p.2 #1 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
EB-1 wrote:
What kind of airline is measuring with the wheels out? That's not how they would fit in an overhead.
Some people just use a conventional roller of reasonable size (and modest cost) with lesser padding and complexity just to get the gear through the airports and then transfer the gear to a photo backpack at the other end.
EBH
They don’t care where the wheels are, just as long as the bag fits into the measuring device. This bag as it is described will not fit into the measuring device being too deep or too wide depending how you rotate the wheels.
The stated dimension of the bag are exactly the carryon size…but the wheels will stick out from the bag causing the bag not to fit.
Mr. g-the -man does not seem to grasp this concept and will come back with some more rhetoric remarks…that’s just him.
p.2 #2 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
A few years ago I picked up a large Kata camera backpack that came with a removeable trolley. This made it easy to fit the bag in the overhead compartment on airplanes. The trolley would fold up very small, was lightweight and the legs would pull out for a much easier balanced ride.
Unfortunately I don’t think it is made anymore.
p.2 #3 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
chez wrote:
They don’t care where the wheels are, just as long as the bag fits into the measuring device. This bag as it is described will not fit into the measuring device being too deep or too wide depending how you rotate the wheels.
The stated dimension of the bag are exactly the carryon size…but the wheels will stick out from the bag causing the bag not to fit.
Mr. g-the -man does not seem to grasp this concept and will come back with some more rhetoric remarks…that’s just him.
According to this 2025 article the total length for most all airlines is at least 55cm; some are 55.5-56cm and a few are larger.
The total length of the PD bag is 55.6cm including wheels, so should meet all of them within a small tolerance.
The probability of getting that type of bag on a plane with modern bins is mostly dependent on your class and boarding zone. It's more likely that it will be overweight than 0.5cm too long.
p.2 #4 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
EB-1 wrote:
According to this 2025 article the total length for most all airlines is at least 55cm; some are 55.5-56cm and a few are larger.
The total length of the PD bag is 55.6cm including wheels, so should meet all of them within a small tolerance.
The probability of getting that type of bag on a plane with modern bins is mostly dependent on your class and boarding zone. It's more likely that it will be overweight than 0.5cm too long.
EBH
I’ve actually spent a lot of time getting to understand the baggage size rules on US and international airlines since we usually travel with carry-on luggage only.
Anyone who has looked into this understands that listed bag specifications are often (unlike with the PD roller) slighlty out of range. For example, some European airlines will use a 21.5” maximum length specification… but they aren’t dinging people for having a 22” bag. (Though, who knows? We may have antagonized enough other countries now that they will start going after US folks. If I were Canadian, I might feel like it right about now!)
At least two wheels, and often all four, rotate on most contemporary roller luggage. This isn’t just a PD thing — it is the same on the rollers that I regularly take onboard.
When you lay the luggage on its side or “back,” the wheel units rotate to be within the dimensions of the main luggage. I’ve never seen that kind of luggage end up with the wheels stuck in position that held the bag up in the air. I guess if you were really careful you might get it to balance that way for a few seconds, but seriously? ;-)
Anyone who is looking for something to critique about the PD roller can find real issues with it — and the wheels aren’t among them. As the thread title acknowledges, for many people the more serious real world issues are price, weight, and the relatively small internal capacity of the luggage.
For folks who want low-capacity a 34L carry-on conforming semi-hard roller (that expands to 39L if not used as carry-on luggage), who are happy to pay the $600 price, and who will carry light enough loads hat the 8+ pound luggage weight* won’t put them over weight limits, the PD looks to be innovative and well built.
*One example of why that is a concern: The carry-on luggage weight limit on Lufthansa, for example, is roughly 18 pounds. If you took this roller, you’d go over that by putting more than 10 pounds of gear into it!
p.2 #5 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
My initial thoughts about the PD roller is that it's a luxury item targeted towards prosumers, who are also photographers. It looks like a great product with many features that with good design & thought put behind it. However for a photographer looking for specifically a roller to travel with, I believe ThinkTank rollers fit the needs better with larger internal storage for bulky lenses and multiple bodies.
I've felt this way about other bags, like the Wandrd PVKE, which feels like a nice backpack, that also can be a camera backpack. The included camera cube feels like an added feature, an afterthought, on that bag specifically the camera cube is small and not rugged for a traveling photographer who also uses Pelicans and ThinkTanks
p.2 #6 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
My feeling is it's targeted at US-based customers where AFAIK, there generally isn't a 'reasonable' carry-on weight restriction with US carriers. Non-US carriers of course almost universally have carry-on weight restrictions of 10kg or less. Thankfully, this is one area where Canada has followed the US's lead and removed the government mandated 10kg limit some 5-10 years ago (?), though some smaller Canadian airlines still have weight restrictions. Air Canada's site states: Although no weight limit applies to carry-on baggage, your bag must be light enough that you can store it in the overhead bin unassisted.
p.2 #7 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
rscheffler wrote:
My feeling is it's targeted at US-based customers where AFAIK, there generally isn't a 'reasonable' carry-on weight restriction with US carriers. Non-US carriers of course almost universally have carry-on weight restrictions of 10kg or less. Thankfully, this is one area where Canada has followed the US's lead and removed the government mandated 10kg limit some 5-10 years ago (?), though some smaller Canadian airlines still have weight restrictions. Air Canada's site states: Although no weight limit applies to carry-on baggage, your bag must be light enough that you can store it in the overhead bin unassisted.
