Levelling Up My Luggage With Level8: Is It Worth The Money?

Luggage is a necessary investment for travellers, and I won’t lie: whenever I need to buy a new suitcase, I always find it hard to choose what would be best.

I recently tried out one of Level8’s hard-shell suitcases on a big trip around Canada, and I’ve just returned home so it’s time to report back on what I think of the case. I’ve never actually used a hard-shell checked case before; I’ve used a large holdall style case (I loved that thing!), soft-shell cases, and backpacks. However, after buying a hard-shell carry-on in Japan, I’m sold on them for better protection of my belongings.

Level8 reached out to me a while back, but I didn’t feel that any of my upcoming weekend trips could do it justice for a real test. When I decided to visit Canada, it felt like the perfect opportunity to test it out properly – on connecting flights, on manoeuvring around cities, and on long road trips changing hotels every couple of nights.

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So let’s dig in to how this case held up, and whether I’d recommend it for your next piece of luggage.

Full disclosure: Level8 provided me with a 28″ Grace suitcase in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own, there were no editorial guidelines from the brand, and I was free to do as I please with the suitcase in order to test it.

Level8 are based in New York where they’ve been producing high quality luggage since 2008, and the bonus is that they offer free shipping to the UK and Europe.

The design

One thing I really like about Level8 is the designs. Their most popular, the Voyageur and the Luminous Textured, both look incredibly sleek and I love the vibrant colour options (this was a deciding factor for me though, as the Luminous collection only offers the 28″ size in black). I wasn’t completely sold on the extra wide handles of the Voyageur either – I can’t tell if it would make movement easier or not, though I’ve read it creates more space inside the suitcase as you don’t have the bars running through the middle. Of those, I definitely prefer the Luminous.

However, I decided to go for the Grace collection, which has a little more character, and on-brand with my style of budget travel, is slightly cheaper. I felt it stands out more with the ribbed shell and metal corners, and again I really liked the colour options.

And although I didn’t get to try this one out, I LOVE the design of the matching carry-on case. With a fully openable front compartment, it’s perfect if you’re travelling with a laptop, which is one thing I struggled with in my current carry-on case.

I have to admit I didn’t realise just how big a 28″ case is! They also have a 30″ case available, which is a certifiable monster. Great if you have a 30kg limit, but probably not practical for a 23kg limit. My 28″ ended up being 21kg (I did pack a lot of gifts for my family in Canada), so pretty close to the limit! This is worth bearing in mind as I could have easily fit a few more things in, so I can imagine it would be easy to go over the weight limit by mistake.

On that note, it is remarkably lightweight to begin with, given its size. It’s just under 5kg and holds a whopping 104L.

Level8 has won various design awards, and it’s easy to see why – it’s stylish, intuitive, and (importantly) easy to spot on the luggage carousel. I didn’t want a case that looked like everyone else’s.

Functionality & quality

The next thing is the functionality. I have to say the case itself is fairly basic. It has two main compartments with only one mesh pocket in the middle.

This is where the Grace case is slightly let down, in my opinion, as the Voyageur and Luminous cases have various middle pockets to separate all sorts of things. It’s so much more useful having the extra defined space, and given the price I thought there would be more inside.

But the WHEELS. They are suuuuuuuper smooth and the 4 wheels glide easily over all sorts of different terrains. I decided to put this to the test at Emerald Lake.

It was surprisingly easy to move the case over this ground, as well as the gravel around the car park, and I checked the wheels afterwards to see how they were holding up. The last thing I wanted to do was wreck the wheels doing something like this, and yet they looked barely used!

If you’re not hauling it along a dirt path and are just using it normally on a pavement or in an airport, it’s sooo quiet! Considering how large the case is, I was really impressed by this.

I’m yet to try it on Edinburgh’s cobblestone streets…

Durability of the Level8 Grace case

After a 3 week trip, including being hauled around London and Vancouver, in and out of my hire car at least ten times, a connecting flight where anything could happen to it, through underground stations, and squished into a luggage rack for over four hours on a full train, it’s looking virtually brand new compared to the numerous scuffs my carry-on case received after one flight.

…except for the metal corners. They’ve been scratched up quite a bit, but then I suppose that’s probably the point of them being there, to protect the case.

I have read from other reviews that the Luminous collection can wind up with a few scuff marks, and it was one of my concerns of having a hard-shell suitcase to be honest, but I found that the ribbed style of the Grace collection means that it doesn’t seem to scuff anywhere near as much, and at least is far less obvious.

The polycarbonate case is hard-wearing, but it’s the polyurethane wheels that are even more durable – apparently tested to withstand 276,000 wheel rotations. I can’t tell you how far that is, but it sounds like a lot.

Security

The cases are all fitted with TSA-approved locks, which means you can keep all your belongings secure and be reassured that if it needs to be checked for any reason by airport staff, your lock and case won’t be wrecked as it can be opened by them.

Convinced? You can buy the Grace suitcase in several sizes here!

Add-ons & accessories

As well as their luggage, Level8 also produce their own range of luggage accessories, such as packing cubes and toiletry bags. Level8 kindly sent me one of the toiletry bags as an additional gift.

The bag has a ton of space for full-size bottles, a smaller (detachable!) waterproof bag for little toiletries such as moisturiser and balms, and a mesh zip-up compartment for smaller items like nail clippers, cotton buds and tweezers. Not only that, but it all unfolds to hang down on the door, which is PERFECT in hotels and even shared hostel bathrooms where there’s not a lot of space to play with and you want to be as efficient as possible.

I love my regular toiletries bag (it has puffins on it!) but it’s just one basic compartment, so this bag was a gamechanger. It’s excellent quality too – I’ve seen bags like this before, but none of them have been anywhere near this good. That said, it does have the price to match! It’s just under £60.

I have to say, having looked at all sorts of packing cubes from different brands, I really like the look of Level8’s as well, as they look very high quality. I’ve got some cheapo packing cubes and they do not hold up well.

As someone who’s travelled on a budget a lot, using my fair share of budget suitcases, I know how beaten up and clunky they can be. Having four wheels, for one thing, makes a huge difference just to the ease of getting around.

But knowing what a cheap suitcase is like, and seeing whether they can stand the test of time (which they usually can’t), has helped me to see the value of a high quality suitcase. The exterior of the Level8 Grace suitcase manages to be stylish and practical in one, the handle is stable and easy to use, and the wheels glide across anything you set it on.

While Level8 aren’t the cheapest, and nor should they be, I think they provide good value for money if you’re a regular traveller who needs a good quality suitcase rather than one that might fall apart after a few flights or one that you’re only going to use once a year. Some things are just worth the investment.

Plus if you’re interested in purchasing any of their cases, you can get 15% off with my code ORCADIAN15! And they also have 15% off in their sale at the moment anyway, so you can save money regardless.

What do you think? Is it time to elevate (get it? Level8?) your luggage?