Alright. I ran the list according to my method and judgment. Let's call it a subjective but expert opinion. :) Anyone's own judgment might vary but it will be a good guideline and gave some interesting results.

Points are based on school grades. The best bag in each criterion automatically received 100 as a reference point. A 100 scale allows a nice gradation, better than letters or stars. It also allows for the weighting and value calculation to happen.

Sorry for the jumbled formatting. That happened during the copy/paste.

Practicality

235x 100
Hartmann 94
Tumi 93
EC 93
Piel 93
Airboss 92
A. Saks 85

Details

235x 100
Tumi 93
Hartmann 93
Piel 93
EC 93
Airboss 90
A. Saks 90

Weight

A. Saks 100
EC 93
Airboss 82
Hartmann 80
Piel 80
Tumi 75
235x 70

Durability

Airboss 100
Tumi 93
Hartmann 93
235x 93
EC 90
Piel 90
A. Saks 80

Warranty

235x 100
Airboss 98
Tumi 93
Hartmann 92
EC 90
Piel 85
A. Saks 75

Price

A. Saks $50
EC 112
Airboss 200
235x 225
Hartmann 250
Piel 250
Tumi 350

Appearance

235x 100
Tumi 98
Hartmann 95
Airboss 91
Piel 93
EC 88
A. Saks 85

Prestige

Tumi 100
Hartmann 95
Piel 95
235x 90
Airboss 88
EC 85
A. Saks 75

Total points – UNWEIGHTED

235x 653
Tumi 645
Hartmann 642
Airboss 641
EC 632
Piel 629
A. Saks 590

Total points – WEIGHTED

235x 1386
EC 1370
Airboss 1367
Hartmann 1361
Tumi 1353
Piel 1336
A. Saks 1295

Value – Weighted Points divided by price in $ (higher is better)

A. Saks 25.9
EC 12.2
Airboss 6.8
235x 6.2
Hartmann 5.4
Piel 5.3
Tumi 3.9

Partly surprising, partly not. It was clear that the Tumi would lose out on value and the A. Saks would win. But not by such a large margin.

The surprise winner in a way is the EC bag. It comes in with a huge advance to the third placed in value and is the second placed in weighted points, whereas it doesn’t do so well unweighted.

The popular Airboss scores in the top four in any regard (weighted, unweighted, value) but doesn’t win in any of these three. But perhaps its solid performance throughout makes it so attractive. Combined with a good value.

I was surprised myself (seriously) to see the 235x quite clearly ahead in total points weighted and unweighted. Of course, it is the heaviest bag and that might rule it out for many. It is also not exactly cheap. But given that it is the only bag that scores 100 in four out of eight criteria, it is still a good deal. It is a somewhat more extreme choice than the Airboss.

The other extreme choice but the value winner is the A. Saks. I was always interested in that bag but now will have definitely a look at it.

Curious to see how everyone else is going to grade and weight the points. At least price, weight and warranty are already ranked. You might want to weight them differently though. Still, that should knock about 20 minutes of the time it takes to do this. I didn't really watch the time but I think it took about 90 minutes.

I neglected to re-post the criteria and weighting ratios as those are already in the criteria thread. If your criteria and weighting are different, it would be great to see the reasoning behind your choice to make the results easier to understand.

On an upcoming month long trip, I will have a mostly checked 22" roller and will put the Airboss clone from Easygoing in it for the shorter side trips. All my other bags are too heavy and bulky to weigh down the main case with them. I'll take the BB107 since there will be two professional conferences where I need a computer/briefcase and many occasions when I will want a day bag. It will also help me avoid the strict weight rules one the short trips. The roller is expandable and will most likely get expanded and checked on the way back. It's an international flight so I got at least one checked bag free. I'll try to put all the heavy stuff in the checked bag on the return trip. We'll see how that goes.

Interesting assessment, particularly for someone who just ordered a Redoxx Air Boss, BUT, you might wish to clarify for each item, either MAKER or MODEL, especially for a new reader still involved in the decision process.

