REVIEW – Summer vacation is almost here and the Foldie will not leave my social media alone! I am never fully satisfied with my travel stuff, so it seemed like a no-brainer when the Foldie was offered for review. Read on if the constant barrage of social media advertising for the Foldie travel bag has made it haunt your dreams. It has mine!
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $$99.95 but with a BOGO offer on at the Foldie website, or $59.95 on Amazon
Where to buy: Foldie or Amazon
What is it?
The Foldie is a travel bag that expands, fits a ton and folds up if you don’t need it.
What’s included?
- The Foldie travel bag
- Some literature about it
Tech specs
Dimensions: 45cm x 20cm x 25cm or 35cm (expanded)
Capacity: 40L
Weight: 1.4lbs/480gr
Design and features
The Foldie is designed to be your personal item — you know, the item that fits under the seat when you’re on an airplane. When it’s not expanded, the dimensions conform to most budget airline specs for personal items, like RyanAir and Spirit. It’s a high-quality item made of water resistant polyester with re-enforced stitching and YKK zippers that you can lock with the luggage strap. It has two exterior zip pockets, one that doubles as the pocket it folds into and one that makes the luggage sleeve so it will sit on top of your full size carry on. It also has two outer slip pockets for an umbrella and a water bottle or something like that. It has a detachable cross body or shoulder strap as well as two shorter straps. Inside it features a wet pocket and some slip pockets for smaller items and pens. It comes in many cheery colors that I didn’t get. Mine is gray. At least it’s a neutral color.
Performance
The Foldie arrived just after I left on my January trip, but I had many overnighters before I road tested it on my vacation to Hawaii. It easily holds enough for a weekend getaway — it is a great bag for that. You can fit your shoes in the expandable bottom and your clothes above along with many toiletries. I don’t think I ever completely filled the Foldie on any of my trips, although sliding my 12-inch iPad in the Foldie proved a smidge tricky — it can’t sit on anything if you plan to zip it. Not a huge problem, but something to consider if you’re planning to toss a larger laptop inside.
Overall, I liked the Foldie. I like an exterior water bottle pocket, and I liked that it’s soft enough to jam under the seat in front of you, even if there is some kind of weird bar (as you’ll see in my photo) or some unexpected block under there. You can always make it work. I also liked the high quality of the Foldie. However, there are a couple of things that I think could be improved. First of all, the zip pocket that slides over your carry-on handle can be a bit difficult to manage, particularly if you have a lot of stuff in there. If you had something big and rigid like a small notebook, I think it could be a real pain. Also, I felt like the Foldie was a bit cavernous inside. I like a lighter interior to make it easy to find things. Probably not an issue if you get a bright bag, but my gray one felt a little like a bottomless pit.
The Foldie is marketed as a personal item that folds up into one of the exterior zipped pockets, so the idea is that you can carry it on your trip as an “in case” bag. I found the folding process to be easy enough, but if you are going to use it as an “in case” bag, I think it should be bigger. If I’m going to carry a foldable bag because there’s a chance I’m going to have to too much stuff in my luggage, then there is a good chance I’m going to check that “in case” bag. The Foldie isn’t all THAT big.
It’s also marketed as a “personal item,” and I think the Foldie performs well on a functional level for that. It’s the maximum size of a personal item for many airlines as long as you don’t expand it, and it does do well shoved under an airline seat. However, due to the unstructured nature of the bag, it looks kind of of sloppy to me. This may not matter to you, but when I am travelling, I like to look neat and tidy, if not a little classy. I like a tailored look that doesn’t look saggy and messy. Maybe this doesn’t matter to you, but I don’t consider the Foldie a “looker.” It’s functional but not that attractive.
Final thoughts
The Foldie is a very functional bag that conforms to many airline’s “personal item” requirements. Its unstructured style means it can be jammed under an airline seat, but don’t expect it to look great perched atop your carry-on.
What I like about The Foldie travel bag
- High quality
- Holds a lot!
- Fits most airline’s regulations for a personal item.
What needs to be improved?
- Not that big if it’s your “in case” bag.
- Unstructured and can look a bit bulgy and sloppy.
Price: $$99.95 but with a BOGO offer on at the Foldie website, or $59.95 on Amazon
Where to buy: Foldie or Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Foldie. Foldie did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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