Eagle Creek Travel Gear Tarmac 25 Wheeled Travel Bag
- Spacious wheeled travel bag with 5,125 cubic inches of storage space
- Large main compartment; includes built-in Pack-It organizing system
- Retractable handle system and a pair of sturdy wheels for transport
- Molded pocket protects against abrasion; Sole Patches shore up wear points
- Measures 17 x 25 x 12.5 inches (W x H x D); weighs 10 pounds
Product Description
Capacity: 5125 cu in / 84 L Expanded: 5550 cu in / 91 L Dimensions: 17 x 25 x 12.5 in / 43 x 64 x 32 cm Expanded: 17 x 25 x 14.5 in / 43 x 64 x 37 cm Weight: 10 lbs / 4.5 kg Fabric: Helix Double Box, Helix Dual Ripstop, 1680D Ballistic, 210D Nylon OxfordAmazon.com Product Description
Honored by Money Magazine as the 2007 Field Test Winner for travel bags, the redesigned Tarmac 25 is better than ever. The Tarmac 25 is extremely spacious at 5,125 cubic inches (expandable up to 5,550), and is built for compatibility with Eagle Creek’s Pack-It system–a comprehensive organizing system for packing your clothes, toiletries, shoes, and other items. As a result, the bag fits enough gear for longer trips, including multi-destination outings. In addition, the bag is notably tough, with a molded pocket that protects against abrasion, multiple Sole Patches that shore up critical wear points, and a Skid Plate that protects the bag from such urban obstacles as stairs and curbs. And once you arrive at your destination, the bag is a breeze to transport, with a retractable handle system and a pair of sturdy wheels. Other details include a detachable piggyback clip for add-a-bag versatility, a slip-away luggage tag and color contrasts for easy bag identification, durable zippers, and fingertip-friendly pulls.
 
The Tarmac 25 is equipped with Eagle Creek’s handy Pack-It system. |
Specifications:
- Fabric: Helix Double Box, Helix Dual Ripstop, 1,680-denier ballistic, 210-denier nylon oxford
- Regular capacity: 5,125 cubic inches
- Expanded capacity: 5,550 cubic inches
- Regular dimensions: 17 by 25 by 12.5 inches (W x H x D)
- Expanded dimensions: 17 by 25 by 14.5 inches (W x H x D)
- Weight: 10 pounds
About Eagle Creek
Eagle Creek designs its product lines to make travel easier and more fun. Not surprisingly, the folks at Vista, California-based Eagle Creek travel the four corners of the world in their spare time. By yak, by Fiat, by bus, by fast train, or by airplane, Eagle Creek employees come back and figure out how their gear can work better in all of the above circumstances. Most importantly, the company listens to its well-traveled customers, who demand that their travel gear be smart, indestructible, and comfortable. That’s why Eagle Creek builds every product with the highest-quality, most-reliable performance in mind. Every buckle, zipper, webbing, and fabric choice is scrutinized based on rigorous lab and field-testing. The company is also keenly aware of the environmental impact of its products, which is why it strives to minimize material waste and source and manufacture its products using the least harmful fabrics, trims, and packaging materials available.
Eagle Creek Travel Gear Tarmac 25 Wheeled Travel Bag
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September 2nd, 2010 at 3:14 am
One note about this review: It appears that since I bought my Tarmac 25 bag, Eagle Creek has tweaked this bag a little. The newer ones have an easier to use add-a-bag strap connection, a built-in shoe compartment, and perhaps a slightly different kind of fabric in some parts. However, I’ve seen the newest version of this bag in retail stores and I believe that this review of the earlier version of this bag is valid and useful, because the bag I’m seeing in stores seems to be nearly the same as the bag I own. It doesn’t seem to have been radically re-designed, and they didn’t change the name of the product.
I’ve had my Eagle Creek Tarmac 25 bag, in the Palm Green color, for three years. I gulped a bit at the prices of the Eagle Creek luggage, but I was heading out for a month-long tour of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. The itinerary included ten commercial flights, meaning ten opportunities for my one allowed checked bag to be bounced, jounced, dropped and smashed while out of my sight. I just didn’t want to risk having a cheap suitcase fall apart while I was on tour on the other side of the world. As noted, the tour company allowed us one checked bag (with strict size and weight limits) and one carry-on which because we’d be on small planes and buses, couldn’t be the typical wheeled 22-inch US domestic carry-on type. So I got this bag and the Eagle Creek Travel Gear Small 08 Tarmac Flight Bag (or the 2007 version thereof, not sure if the “08″ designation makes any difference except type of nylon).
This bag not only took the big Down Under tour in stride, it’s since been to Peru (where a Lan Peru aircraft cargo hatch door was slammed down on it, broke the TSA lock but the bag is unscathed except for a zipper pull tag that was easy to replace, didn’t hurt the zipper itself), Thailand, London and various places in the USA. it still looks great, and the gray and green colors make it a little easier to spot on the baggage claim carousels than the universal black. Someone said this line of luggage looks too “backpack-like” for them, but I like it.