(Briggs & Riley) 235x
(?) EC (?)
(Redoxx) Airboss (Air Boss)
Hartmann (?model)
Tumi (?model)
Piel (?model)
A. Saks (?model)

and, perhaps, a link to the manufacturer's page might be nice. And with that, back to work, or perhaps on to book our air travel to Phoenix and back next March...wonder what equipment US Air uses on the Fresno to Phoenix route?

Sorry, the full names are in the nomination list.

Here is a copy for your convenience:

Airboss
A. Saks 21" expandable
Tumi 22121
Hartmann Intensity 2-zip
BR 235x
Eagle Creek Centerline Sport Companion
Piel Leather Complete Carry-all

Congrats on the Airboss purchase! :)

When you do the booking it should tell you which equipment they use on that route. Otherwise flyertalk will have your answer.

Looks like the Phoenix flight on USAir is a CRJ 900. I wonder if their overhead bins are asymmetric, like one of the other airlines, for which www.seatguru.com noted:

<<The overhead bins on the C,D side of the aircraft is larger than the A,B side and will fit standard rollaboard suitcases>>

That might have been done to fit at least some rolling carry-ons. Another more generic comment for the CRJ series, which seats 2 + 2, albeit referring perhaps to planes with symmetric overhead bins would be:

<<the overhead storage bins cannot accommodate 18 or 22 inch roll aboards, so you will most likely be checking your carry-on bag plane side. Note that the curvature of the plane limits shoulder room for all window seats, so many taller passengers are more comfortable in the aisle seats.>>

Regardless, I'll book a C/D pair, and understand that almost surely, my wife's Travelpro 22-inch will get gate-checked, with the status of the Air Boss a bit unclear. Oh well, it's only a 90 minute flight.

If anyone who travels has not discovered www.seatguru.com, suffice it to say that it can be a very useful resource, and they now even have an iPhone applet. Knowing WHAT the common equipment is at the airport one most commonly utilizes would be another factor in utilizing the very nice set of bag information outlined above, and at times, a consideration that might trump all of the other factors!

Yes, if you are flying regularly from specific airports and you know the carrier and the equipment they use, it is of great help. I've heard many people on FT say: I need a bag that is at or less than 18" because I always fly on those really small planes.

Unfortunately, the list above wouldn't help so much then because the smallest bag is probably 20" or so. But that's why I said it makes total sense to group bags in size categories. Then within these size categories the same system as above could be applied. Size and features like backpack or no are such important criteria that it makes sense to have separate rankings for those prime categories.

There would then be the EC Flight Tote, the TB Western Flyer and the BR 231x, among others in the list. It is a size category where I don't know so much about which models are out there.

I have the Andiamo Valoroso VT18. It's an 18" six pocket tote. Very nice pocket configuration. One cannot fold it open completely like the 231x or the WF, though. Still, with a cube and a folder it makes packing not much more impractical than with those bags. It is the reason I got the 15" EC folder we were talking about in the other thread.

Anyways, if somebody had the time to run through the criteria and grade and weight those bags. It would be interesting to compare notes. If ten people did that, one could establish an average weighting which would be even more informative for a prospective buyer.

In a way, this would be like a more scientific or at least detailed version of the reviews and ratings combined with the filter system on luggageonline or ebags. The luggageonline filter system is better than ebags. There are more reviews on ebags, though.

Relative to the Embraer regional jet, with its 1 + 2 seating, and the CRJ series, 2 + 2, my experience so far, mainly with a Think Tank Airport Antidote camera bag, is that length is less critical than width, while DEPTH may be the most critical measurement, then beyond that, flexibility, no, make that "scrunchability" are most important, though for almost all bags on these smaller planes, they have to be placed LENGTH-wise. 7" depth is no problem, 8" gets somewhat tight, 9" is doubtful and 10", no way, when it comes to depth. On these planes, virtually any bag with WHEELS will end up getting gate-checked. Beyond that, a bag that can be packed to decrease its depth (which should be the case with the Air Boss Redoxx is shipping to me), has a better chance of traveling in the cabin, and getting its share of the free cocktails and macadamia nuts that they airlines serve (hah!)

