Osprey Daylite 40L wheeled duffel vs Eagle Creek Int'l Expanse

I passed on the Osprey for this exact reason. The lack of grab points is something easy to overlook until you're actually using the bag. Something I learned the hard way, just like my experience with mono-pole rollaboards, which mirrors yours.

Thank you for your reply Scudder!

We did 'airport simulation' at home wheeling the packed Ozone through the house where it was fine to maneuver. Of course the big test was getting through crowded Heathrow halls, in & out of crowded elevators while trying not to be run over by people who were in a hurry. We simply could not maneuver the bag properly then. There are many things that we actually do like about the Ozone but it's overriding more cumbersome to maneuver outweighs all of the positives.

The Eagle Creek Expanse is very popular. It was out of stock until 14 July and immediately sold out again. I take that to be a good sign.

I have 3 monopole bags that don't bother me at all because they each weigh only 4.5 pounds empty. I limit the packed weight of any bag to 20 pounds and I haven't experienced torqueing.

However, when I looked at the 2 bags that you listed and saw that they only weighed about 5 pounds each empty and have a U-shaped handle, I thought, hmmmm?! That's a very reasonable empty weight and the ability to put a personal item with a sleeve over the handle is a definite advantage. ✅️

Besides grab handles, something else I look for is how the handle rods are covered inside the bag.

The Expanse has a cover that has a zipper. That means you can unzip it, put stuff on either side of and between the rods to fill up the depth of the rods and flatten the packing surface. I aways pack with compression cubes, but I've used that space for relatively flat things like maps, paper work, socks, scarves, etc.
Here's a link to the Expanse which has a good picture of that interior.

It was harder to find a picture of the same area for the Osprey, but there is one here. You can see that the back and rods have a very tight fitting liner, so you can fill in those spaces around the rods more easily, in a similar way or not. The backpack straps might be useful for you, and from the pictures it looks like they expect them to be used as handles somehow in addition to the pull handle and the front base.

On my last trip, I used a 38L Osprey Ozone Global monopole bag, 20h x 16w x 8d, that was easier to pack than my other slightly larger bags due to its square shape. Both the Expanse and the Daylite are square. ✅️

One thing I discovered with my old Eagle Creek international expandable bag is that I could open the expansion zipper, pack and then close the expansion zipper. I'm sure the Expanse would work the same way.

There is a very big price difference between these bags. That does make the decision tougher. 🥴 Hopefully you can find a better price on the Expanse than what most vendors are showing.

Hi Diane,

Earlier this Spring we purchased 2 of the Osprey Daylite 40L bags from REI, one for myself and one for my husband. We used them on a 3 week trip to Spain and we really liked them! We took several trains, wheeled them on streets, and carried them up a LOT of stairs.

As far as carrying goes, I usually picked mine up and grabbed the little bar at the base (the one to keep it upright) and it balanced the bag nicely for me carrying up stairs, etc. I knew that I wouldn't used the backpack feature, so I removed those straps before we left. My husband thought he'd use them, but didn't. I experimented with taking one of his backpack straps and attaching it crossways to make an additional carry strap/ cross bag option, but I never had to use that.

I think it is probably important to load the bag so that it balances well for the way that I carried mine, but it worked great for me!

A couple of times, I picked it up with my tote strapped onto the handle and that was fine too.

Bag feels plenty rugged and was easy to pack. Let me know if I can answer any other questions!

Thank you so much ladies for taking the time to reply! I really appreciate the thoughtfulness of your responses.

Re: Lo … I never considered to unzip the bag’s lining to even out the space. That’s so clever! I do use packing cubes and have tried do a similar thing with them, not always successfully, by packing cubes vertically first then horizontally to try to flatten the space. Also, I did not consider that expanding part of the Expanse bag could be, theoretically if I did not try to smoosh too much, as a compression sack so to speak. We had no difficulty packing the Ozone for our trip and would not anticipate that either the Daylite or Expanse would be a problem.

Re: SunnyBlueFlax.. We would not use the backpack feature on the Daylite either. Perhaps the space where the straps store could be used for something else. Although at this point I can’t imagine what that might be as we do have personal under seat bags for things we need to keep hands on & those things we might want quick access to. It’s encouraging to hear how well the Daylite preformed for you during your 3 week trip! Osprey does make durable products and we have been happy with the day bag we purchased from them.

Perhaps a good work around for us would be to purchase the Daylite for myself and the Expanse for DH as a birthday gift when I can maybe justify paying the extra cost.

Hi Diane,

If your husband decides he wants the Osprey Daylite 40L also, but in the solid blue or black, you could buy it when REI has their 20% off one item sale........not quite as good a discount as the floral pattern, but not too bad.

Just spent a month in Switzerland with two Daylite wheelies and they were adequate at best. The handles on both were flimsy and would not lock in the second position--it would just pop back up to fully extended when you started to walk or put the least little bit of upward pressure on them. One was completely useless and one worked most of the time. The pack itself was brilliant, small enough for trains and they hold a lot of stuff. Ours were not overloaded or over weight but going over curbs or stairs or even some cobblestones, they would wobble or twist--putting addition strain on the handles. The handles are not beefy at all and are somewhat loose when fully extended. I kept waiting for them to brake entirely but they made it. I called Osprey about this and got the impression that it was not unusual for this to happen--and I would have to send them in with me paying the postage for them to look at/fix or replace. I also got them to send me a pictorial sheet on how to potentially fix them but it was for a different bag. I re-called and got yet another bag fix description so I am debating whether to use them until they fail or send them back, get them fixed and sell them and get something else. I would not recommend the bags even though they are conceptually well designed. Functionally, they don't work and the handles will fail.