Briggs and Riley Transcend Vs Baseline

Briggs and Riley is an American company that was established in 1970. It’s become one of the leading brands globally thanks to its extensive range and generous guarantee on its products. All products come with a lifetime guarantee. The company will repair any damage, whether caused by negligence or a manufacturer’s defect. Naturally, if the bag wears out from old age, that’s not covered.

Briggs and Riley also have an extensive range of products. It’s not a case of not being able to find something you like. It’s more an issue of narrowing down your options. To that end, in this post, we’ll compare two popular ranges from the manufacturer – the Baseline and Transcend.

Quick Comparison: Baseline Vs Transcend

Features

To start, let’s have a look at what’s available in each range.

Baseline

Baseline is the company’s signature brand, and so it has an extensive offering. It includes luxe details and a chic design style. There are no hard-shell cases in this range.

Transcend

The Transcend range is limited to:

It does look as though the company may be discontinuing this line. While you can find the full range on other sites, the Briggs and Riley only list the toiletry bag and the cabin bag at the moment. Both kits are on sale. Transcend doesn’t have any hard-shell cases either.

Weight

Both brands are relatively light-weight suitcases. Neither has hardcase options to increase the weight significantly.  This competition ends in a tie.

Available Colors

Briggs and Riley offer a range of colors. In this case, though, your choices are a little limited. With Transcend, you can currently only choose the Merlot color.

With Baseline, you have a choice of Black, Navy, and Olive Green. If you decide to order a Baseline model, just check first what color choices there are. Not all colors are available throughout the range.

The Baseline range wins this battle thanks to the wider variety of colors. It was a tough call, though. The Merlot is a very attractive color and offers a change from the traditional Black and Blue.

Durability

Neither range has a hard-shell case, which might be off-putting at first. After all, we do tend to think that hard-shell cases are more durable. That’s not necessarily true, though.

The hard-shell case’s advantage is that it protects the contents from being squashed during transport. If that doesn’t matter to you, a soft-shell case could be the better option. That’s because it’s easily compressed.

In any event, this is not something that is an issue with Briggs and Riley. If your luggage is damaged for any reason, their lifetime guarantee kicks in. They’ll repair the damage free of charge.

Both lines feature durable stitching and are well-finished. The primary difference is in the materials used. The Baseline range is made from Ballistic Nylon, which is incredibly strong and durable.

The Transcend range is made from Nylon Twill, which is also strong, but not quite as strong as the Ballistic Nylon. The Baseline range wins out here.

Price

The Baseline range works out as the slightly more expensive option of the two. Both varieties are competitively priced for Briggs and Riley, though. Here the Transcend range wins outright.

Warranty

The unconditional lifetime warranty applies to both ranges. You can also find repair kits in both varieties – most repair kits are free of charge. Our only concern here is if the Transcend range is discontinued. If so, for how long will the company keep producing repair kits? It should

The Baseline range wins this one by default. They’re both under the same warranty, but there’s a little uncertainty for Transcend.

Design

Both ranges have interesting design options to choose from. The Transcend line is the only one that features the clamshell shape, though. The clamshell shape is an interesting and practical design feature.

The clamshell shape does allow you to fit more into if you pack your luggage loosely.

Which Suitcase to Choose?

Both ranges offer an impressive number of features. Although we hesitate to use the term “Budget” range in relation to Briggs and Riley, it does seem to apply more to the Transcend offering.

That said, while the Transcend comes in at a lower price point compared to the Baseline, it’s still pricey. Still, if you’re on a more limited budget, and want a high-quality bag, the Transcend will do very well.

The difference in materials is another factor to consider here as well. No suitcase is going to last forever, but the Ballistic Nylon will last a little longer. The Transcend range still offers excellent durability.

You’re bound to get tired of the case before it finally gives out. So, either way, you’re getting good value for your money. Briggs and Riley charge more, but their luggage outlasts most other brands on the market.

Choosing one out of the two is made more difficult because of the Transcend’s unique shape and color. That said, it’s hard to overlook the limited range on the website.

Is this an indicator that the brand is scaling down production on this line? Will they discontinue it in the future? That’s hard to know for sure, but the indications are that this is what is happening. 

Overall, the variety of options available in the Baseline range makes it a more attractive option. If we had to choose, we’d pick the Baseline range.