Dane’s Review: Dakine’s Over Under Luggage
Having just returned from a trip across the country, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on Dakine’s Over Under. This is a spiffy piece of luggage, packed with nice features and a look that helps it stand out from the crowd.
Carry-On Luggage Mode
The key component of the Over Under is a beefy zipper that goes around the circumference of its main compartment. If you keep this guy snug and zipped up, it makes the Over Under small enough to bring on as a piece of carry-on luggage for most major airlines. This bag was designed specifically to the specifications used by airlines to regulate carry-on size.
While the Over Under holds a lot of stuff, you’ll want to make sure you don’t overpack it if you want to bring it on the plane with you. I managed to fit a week’s worth of summer clothes in it and flew on America West without any problems, though a couple of times they did have me “prove” that my Over Under would indeed fit in the sizing box. It did, of course, as Dakine designed it to fit, but had I tried to cram a couple more t-shirts and a few more pairs of board shorts in there, I would have had a tough time making a fair argument.
Making a Speedy Getaway
All told, it was nice to arrive at my destination and immediately catch a ride from the airport, without needing to wait at the baggage claim. I’ve had enough experience with lost or mangled luggage that whenever I check something in, I begin devising backup plans in case it doesn’t appear at my final destination.
The ability to take everything with me on the plane, and to keep it in my sight at all times, is both convenient and comforting. I travel super light so I can’t say with confidence that anyone could pack a week’s vacation into the Over Under in carry-on mode, but I think it would be very convenient for weekend travelers, or as a complement to one of Dakine’s larger “checked” pieces of luggage.
If I was going on a longer trip, I could see myself taking my Over Under and my Dakine Station (the Station makes a great laptop bag, and is small enough that it’s considered a personal item, not a piece of carry-on luggage) on the plane with me, and checking my Dakine Split Roller 120.
Checked Luggage Mode
The Over Under itself is extremely versatile, as it increases in size when you unzip the expansion zipper, allowing 1,000 cubic inches of additional storage space. Coupled with your sudden liberty to stuff it with as much gear as possible (seeing as how you’re checking it now, not trying to bring it on the plane with you), you can really fill this guy up. Since you inevitably accumulate stuff while on vacation, this frees you from the burden of fitting everything (and then some) in your carry-on again. Simply expand the Over Under, stuff it with your newfound treasures, and put it with the rest of the checked luggage.
Other Niceties
The retractable handle on the Over Under has multiple locking points, which gives you some freedom for matching the length of the handle with your height. Like many of Dakine’s larger pieces of luggage, it has a split-level design that zips around the middle, unfolding like a book and allowing you easy access to everything inside. Zippered mesh panels hold all your stuff in place, so there’s no need to worry about your stuff falling out every time you open it.
The outer pockets give you a number of places to stash last-minute items, or keep a jacket or coat close at hand. Finally, reinforced handles on the top and side make it easy to wrangle the Over/Under out of an overhead compartment, off the plane, and into a trunk.
All that, and it looks snazzy while doing it!
