adding a lock, and the secondary compartment has a loop on either end of the track to slip the zipper head through. That way, it’s not easy for someone to open it when you aren’t paying attention. Both zippers feel adequately sized, and the secondary compartment is quick to enter and handy for grabbing quick-use items or snacks.

There are handles on the top and both sides of the pack, which work well when you’ve stowed the bag in the overhead compartment or an Uber or Lyft trunk, as you can comfortably grab them from almost any angle to assist in removing your bag. The bottom of the case has a stopper, as it only has two wheels. It’s roughly the thickness of the wheels, so it stands level, sort of like the heel of a shoe. Plus, you can use that as a handle to grab the bag in a pinch, too.

Overall, we dig the look of the rolling luggage. It shares many of the same design aspects that we’ve come to enjoy from Bellroy’s backpacks and slings, but it has a unique look compared to other suitcase options on the market.

Fit Notes

The telescopic handle is hidden underneath a zippered flap, which we dig. When you leave the bag in storage, in the overhead bin, or when you’ve made it to the hotel, this cover gives the bag a sleeker look and ensures the top handle doesn’t get caught on anything. The zipper has a PU coating, too, which keeps the mechanism dry and prevents water from sneaking into the main compartment through the cracks.

The top handle is comfortable, though it has no padding or grippy material like the side handles. It’s sturdy and has three heights, which isn’t as all-encompassing as other rolling luggage that we’ve tested, though multiple testers on our team from 5’6” to 6’2” found that there was a height that worked for them.

This is a two-wheeled suitcase, so it won’t glide across the airport floor without constant guidance as you drag it behind you. Whereas this could make operations more challenging, as it stops as soon as the bag goes vertical. That said, we appreciate that the wheels are smooth, quiet, and rugged. In testing, they handle concrete, uneven bricks, and even gravel for a short time without issue. As we wrote in our notes, these things are “durable as heck.”

Inside The Carry On Luggage

The lining inside the pack is a recycled polyester, which feels durable and offers more sustainability for the green-conscious traveler.

The bag has a small zippered pocket at the top, which is best utilized as a quick-access compartment. This doesn’t mean you must always use the gear you stow inside while in transit, but it’s objectively much easier to access this area than the main compartment, so even items you’ll use once or twice are better stored here.

There are two medium-sized pockets inside, which work well for keeping a phone, wallet, or passport separated. There’s also a smaller pocket that’s good for a pen, stylus, or meat stick. There’s a key leash, too, which is handy for locking your keys away if you don’t need them on your trip. Though this compartment is much smaller than the primary storage area, we could fit standard-sized wired headphones and a cased Nintendo Switch here with room to space.

Like a lot of other luggage on the market, the main compartment has a suitcase-style interior. The right side holds all the depth, and the left is a lid with some built-in organization. The left side has a shallow liner pocket that works well for light tech, such as cables and chargers, or soft items, like underwear, that you don’t want on display if you have to open your bag at the airport. This pocket shares space with the small exterior compartment, so you won’t be able to pack both fully.

There’s no interplay between the upper and lower pockets, which is good. The lower is a mesh pocket, which is a solid place for things you want to be able to see, though we typically use it for storing socks, shorts, and thin shirts. This pocket doesn’t share space, so there’s more depth to squeeze extra gear inside.

The more gear you store on the lid side, the more full the pack looks—which is a better style, we think. Still, it doesn’t look saggy or empty when you have more or less gear inside, which is a solid feature.

The right side of the case, where the depth is, has a large lid with a zippered compartment built into it. Since it’s so flat, it is best for accessory storage, like a hat and gloves, or flat items, like a map. Behind the flap, there’s no organization but oodles of space for gear storage. There’s not enough room that you have to use packing cubes to prevent your gear from flopping all over the place; however, there’s enough that we’d recommend it for ease of packing and unpacking. If you’re short on space, use a compression cube to ensure you can fit all your clothing here. If you do, you can use the bag’s other organization as a makeshift pouch for pouch for tech and other daily items you’ll need on the road.

Our favorite aspect of this luggage is how simple it is to use. There aren’t a ton of bells and whistles or hidden pockets, but it’s easy to pack, and the materials are top-notch without weighing a ton. What’s not to like about that?