Samsonite Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner Review

If you’re in the market for luggage, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Samsonite. It’s been one of the most popular luggage manufacturers since the early 1900s, and its bags have been the standard for travelers crossing the world for decades.

Of course, ubiquity has its downsides, so Samsonite bags aren’t usually the most unique-looking carry ons. However, we still find them stylish and aesthetically pleasing, especially the subtle design elements incorporated into the Samsonite Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner.

The polypropylene bag has a matte finish that hides stains and resists scuffs, unlike shinier bags (we know because we brought a glossier bag on the same weeklong trip to visit friends in Florida, too). We have no issues with it on different surfaces, from stamped concrete to carpet to the smooth terrazzo floor of the airports in Detroit and Orlando. We’ve used lots of rolling carry on luggage over the years, so how does it stack up to the other pieces we’ve traveled with? Let’s find out!

External Components

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to the exterior materials of the Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner, to quote a favorite ‘80s commercial. No, it doesn’t transform, but the lightweight polypropylene shell conceals a Recyclex® interior liner fabric made from plastic bottles. Samsonite also treated all major touchpoints, including the telescoping handle and the top and side carry handles, with Sam-AMH™ technology, a proprietary antimicrobial additive that’s supposed to suppress the growth of bacteria and mold to prevent degradation of the handles. We’re not doctors or scientists, so we have no way of knowing if it works, but we’re all for anything that at least tries to keep gunk from accumulating on our suitcase as we make our way through the airport.

The handles are all the same color as the bag, which comes in Misty Grey, Midnight Blue, Shiraz/Burgundy (we guess because even if a wine is from a different country, it’s the same color?), Midnight Black, or Emerald Green, which we’re testing. They have shinier horizontal ridges bisecting the bag on the front and back, with the Samsonite name and logo on a metallic bar on the front. The design provides a little eye candy and has the advantage of staying cleaner and scuffing less than if the entire exterior were shiny.

There are also four feet on the left side of the bag to prevent scuffs and scratches to the exterior when you set it down like a suitcase. The side carry handle is on the opposite side, and having those feet gives the bag more stability when setting it sideways.

In line with the top carry handle and the telescoping handle is a built-in TSA-approved combination lock the zippers click into to keep someone from getting into your bag without your knowledge. It won’t keep security officers out, as they have a special key to unlock it, but seeing as they’ll get into your bag by any means necessary if they need to, we’re OK with them being able to do so without ruining the carry on. Preferences will vary, but we like having the lock on the top of the bag instead of on the side because we find it easier to remember where it is. It’s right there on the top and hard to miss.

The zippers are unbranded but work well, and there’s also an expansion zipper with a circular pull that has the word “expand” printed on it so you know what to pull when you need an extra inch of space. Using it may affect how the bag fits in the overhead bin of your airline, but, unfortunately, for something that has the word “carry-on” in its name, this luggage is technically out of compliance with nearly all major (and minor) airlines at the time of writing, so you may be asked to check it at the gate when you go to board. We had no issue fitting it in the overhead bin on Delta Airlines, but that company is rather permissible when it comes to the size of carry on luggage, even for an American airline (which are, in general, more permissible than international carriers). Now, you can take steps to avoid nasty surprise charges on budget airlines that aren’t so flexible.

Returning to the lock at the top, you’ll see a black rubber tab adjacent to it with the word “output” stamped above it. Pull out the tab, and you can connect a USB-A cord (or an adapter if all you have is USB-C) to a built-in cord. It runs into the front half of the bag, where you can stash a battery bank in a zipper pocket to create a DIY mobile charging station. There’s no battery bank included, and the other end of the cord is also USB-A, but it can be a handy inclusion if you aren’t carrying your battery bank in your sling or personal item bag.

Since this is spinner luggage, let’s talk about the wheels. Four sets of two wheels rotate 360 degrees on each of the four corners of the bag’s bottom. They’re set into slightly recessed wedges, which we like because we feel like the more the wheels protrude, the more likely they are to snap off. We wouldn’t want that to happen because these wheels spin and roll so nicely that we can spin the bag in circles and have no trouble keeping it next to us like a favorite pet on pretty much any surface. We ended up pulling it behind us on two wheels when we hit thicker carpeting for a short period in the airport, but trading the four-wheeled roll for a two-wheeled pull is a seamless transition.

No matter how you roll, the telescoping handle is comfortable to hold. It has a rubbery coating so our hands never slip, and we hope that Sam-AMH™ technology keeps it smooth (and not sticky) for years to come. There is an indentation in the center with the word Samsonite; that’s what you press to release the handle. It has six height adjustments to help you find the perfect fit for pretty much any height user, although the button doesn’t depress as well as some others we’ve tried. We have no problems with it; it just seems to take a little more effort.

Fit Notes

We already alluded to this, but we’re digging this bag’s aesthetics. Sure, it’s not sleek and shiny, nor does it look like it costs tons of dough, but it looks very nice for an average-priced piece of luggage—which it is. And the exterior is holding up better after the same trip than similar luggage. We also like the colorway options because we find it easier to spot our Emerald Green bag than more monochrome options. However, more companies are jumping on the multicolored bandwagon, so standing out is getting easier (or it will get harder if everyone opts for rainbow hues).

