Hard sided luggage is great for protecting your valuables when traveling. If you are like me and travel extensively, you have probably experienced broken items in your suitcase at least once. Let’s face it, our bags are tossed around carelessly at the airport by baggage handlers. You would have to be pretty naive to think they handle our luggage with a great deal of delicacy! This is why you want durable luggage.

One way I have found to combat these “incidents” is with hard luggage. My set is extremely durable and can take a beating. However, some brands aren’t exactly as tough as they look. They break easily and are pretty worthless. So what are some reliable hard sided luggage pieces you can buy?

Here are a few I really like:

Luggage Manhattan 4-Wheel 27″ Trolley (Titan) – simply put, this thing is a beast and can take a pounding. It has really spacious storage compartments and best of all, it is extremely light. It can be rolled on either 2 or 4 wheels, and is very easy to maneuver. Overall, this is a great suitcase and will set you back anywhere between $450-500.

Silhouette 11 Hardside 26″ Spinner (Samsonite) – this Samsonite hard suitcase is made of polyestercarbonate and is also an extremely durable shell. It is a split case that can easily hold enough clothes for a week or more. It features a TSA combo lock to keep your valuables safe. I have seen this on sale for $289 recently.

Zero Halliburton Classic 24″ Polycarbonate – this is the cream of the crop for all hard sided luggage and will set you back approximately $750. You can probably throw this off the plane and it will stay in tact (almost). If you want the best of the best and have the money to spend, then you really can’t go wrong here.

While the examples above are a bit pricey, there are a number of cheaper versions of hard side luggage on the market as well. I will be reviewing these in a future post as well.