!f Verage luggage review 11

Getting ready to travel? Check out the new Verage Rome collection for high-quality, durable hardside luggage that’s ready to take you anywhere. This piece of Verage Rome 24″ large hardside expandable luggage is featured here in Black, which looks like a beautiful, complex dark silver in person.

What sets and colours can I get Verage Rome luggage pieces in?

Verage’s Rome collection is available in six different colours as well as three different set sizes. You can find them at Best Buy at 19″, 24″, and 28″. They are offered solo or a set of two or three. (The duo features the Rome in middle and largest sizes, which are 24″ and 28″ respectively.)

The colours the Rome line comes in include:

  • Khaki, a sleek gunmetal silver;
  • Blue, a lustrous watery blue;
  • Green, a vibrant turquoise;
  • Yellow, a vivid, eggy yellow;
  • Purple, a pinky-lilac purple; and
  • Black, which is featured here.

Verage Rome 24" hardside luggage review interior

Details that pop out about the Verage Rome collection

The Verage Rome collection is really well-made. I did my product testing for this piece of luggage around the same time as another collection from a different brand and the difference was significant in every detail I looked at. This piece of luggage is sturdy and very well-made, with fine adjustments. The adjustments are hard to see in photographs, but make a huge difference during use.

Those adjustments included things like a firm middle position in the product’s handle. The telescoping handle feels secure in both the halfway and fully extended positions, which often gets missed in product design. Frequent travellers—and if you’re buying a piece of luggage this large, that likely includes you—will know that luggage handles that slide easily out of position are the bane of one’s existence getting to and from the airport. If your luggage is poorly made, everything kind of gets away from you if you hit a bad bump in the sidewalk or turn a sharp corner in the airport. There goes the purse you had resting below your hand hold! There goes the kids’ stuffed animal that was looped through the handle!

(And there go your spouse’s toes, if they’re hurrying behind you and your handle suddenly extends. Ouch!)

Verage Rome 24" hardside luggage handle

Roman design by Peter Burns

Bumps and turns aren’t a worry with this piece of luggage. Verage’s Rome collection is well-designed and well-built. The Rome exterior is inspired by Roman columns, like the ones you’d see featured in a basilica, and each ridge is precisely manufactured with a smooth, attractive edge. Each of these pieces look great in every colour and size.

The vertical Rome design is sleek and business-appropriate in black, blue, and khaki. It’s playful and eye-catching (sometimes searingly so) in yellow, green, and purple. These pieces were designed by Peter Burns, a Red Dot award-winning designer. He has 15 years of travel design experience for brands like Verage and Samsonite.

Verage Rome 24" hardside luggage wheels

Why choose hardside luggage?

Travellers seem split on the hard vs soft side luggage issue. Hardside luggage, as Verage puts it (most brands use “hard side,” separately, as two words,) is the overwhelming default nowadays—but it wasn’t always the case. From soft leather duffel bags to hard trunks, there have been two options for luggage for decades.

Softside luggage

Those who prefer softside luggage often prefer it for its exterior pockets. While soft luggage materials can take more damage in the cargo hold, these pieces are often made with 1-2 front zippered pockets. For those travelling without an additional purse, those pockets can be very handy! Textile finishes also take damage differently from hard surfaces. While they are more likely to tear, they’re less likely to show scuff marks and are unlikely to scratch or crack.

Hardside luggage

Hardside luggage like this set, on the other hand, is seen as more durable. The high-grade plastics used in them are extremely strong. They no fibres that can snag on other luggage pieces and tear. Hardside pieces almost never come with exterior pockets and usually open into two easy-access halves. (Soft luggage pieces generally open toward the front into one single, extra deep compartment instead.)

Which should you choose?

I personally choose hardside luggage because I like its sleek lines and firm compartments. I opt for models available with a telescoping handle, inner compartments, and 360 degree wheels, like the Rome collection. What makes hardside luggage so handy for me is that its smooth exterior is so easy to work with: These pieces never get stuck going into the overhead bin. You don’t have to worry about them in your checked baggage, they make great footrests during or after long flights, and you don’t have to worry about your luggage getting soaked through if you’re travelling to your destination on a rainy or snowy day.

Verage Rome 24" hardside luggage lock

How are Verage’s zippers?

Verage uses safety zippers with a recessed TSA lock. The zipper pulls slot into the lock perfectly, in a specific order, to achieve a secure fit.

While travel locks do very little to prevent theft (they’re easy to break and must use a universal key for security purposes), I appreciate their inclusion. To me, they’re not really for your safety—they’re for your convenience. Once your luggage pulls are secured in their lock, integrated conveniently along this smooth zipper, your bag isn’t going to pop open from rough handling or mischievous kids’ interference. It’s one less thing to worry about during travel, which is great!