At the time I was shopping for it, there weren’t as many lightweight luggage choices as there are now that US airlines are more aggressive in enforcing their luggage weight limits. But if I had it to do over again, I’d still buy this bag. It’s a quality item in all respects. It’s lightweight but very sturdy.
I like the inner compartment organization. I’ve packed using packing cubes (the Eagle Creek and eBags brands), and sometimes a packing folder – and sometimes without those aids. But the inner compartments and the snug-down straps in the main compartment allow for packing my stuff securely. The bag when empty and when properly packed is very stable and easy to maneuver on its wheels.
The wheels: they are not the cheap-looking little smooth plastic wheels I see on so many bags. These are large rubber wheels, with treads. They are well-placed, at the sides of the bag, and the whole area is reinforced with hard plastic so that you can wheel this thing up and down stairs without ripping the fabric. I’ve gotten used to wheeling my Eagle Creek bag smoothly along at a good pace, while people around me with other kinds of rolling bags, are fighting to keep theirs from tipping over or getting stuck. The flight bag I mentioned above, slips over the handle of this bag and together they make a nice single unit that’s easy to roll along. I’m not sure I’d want to take the London Underground between Heathrow airport and my hotel, with less stable and easy to manage rolling luggage. But I’ve done it with this bag and its matching flight bag, no worries.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 2nd, 2010 at 3:32 am
This is a great bag. I have one I’ve used for a year. I actually ordered it for my husband, but I started using it. Now I’m ordering another one for him.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:28 am
This is a great suitcase. Light weight. durable. An adult child appropriated my old Tarmac 25 and I went straight to Amazon to get another. This new version seems lighter with some internal improvements. The actual seller was Luggage Pros and the transaction itself went just fine.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:19 am
I have been using Eagle Creek bags for a decade now and have been very pleased with them. For me the biggest selling point for the Eagle Creek bags is the No Matter What damage repair policy. When my Eagle Creek backpack has been torn or damaged by airlines, I put it in the mail to Eagle Creek and it came back either repaired or with replaced parts. In my opinion, this policy shows the quality of the Eagle Creek products and has saved me a lot of money which would have been spent on replacement bags.
I now travel for work more than for adventure and I decided to get a rolling bag. That it would be an Eagle Creek bag was not a question, but rather which one. I have used the Tarmac 25 for long, round the world trips and have not been disappointed. The bag has ample room for packing and the main compartment can be expanded by 15% easily if need be. There are two compartments on the front of the bag that can be used to store items that can be accessed without opening the main compartment. Inside, there are more compartments for storage. I have been very pleased with the ease of organizing my clothing and equipment.
The bag is very durable with hard, plastic at the corners where the bag takes the most abuse from the baggage handlers. After several round the world trips, these plastic wear points have deep gouges in them, but the rest of the bag is in very good shape. The handle is easy to raise and lower. The large wheels are very sturdy and are very durable. I have wheeled the bag along cobblestone streets without it tipping over. All of the compartments have large zippers which are easy to zip and have rings for locks. There is also a built in shoe box for keeping shoes separate from your clothes.
The information which comes with the bag has suggestions for other Eagle Creek products which can be used to organize your packing. These include the Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Tube Cube for socks and underwear, the Eagle Creek Pack-It Half Cube for socks and underwear, the Pack-It 18″ Packing Folder Color: Marine Blue Plaid for dress shirts and slacks, the Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Double Packing Cube for t-shirts, jeans and sweaters, the Eagle Creek Travel Gear Wallaby II Organizer for toiletries and the Eagle Creek Pack-It Cube for t-shirts and jeans.
The Tarmac 25 is perfect for week long trips, but maybe too big for weekend trips, depending on how and what you pack. I would prefer one of the smaller Tarmacs for a weekend trip.
Overall, I am very pleased with the Tarmac 25 and I would not hesitate to recommend it. The Tarmac 25 may be more expensive than other bags of the same size, but the No Matter What damage repair policy, the durability of the bag and ease of organizing the bag all make it worth the extra cost.
Rating: 5 / 5
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:55 am
I researched the net as you are now, and found this case to be the most recommended for my purposes. I was traveling to Italy for 10 days and needed something durable, yet spacious, and I wanted a lighter weight bag so I wouldn’t have to pay extra for my plane trip.
This bag was dependable and I love that the wheels have a 360 radius so if you pull the bag in the wrong direction, it still moves with you. Because of the weight, I came in far below the weight limits and was able to slip two bottles of wine in it to bring home. Get a unusual color because mine was easy to find at the baggage claim and I was off and running.
Rating: 5 / 5