The Tom Bihn site, by the way, has a short video showing their Aeronaut, which by specification is as large or a bit larger than the Air Boss, fitting snugly into a CRJ overhead. Still, as Bihn offers a "Western Flyer," which is a bit smaller than their Aeronaut, one wonders why Redoxx hasn't so far considered marketing an "AiR J Boss," two compartments instead of three, depth of those somewhat asymmetrical, and a bit shorter, so the piece ends ujp at the 18.5" x 13" x 7" size of the Think Tank "Airport Acceleration" camera backpack,. This would be about 25% smaller in volume, really would be a three day trip bag, and at that, mainly for ventures where one would either not take a sports coat, or alternatively, wear it onto the flight. Of course, at the Redoxx quality level, it would still cost around $180.

I like the idea of an Airboss Junior! Even three compartments would be possible. Just shrink it. Perhaps make it expandable.

When you talk about placing bags lengthwise in the smaller jets you mean "wheels first" so to speak, right? Or do you mean so that the long side is parallel to the long axis of the plane?

I'd have to go back to the size measures of each bag in this list but I'd say they are all deeper than 7" from memory. The Hartmann is 8". I'd rate scrunchability in the depth dimension highest for the very floppy A. Saks. (9" deep expands to 13"!). Second would be Airboss. Last probably Tumi and Piel. However, I'd guess that all the bags could be squished at least one inch.

Of course, it also depends how you pack and what you pack. Bundled bricks won't compress so well. :)

One interesting thing to try out would be to see if it is better for compressibility to have hard things on the outside and soft items on the inside or vice versa. I suppose the former is better.

Update:

When I calculated the value for $ on the EC Sport Companion I based it on $110. You can get it on sale now at ebags for $79. Great deal, especially if you like bags with one roomy main compartment and several smaller compartments for organization.

http://www.ebags.com/eagle_creek/sport_companion_20_duffel/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=93825

Look like it's discontinued because I couldn't find it on the EC site.

An edit function would be wonderful. Just saw it for $70 here:
http://www.luggagepros.com/eagle-creek-centerline-series-sport-companion.shtml?zmam=6548955&zmas=1&zmac=22&zmap=PID5305

<<When you talk about placing bags lengthwise in the smaller jets you mean "wheels first" so to speak, right? Or do you mean so that the long side is parallel to the long axis of the plane?>>

The latter is required, as the depth of the compartment typically isn't more than 14 inches, though the next generation CRJ may increase that to 16 inches, along with the height, to better accomodate wheeled bags.

Of course, with the typical "pitch" for economy class seats being 30 to 32 inches, one quicily calculate that at best, the overhead above a group of eight seats on a 2 + 2 CRJ will at best hold bags for only about six of those seats. For a larger jet, where the depth allows the bags to be placed bottom (very often wheels) first, the situation won't be much better, capacity for two rows of six seats easily eight bags, but only occasionally as many as ten. On a fully-loaded flight, a game of "musical bins" can emerge just before the cabin coors are shut.

Plan as one may to use only a carry-on bag, and a single one at that (this IS 1bag1world, right?) realistically, if yours ends up as "odd bag out," having anything fragile or valuable in a single pouch where it can be rapidly extracted prior to surrendering the bag for a "gate check" is a good idea. This can especially be the situation if one's boarding group is the last one on, which will be the case if one has booked a seat towards the front of the economy section, those often desirable for a quieter flight, and a more rapid exit.

Actually I should admit that I now carry "anything fragile or valuable" in a separate "boarding bag," currently an Eagle Creek Guide Pro, nicely usable as a day bag at my destination, though I would allow that a bag a size larger, enough to hold a regular-sized magazine, may be a better choice. Really, on a crowded plane, opening up the overhead to access small items out of one's carry-on isn't convenient, even with the aisle seat, and surely not with the window seat!