That’s the way that the weight limit should be done.
Having a rule that almost no one actually enforces is problematic in a bunch of ways. And the reality is that the bigger issue is the size, not the weight, of carry-on luggage.
p.2 #8 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
The bag appears to be well made but it's way too heavy and comically overpriced. There is a reason why virtually all luggage is sold at a 50-70% discount to a MSRP that nobody ever pays, it is extremely cheap to manufacture and extremely high margin. Also if you do any traveling to Europe, the Peak roller wont fit in at least half the carry-on 'size checkers', and most of those airlines actually check unlike North America. I watched one video where a guy took the roller to an airport in the EU and tried every carrier's bag check cage and it did not fit in most of them. Also, regardless of whether you fly with an airline where it's technically allowed, if you are on a smaller aircraft like a CRJ or Q400, there is no way that is fitting in the overhead bin. If one ever found themselves in a situation where they were forced to check their bag full of thousands of dollars of camera gear, it would be better to not get on the flight. I like some of Peak Design's products but IMO this one is a flop.
p.2 #9 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
CanadaMark wrote:
The bag appears to be well made but it's way too heavy and comically overpriced. There is a reason why virtually all luggage is sold at a 50-70% discount to a MSRP that nobody ever pays, it is extremely cheap to manufacture and extremely high margin. Also if you do any traveling to Europe, the Peak roller wont fit in at least half the carry-on 'size checkers', and most of those airlines actually check unlike North America. I watched one video where a guy took the roller to an airport in the EU and tried every carrier's bag check cage and it did not fit in most of them. Also, regardless of whether you fly with an airline where it's technically allowed, if you are on a smaller aircraft like a CRJ or Q400, there is no way that is fitting in the overhead bin. If one ever found themselves in a situation where they were forced to check their bag full of thousands of dollars of camera gear, it would be better to not get on the flight. I like some of Peak Design's products but IMO this one is a flop....Show more →
Like you, I like (and own!) a number of Peak Design products. I think they area a good company. I have several of their sling bags, one of which I literally use daily. I have wrist and shoulder straps using their quick attachment system that I use on all of my cameras. I enjoy stopping in at their retail location when I'm in the Hayes Street area in San Francisco. I've had to make use of their warranty and they came through for me, even on an older bag.
I do think that there is value in US Airline size conforming roller luggage, and I can think of a few situations in which this new piece might work well for a few users. The issue of smaller planes is going to be there no matter what "regular" size roller you get, be it precisely conforming to US or International rules — that's more about reduced size limits on those smaller planes, anyone who uses regular carry-on luggage needs to be ready for that... if they fly on those routes.
That said, I have a similar reaction to this new product. It seems like a carefully designed (and likely manufactured, too) product that somehow misses real world user's needs of its target market, including traveling photographers.
I read that it weighs over 8 pounds. If you were to take in on an airline (like Lufthansa) that has a 6kg ( approximately 18 pound) limit per carry-on bag, this roller would be nonconforming if you put more than 10 pounds into it!
It is true that your luggage probably won't get weighed, but it is also try that it may — and when/if that happens things will become pretty complicated.
Some portions of the luggage's target market will be fine with this — for example, photographers using the roller for motor vehicle travel, taking trains, checking baggage, or only flying on airlines that don't have/enforce this kind restrictive weight limit for carry-on.
p.2 #10 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
I have a lot of respect and admiration for what Peak Design do and have managed to accomplished in the last 10+ years. The designs are not always 100% to my liking, nor how I would have opted to solve a certain problem/situation, but overall, they stand out as innovators and offer top quality.
A lot of thinking and planning went into their new Roller Pro, but it has some challenges:
A) The size is slightly too large for quite a few regional carriers, especially in Europe
B) It has been overbuild, hence the life-time warranty, but that comes with 3.9 kg weight empty. Many carries now forces to weight the luggage and the max if often 8 kg, sometimes 12 kg, and this back packed out, or with any camera gear and computer would easily go over this requirement.
The price is high, but not overly so when considering top of the line rollers from other brands. Price is even good if you buy it via the Kickstarter program.
At the end of the day I don't think this is a good one-and-only-rolller to do all things. And I don't think it was designed for that either. This is one of the roller you have in your arsenal and you pick it when it fits your requirements.
p.2 #12 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
PIOK wrote:
Watching that video again (I had seen it on their site) reminded me that not only does that roller itself weigh 8.6 pounds, but their recommended Camera Cube weights 1.87 pounds… without dividers.
Add dividers (who doesn’t?) and we’re looking at around 11 pounds just for the roller and the camera cube. If you fly Lufthansa (and a few others) that leaves maybe 7.5 pounds for your camera gear before you go over the weight limit. Yikes!