Whichever color you rock, we think you’ll enjoy how comfortable it is to roll beside you on smoother surfaces or pull behind you on thicker carpeting. It has no issues running over rougher pavement or cobblestones, and the handle extends and retracts quickly when necessary. There are six different height levels, so we never had an issue finding a comfortable spot, and the handle hardly wiggles at all when fully extended, even as we turned tight corners quickly trying to keep up with a friend who was practically running to score the best minivan in the rental lot.

If you need to carry it, the top and side handles pull out easily from where they lie practically flat against the bag. They’re quite agile and flexible, and we think they slide along their fixed points better than nearly any rolling luggage we’ve tried at Pack Hacker. In fact, they pop back into place so easily that they’re fun to fidget with as you wait at your gate.

With four wheels, the carry on has no issue standing on its own and never tips forward, no matter how we pack it, even with a travel daypack slid over the trolley handle. It’s even wide enough to support a large personal item bag, which is quite convenient when returning from a vacation loaded with goodies.

Inside The Carry On Luggage

However, the most comfortable bag in the world isn’t much use if it doesn’t hold what you need. Let’s go inside to find out what fits in the Pro Carry-On Spinner.

Like most hard-sided luggage, it lacks exterior pockets, so you’ll want to ensure that you have your 3-1-1 toiletry bag in your travel daypack or sling so you don’t have to open the suitcase in the airport. It splits in half to open clamshell-style, so if you have to get inside, you’ll have to make room for the front and back to rest on the floor. Speaking of which, ensure that the handle side is lying on the ground first, as the organization on that side is more open, and there’s more of a chance of your gear falling out when you flip it over to close the bag.

Now that we’ve established that, let’s look at the interior organization. There are quite a few options to choose from. We’ll start with the back (handle) side, where you’ll see two horizontal compression straps that slide through a large compression panel, which Samsonite calls its KompressPak™ panel divider. It’s outlined with wire to flex around the gear you pack underneath and includes a zippered liner pocket at the top and a WetPak™ zippered pocket at the bottom.

The WetPak™ is made with TPU to keep travel size containers filled with liquid toiletries or damp gear, like your swimsuit, from getting the rest of your clothing wet. The four compression straps slide into C-clips at four spots around the panel to buckle it into place. However, you’ll have to slip it out of the clips on at least one side to pack and unpack the bag. There’s even a handle at the top of the panel so you can remove it from the spinner and hang it up when you reach your destination, potentially in the bathroom if you use it as a de facto toiletry bag. Of course, you can just leave it at home and use the compression straps on their own if you prefer.

While we usually like packing clothing on this side of the suitcase, as we place rolled-up socks, underwear, and swimsuits in the little nooks and crannies between the channel left by the protrusions from the telescoping handle, we found the compression panel took up so much space that it didn’t leave much room for clothing. However, if you leave the panel behind, the adjustable straps work well to hold packing cubes or clothing in place. You can fit some small clothing or travel accessories in the pockets of the panel, but then the pockets stick out and rob space from this side of the bag. On the other hand, if you have this side fully packed and compressed down and the zipper pockets full but you buy a last-minute T-shirt or other souvenir at the airport, you can just quickly unzip the bag enough to squish it inside. You’ll likely have enough space around the edges (above the panel) for it to fit.

We found packing the front side of the bag more user-friendly and put all our clothing here for our weeklong trip. It has a zippered panel to hold your gear in place with two zippered pockets on its front. The top one has a small back tab with a power symbol indicating this is where you pop your battery bank if you’re using that external charging feature. The cord feeds through to this pocket, as you’ll see when you open it, but we didn’t use it since we carry a battery bank in our sling for quicker access. Plus, we get nervous packing too much gear around a battery bank that could overheat and then tucking it up into the overhead bin on the plane, where we may not notice it getting smoking hot until it’s too late.

Instead, we pack different flat gear in these pockets to keep them from protruding, as that makes it much harder to zip the bag closed. Since the four zipper pockets face each other, we find the suitcase rather easy to overpack accidentally, so that’s something you’ll want to keep in mind.

When you unzip the panel, you’ll find open space to fill with pouches, packing cubes, travel shoes, or clothing. You can feel the indentations from the exterior ridges inside, along with protrusions from the Samsonite logo. Still, they’re not raised nearly as high as the channels for the handle on the back of the bag, so it didn’t hinder our packing.

Because of that, we find it easier to pack clothing on the front half of the Samsonite Outline Pro Carry-On Spinner. The zipper panel makes it into one big packing cube. Then, we used the back side for shoes (in a shoe pouch), toiletries, travel hats, and other accessories. By doing that, the compression panel came in handy to hold larger gear in place, whereas we sometimes find shoes and other gear slip out from between simple compression straps (hence why we prefer packing clothing and cubes there instead).

Once you figure out the best places for your gear, it’s a great suitcase for vacations where you stay in one place and unpack. As we mentioned, it takes up a lot of room when open, so you’ll free up a lot of floor space if you can unpack when you reach your destination instead of living out of the bag. That said, we had no problem living out of it for a week while staying with a friend. We had the room to ourselves, so leaving it open wasn’t an issue. However, if you’re sharing space or in tighter quarters, this bag works best if you can pack it at home, travel to your destination, unpack and enjoy yourself, and then do everything in reverse for the trip back. Luggage racks don’t work as well for this suitcase style unless it’s a really big one!