You can also use your travel lock to secure your luggage at your destination. Again, it’s ideal for interfering with meddling kids, but can also be used to evade nosy parents or snooping siblings.

Verage Rome 24" hardside luggage interior

Is the 24″ Rome Expandable Luggage worth it?

While this luggage piece is a little on the heavy side thanks to its thick, durable exterior, it’s a great buy. Verage integrated recessed wheels into this design to give you extra interior space and the whole piece just comes together really nicely. Its smooth, 360 degree wheels rotate like butter and are easy to pull over uneven surfaces. (You can chalk that up to their thick, double-wheeled design.) Its zippers work like a charm and the telescoping handle does its job perfectly. The 24″ version of this piece, featured here, comes with side feet for horizontal storage as well as top, side, and bottom carry handles. The combination makes it easy to transport even when stuffed full.

My only complaint with the Rome is the product’s interior organizers, which leave something to be desired. I recommend using these luggage pieces with a set of travel organizers to get the best experience.

Shop the Verage Rome 28″ luggage today.

Rae Chen
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.

474 COMMENTS

  1. We (husband and I ) are going to Arizona and would be taking three pieces, 2 carry on’s and one larger piece.

  2. I would love to go to Japan. I would try to pack everything in a carry on and a backpack so it’s easier to get around.

  3. I would visit cuba in a heartbeat and I’d take a carry on piece of luggage and travel with the bare minimal.

  4. I would love to go to Portugal, still on my wish list, would try to make due with 1 carry on and a backpack as I find locating luggage to be frustrating.

  5. I would like to go to England and likely take 2 pieces of luggage to have enough clothing for weather changes.

  6. would love to go to Hawaii and need 1 large suitcase and 2 carry-ons, because we have a toddler and need to bring sooo many toddler things

  7. I am planning to visit South Asia and will bring set of 3 luggage bags so I can take lots of gifts for my siblings and parents. Didn’t get a chance to visit them for years, so when I’ll visit them this year, I’ll try to bring so many gifts.

  8. I would like to go to Mexico for a sunny getaway, would need one carry-on and one piece of larger luggage.

  9. I’d like to visit London, England, for a few weeks and take in a few soccer games. I would probably need the 28″ case for all the things I’d need to carry.

  10. Walt Disney World in Florida, USA. I would need just 1 piece of luggage for t-shirts, shorts and flops!

  11. My husband and I would love to travel to Rome. Probably need 23 suitcases. One for each of us and one for souvenirs.

  12. I would like to travel to Vancouver . I need 1 piece of luggage because I only bring essentials and they would fit into one piece of luggage.

  13. I’d love to travel to Hawaii or someplace tropical! I just take one large piece of luggage with me.

  14. I would love to go to fiji where I can enjoy the warm sun, I would only need one suitcase because all I would be bringing is bathing suits!

  15. I’d love to go anywhere warm, I’m so over cold weather! For a week’s trip, a purse and a carry on would do it – but I have kids so we always end up with way too much luggage with us!

  16. I would really like to be able to go to Disneyland with the kids this year. I need like 3-4 suitcases for our stuff plus souvenirs!

  17. I would love to go to Japan, and I believe I could travel with one carry on suitcase! I think anymore traveling around I struggle to move it, and if I do really need anything I can always pick stuff up when I am there.

  18. I’d love to go back to Italy and visit Rome and Tuscany again. I’d be bringing at least two pieces of luggage because I’d go for 2 weeks and would need lots of clothes for a stay that long.

  19. My family and I are going to Azores island this summer. Parents are from back home and they haven’t been there in over 20 years. They are minimalists but I’m an overpacker so 2 for them and 2 for me. 4 luggage in total.

  20. I would love to go to Walt Disney World in Florida, USA and I would need 3 pieces of luggage.

  21. I would love to travel to Japan this year. I need 1 piece of luggage per person so that we all can pack as much or as little as we need. I don’t want to share my space with others so that’s why I need my own luggage for a major trip.

  22. I would love to go to Budapest, Hungary with one piece of luggage – I am a minimalist packer and like to travel light.

  23. I would like to go to Spain and would take a carry-on bag – you can buy whatever you need most places.

  24. I really want to visit Barbados, I will need the expandable 24″ in Yellow, a vivid, eggy yellow
    Only one. It looks reliable for the airlines, lol. They’ll find it immediately.

  25. I would like to go to Singapore and would take two pieces of luggage with me to wear a different outfit each day I’m there.

  26. I would like to go to Switzerland, with one carry on luggage bag. Any more than that it gets to be too much, and I don’t want to be one of those people whose luggage gets lost and then donated by the airline to some group since that is easier than getting it back.

Comments are closed.