I’m betting that, in typical PD fashion, the luggage is solid and quite protective, but it isn’t going to be light.
On a more positive note, it looks like the Kickstarter link has been updated to address the speculation expressed by one person in this thread that the bags physical measurements would be too large. They have now posted a bunch of photos of the thing in the bag size check bins for a lot of airlines. It fits.
p.2 #13 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
gdanmitchell wrote:
Like you, I like (and own!) a number of Peak Design products. I think they area a good company. I have several of their sling bags, one of which I literally use daily. I have wrist and shoulder straps using their quick attachment system that I use on all of my cameras. I enjoy stopping in at their retail location when I'm in the Hayes Street area in San Francisco. I've had to make use of their warranty and they came through for me, even on an older bag.
I do think that there is value in US Airline size conforming roller luggage, and I can think of a few situations in which this new piece might work well for a few users. The issue of smaller planes is going to be there no matter what "regular" size roller you get, be it precisely conforming to US or International rules — that's more about reduced size limits on those smaller planes, anyone who uses regular carry-on luggage needs to be ready for that... if they fly on those routes.
That said, I have a similar reaction to this new product. It seems like a carefully designed (and likely manufactured, too) product that somehow misses real world user's needs of its target market, including traveling photographers.
I read that it weighs over 8 pounds. If you were to take in on an airline (like Lufthansa) that has a 6kg ( approximately 18 pound) limit per carry-on bag, this roller would be nonconforming if you put more than 10 pounds into it!
It is true that your luggage probably won't get weighed, but it is also try that it may — and when/if that happens things will become pretty complicated.
Some portions of the luggage's target market will be fine with this — for example, photographers using the roller for motor vehicle travel, taking trains, checking baggage, or only flying on airlines that don't have/enforce this kind restrictive weight limit for carry-on....Show more →
No doubt it's a good bag in an absolute sense, but it seems like it's over-engineered to the point that it's usability is reduced. I'm also not sure how much different the experience would be if you simply purchased their camera cube (or a similar one from ThinkTank) and put it in a $100 hard-shell carry-on. You'd be missing a few pockets and some nice finishing touches but not hundreds of dollars worth.
That bag with the camera cube in Canada will be over $1000 before taxes if they don't eat some of the exchange rate. It probably won't sell well here haha.
To your point, it might be more popular for photographers who aren't travelling via plane, but then that opens up a lot more options as well that do something similar for a fraction of the price. It'll be a nice bag for those who have use for it and don't mind paying for it. I have their travel backpack and a couple sling bags, they do those well.
p.2 #16 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
Another bag that starts with being too heavy by itself. We need the Domke philosophy applied to airline bags instead of these over-engineered heavy monsters.
p.2 #17 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
I had a DOmke back in the 20th century that was composed of some non-waterproof material. It became disgusting after a few years of field use and had to be destroyed to prevent contagion. I'd want to see the bag be fully contained.
p.2 #18 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
gdanmitchell wrote:
I wonder if you could put one of their camera gear inserts into that old Samsonite? Might be a good combo!
Well, the PD Design is a lot deeper so an insert fits better there, but let's face it, there are a million ways to solve for this issue these days. Most of them won't involve spending $600 on buying something new that won't pass weight or space limits around the world (even it if it does in the US). For example, if you fly out of Charles De Gaulle in Paris, I have been pulled aside 100% of the times in the last 8 months to special weight and size my roll-on. Every single time. If it is above 8 kg/17 lbs, you will have to check it. No exceptions.
p.2 #19 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
I just chatted with PD, the XL camera cube is 1077 gr with the diviers. The Roller Pro is not 3.9 kg, it is 3991 grams, which in reality is 4 kg, not 3.9. Thus, this roller together with XL cube is 5067 grams or 11.17 lbs before you put any gear in it.
It might be a great system for taking gear on location, rolling from the car to your photoshoot, taking it on a train ride from New York to Boston, etc, etc, but putting two bodies, grip, a 400mm, a 70-200/2.8 zoom and more in this, it will quickly weigh quite a bit. It might not be an issue for some people, but it surely will be for others.
p.2 #20 · PD Roller Pro - 300% too heavy and 300% too expensive
patotts wrote:
Well, the PD Design is a lot deeper so an insert fits better there, but let's face it, there are a million ways to solve for this issue these days. Most of them won't involve spending $600 on buying something new that won't pass weight or space limits around the world (even it if it does in the US). For example, if you fly out of Charles De Gaulle in Paris, I have been pulled aside 100% of the times in the last 8 months to special weight and size my roll-on. Every single time. If it is above 8 kg/17 lbs, you will have to check it. No exceptions.
CDG must not like you! I’ve never been caught there, though recently my wife was the lucky winner of the random extra security flagging and got to unpack everything in her carry-on before boarding.
But I’m with you on staying within the regulations for size and weight, especially for international travel.
One thing, though… did you see the updated PD page where they show the thing fitting into the test bins for something like 20 airlines, including some where they are more likely to check size? (I still have the same concerns that you have about the weight of this model of luggage, though I think that size seems to be in line with the regulations.)
