My review of Monos Luggage – Stylish & Intuitive

Shopping for new luggage can be overwhelming. As someone who travels for a large portion of the year I am always looking for luggage with durability and innovative features in addition to being fashionable.

With a scheduled trip to the US Virgin Islands scheduled (after numerous cancelled trips thanks to Covid-19 including Phillipines, The Maldives, Italy and the Greek Islands), I contacted Monos to be a sponsor for both of our TV shows – Luxe Travels and Maximum Foodie. I am so glad they agreed to be our sponsor, as I’m obsessed with their luggage now and it makes traveling a breeze.

The Canadian-based brand has mapped out every feature with careful consideration and every time I use Monos on trips it reaffirms that I have made the right choice. Monos are confident you will love them too as they offer 100 day for you to try it out and if you don’t love it you can send it back (trust me, you’ll want to keep it!)

The Luggage I chose

1 x Checked in Large – Rose Quartz

1 x Checked in Large – White

1 x Carry on Pro-Plus – Rose Quartz

2 x Luggage Covers

The Reasons I love Monos

Style

Naturally being an Influencer and Travel Blogger the first thing I have to touch on is how stylish and fashionable the suitcases are. They look great! Monos has an incredible range of colors to choose from that allow your luggage to reflect your personality and also stand out at the carousel. I love some of the unique options you wont’ see offered by any other brands – like their limited editions Terracotta and Terrazzo. I chose the soft Desert Rose and White. I loved that the colors were super soft and feminine. I’ve received so many compliments already.

Some of you may be thinking– but aren’t you worried about the white getting ruined? I honestly didn’t think twice about choosing White with Monos. As an accessory they offer luggage covers for your Checked Luggage, which I used and tested out on my last trip. By the end of the trip the suitcase still looked brand new! I’m extremely impressed with the cover, which is also eco-friendly and recyclable!

Lightweight

I have a lower back injury combined with a tendency to want to pack a lot of clothing (thanks Instagram!) on my trips. The first thing I want is a lightweight suitcase so I can pack more clothes in (makes sense right?). I was very impressed with the weights below for the Monos cases I chose, which were some of the lightest weights I’d seen for hard cases. I am considerably impressed with the Large case considering the checked luggage dimensions make it one of the largest you can buy in its class.

Checked Luggage Large: 10.58lb/4.8kg

Carry On Pro Plus: 8.38lb/3.8kg

Hard case and virtually unbreakable

Secondly I do travel with a lot of fragile things such as electronics and makeup – so my second consideration is I do need a hard case as they are more waterproof and don’t break easily. I love soft cases but I can’t do it after one trip left me with a case full of soaked and stained clothes…

Monos is made with an Aerospace-grade polycarbonate hard shell, so I have no concerns about it breaking on my trips. The material they chose is also flexible, which means it absorbs energy from the impact and bounces back into shape! Definitely what I need for my luggage…I remembering watching on in horror on my USVI trip when we got off the Cessna plane and the luggage handler threw my suitcase two meters into the air until it landed on the truck… I remember thinking here we go, if it survived that impact then I have faith in the case for sure. I was quite impressed when I checked afterwards and it was undamaged!

Ease of Use

I will admit I do have a little bit of a problem when it comes to overpacking but I just like to be prepared! This means my suitcase can get quite heavy so a suitcase that rolls easy makes a huge difference to me. I can honestly say my last few trips with Monos have impressed me with this alone. Their wheels and handle use are by far the most intuitive I’ve seen on a suitcase. In USVI we had a couple of Airbnb with cobblestone roads or brick pavements and the wheels were extremely durable and handled being thrown around with ease. Through airports I love how smooth the Carry-On Pro suitcase glides and how silent it is. I usually throw my tote bag on top of it and the extra weight is handled with ease, unlike previous suitcases where this seemed to unbalance them or make it too difficult to wheel.

Organized Packing

Packing is definitely something I don’t enjoy so if its somehow made easier for me I’ll take it. Both the Carry-On Pro Plus and Checked Luggage have multiple zippered compartments which are divided into sections which I love to use to separate intimates and other items. I also like how they both on one side has a zip to hold the contents inside and the other has a flap with straps to compress clothing down and secure all your items. I found it super easy to pack things and keep them in place due to the design, which ultimately can prevent your possessions from breaking. The inside fabric is super soft and I love that it’s microbial material, the same as the included shoe and laundry bags. I always pack my shoes in separate bags and pack a bag for laundry on my longer trips, so the fact that they were also microbial is a definite plus for me!

Quality

When I am going to purchase something that I know I will use regularly, I always want to buy a high quality product. I feel it is better to invest in a suitcase thats slightly more expensive than buying a cheaper quality one which you may end up replacing two or three times. I also enjoy using quality products more and this suitcase feels like a high-end suitcase but it has a reasonable price point. If you read the numerous reviews on their website everyone mentions how high their quality is compared to competing brands such as Away. Some things I noticed, which make a difference over time include:

• All the materials used are from quality materials from the polycarbonate hard shell to the color coordinated reverse coil zippers, silent 360º wheels, telescopic handle and the anti-microbial interior fabric lining. Everything is made so well and it makes using these suitcases an absolute breeze.
• Monos arrived in a beautiful drawstring canvas bag (great for storage) with a ziplock bag included in each suitcase. Within it was a quality vegan bag tag (a lovely touch) and a buffing eraser. I was devastated when my Desert Rose Carry On Pro Plus was checked recently on a trip and when it came out it was covered in black scuff marks and a sticky residue. I honestly thought it was damaged beyond repair. I took out the buffer Monos included and buffed the areas, not expecting it to do anything and it removed every single mark! It looks completely brand new now and it eases my mind to know that I can do this if needed on future trips. We all know luggage gets thrown around and abused on trips so it’s nice to know Monos thought of a way to ease your mind a little.

Intuitive Carry On Pro-Plus

I can’t believe I left this feature to last as it is probably one of my favorite features of the Monos luggage. I am obsessed with the hard pocket feature on their Carry-On Pro Plus, which means I can easily put my laptop at the front of my carry on case without unzipping the entire suitcase! Usually you would need to purchase a soft case to get this feature but Monos have built it into their hard case and I never use any other carry on now. I was worried that the Carry-On would be a bigger size when I first selected it (due to it being a “Plus”) but it is the normal size I would use for flying on domestic US flight and international flights. You can fit your laptop, phone, sunglasses and anything else you may need easy access to on your flight into the front pocket and its still protected by the polycarbonate shell.

By far the best part about this is it makes going through security an absolute breeze! I just open the top of the case and slide my laptop and phone out before going through TSA and then slide it back in. No need to open the whole suitcase up! Please never get rid of this feature Monos, it’s a lifesaver. I wish I could do all my trips with just a carry on now.

There is nothing else I can really say about Monos, except to go and try it yourself! Please ask any questions in the comments below or let me know if you’ve decided to buy one, I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Safe Travels,

Elise Natalie