Imagine you’re preparing for an upcoming business trip.
The suggested clothes to pack include suits, button down shirts, and dress pants. In addition, you want to pack some running clothes to get in your morning workout in the hotel gym prior to your meetings. How do you pack everything in an organized, wrinkle-free way?
A shrewd choice would be taking a garment bag. Garment bags are suitcases designed to be like wardrobes on wheels, holding your suits, shirts and pants wrinkle free.
The Sparrow garment bag from ECBC can hold all of your suits and dress clothes while having a completely separate compartment for other clothes or gear and another compartment for your laptop and any important documents.
Here are my thoughts on the ECBC Sparrow:
Pros:
- Well organized, lots and lots of pockets, even has a water bottle compartment
- Easy to access laptop compartment
- Uses ECBC’s FastPass System which allows you to open the laptop compartment and go through TSA security without having to remove the laptop
- Carry-on, but large enough to fit a week’s worth of clothes or more
- Great for packing suits and dress shirts, ideal for business travelers – travel wrinkle free
- Smooth YKK zippers
- Durable, the bottom of the bag is reinforced
- Two handles (one at the top and one at the side) make it easy to lift, also you can hold the bag by the bottom feet if needed
Can it be used as a carry-on?
The Sparrow is within carry-on restrictions for most US airlines, although if you overpack it, it won’t fit. The depth of the bag is slightly too large – ideally the bag would be a bit smaller so travelers could comfortably take the ECBC Sparrow with them in the cabin. If you fill the laptop compartment to the max, it’ll be difficult to fit the bag into one of those carry-on boxes at the check-in counter.
So in short, yes, the Sparrow can be used as a carry-on, but if you overpack and the bag is bulging, it won’t fit in one of those carry-on measuring box.
Wheels
The ECBC Sparrow is a two wheeled suitcase. It is not a spinner. The wheels run smoothly and are made of a hard plastic material.
Interior and Organization
In my opinion, the standout feature of the Sparrow is it’s organization. There are 3 main parts to the bag:
1. The front compartment – this part is where you’ll put your laptop, electronics, notebooks and anything else you’ll need to quickly access
2. Garment compartment – this compartment allows you to easily pack and organize your suits, pants and dress clothes without wrinkles. You can leave the clothes on their hangers when using this compartment. Inside this compartment are two triangular packing compartments, ideal for small items like socks or underwear
3. The main compartment – it has a standard rectangular design with two elastic straps for keeping everything in place. This compartment is about the same size as the garment compartment.
Cons:
- Telescoping handle is not as durable as I’d like – it’s wobbly and thin
- The zippers are not lockable
- Minor design concern: The zippered compartment which covers the handle is a bit annoying and unnecessary
- Pricey, retail $399
- If you’re not traveling with a suit, blazer or dress shirt, the garment organizer is somewhat useless
- I found the tablet compartment to be a bit unnecessary. Usually if you travel with a laptop, you wouldn’t need an iPad, so it wasn’t needed for there to be both a laptop and tablet compartment. Also, the tablet compartment is heavily padded – which is a good thing if you’re using it – but it takes up precious space.
- Having the laptop compartment on the very front of a soft-sided bag isn’t the most secure place.
The current zippers are durable and smooth, but they’d can’t be locked. This is a concern in particular for the laptop compartment. It would be an easy improvement if the zippers were like the ones depicted below, found on most suitcases:
Or, even better than lockable zippers, ECBC should include a built in TSA approved lock, like the ones found on the Victorinox Spectra carry-on and the Hedgren Traction suitcase.
The Verdict:
The ECBC Sparrow garment bag is a winner in terms of organizing your clothes and gear, but it could use some improvement with it’s telescoping handle, zippers as well as it’s sizing. If you’re taking a trip that’ll require you to wear a suit in the near future, you’ll need a garment bag, and the ECBC Sparrow is a great option.
This luggage is priced at retail $399.
Where to Get It:
- You can find the ECBC Sparrow Wheeled Garment Bag on ec-bc.com
- Also at Amazon.com
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.
The ECBC Sparrow Wheeled Garment Bag was provided for this review. As always, this ECBC Sparrow Wheeled Garment Bag review contains only my honest views and opinions. 🙂 Find out more about me and this site here.