Pelican TRVL Suitcases Review – Perfect for Traveling Filmmakers

Accessory Review

by Graham SheldonAugust 12^th, 2025

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Pelican, maker of hard cases aimed at filmmakers and working professionals, now has a line of bags and suitcases called TRVL aimed at the wider traveling public beyond purely “film-folk”. Full review below.

Alright, you’ve clicked on CineD (where we are known for talking about film and TV technology), and you get hit with this review of suitcases. Perhaps off-topic? Let me tell you why it isn’t. For one, the Pelican TRVL line feels based on (and indeed uses some of the same design ideas) found in Pelican’s classic film and TV hard cases. Also, I travel all the time for work and often have to take lots of equipment with me, sometimes with limited cases due to weight limits.

I recently filmed an episode of ‘Wild Kingdom‘ for NBC where we were heavily restricted with our luggage because of the weight limits on a small plane traveling to an isolated sand runway in Mexico. I’ve also found myself flying into the middle of the Alaskan wilderness on small planes. I’m lucky that my job as a DP allows me to travel, but there is a persistent degree of stress, and that stress mostly comes from the question: “Will our expensive equipment survive the trip?”. A trip to a location with limited options to acquire replacements in the event of damage adds another layer of concern.

Oh, and to top it all off, I’ve broken many suitcases, or rather, experienced suitcases falling apart after dubious handling by various global airlines. Suitcases, especially hard suitcases, are expensive, and that’s true of the Pelican TRVL line as well, with its premium price tag. But, I’d like suitcases to feel more like tripods in the sense that they are a one-time investment that lasts for years, and maybe, just maybe, the TRVL series could be that for my work.

First impressions

For this review, I spent time traveling with the $429 Pelican AEGIS Check-In Rolling Hybrid Duffel (Charcoal, 32″), $599 Pelican ATX Hardsided Check-In Roller Case (Sand, 25″), and $89 Pelican AEGIS Protective Cross Body Sling Bag (Black). Each of the bags and the suitcase is a bit different, and I’ll break them down below, but Pelican’s long-time focus on protecting the interior contents is very clear in the design of each.

The AEGIS line uses a semi-rigid design that feels a little like the sides of an Aputure or Nanlite lighting case. The ATX line, on the other hand, feels almost exactly like my 1535 Air (perhaps my favorite carry-on case to date, and I cover that case a bit in this CineD article).

Contained under the AEGIS branding are also nifty smaller bags and even backpacks. The SXH5 AEGIS Protective Sling with molle compatible exterior webbing is a standout. The sling is basically the perfect size for my Sony a7RV with one or two SIGMA contemporary E-mount lenses, and, for once in my life, I’m not terrified of minor bumps.

Everything is branded prominently with the Pelican name. I’ll admit that while the brand carries a certain cachet, it’s not exactly subtle if you’re trying to go incognito or avoid drawing attention as a filmmaker or content creator. I tend to cover recognizable camera brand labels with gaff tape on cases just out of habit while traveling to avoid pesky thieves.

On the other hand, I used the protective sling while filming a stand-up comedy show in LA, and nearly every crew member on set (a crew of about 25) asked me what it was and where I got it.

The Pelican TRVL AEGIS 32″ is big, very big (like could carry two weeks of clothing big for two), and the ATX 25″ feels a bit more manageable for a week trip, but both would need to be checked on domestic airlines in the United States based on dimensions alone.

Let’s dive into a bit more detail on each, starting with the AEGIS 32″.

The Pelican TRVL AEGIS 32″

This may be a small thing for some, but one of the things that I immediately loved about the AEGIS 32″ is the location of the exterior straps. While you are traveling from the sidewalk to a ride share service or from an airline luggage belt, you need to interact with your bags in different ways, and this bag has a conveniently placed weight-bearing strap in all the locations you need one. Love that. No fumbling around for a useful handle!

I had a month-long multi-country Disney shoot a bit ago, and we were able to do laundry occasionally, but this bag would have been perfect for that project in particular. The interior space is huge. In fact, I would have supported interior dividers of some kind with the AEGIS 32″ – it’s just a big interior space, and everything has a tendency to slide around during transit.

This bag demands a couple of packing cubes because of the untamed interior. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try out a packing cube for this review, but Pelican thoughtfully offers a variety of them in various sizes. Pelican calls them “ModPacks”.

One of the things I was worried about with this bag is whether it would retain its shape or not after having something heavy placed on top of it, with a mostly empty interior. The exterior of the bag has the same rigid material as the protective sling, but it is not as bulletproof as the ATX exterior. Thankfully, after setting several weights on top of the AEGIS (total weight about 30 lbs / 13.6 kg), everything bounced back into place quickly once I removed the weight.

Pelican ATX

Given my perception of Pelican as a pure filmmaking brand, I’m not sure what I expected here, but I was very impressed by the build of the Polypropylene (thermoplastic polymer) ATX 25″. Pelican has essentially taken their core design ideas from their “Air” branded cases and brought those over to the ATX line, while adding some travel consumer friendly ideas.

If you aren’t familiar, the “Air” cases are generally about 30% lighter than their non-Air Pelican counterparts. That weight difference is especially meaningful while traveling, and the Pelican 1535 Air is my go-to carry-on for lenses and camera bodies on aircraft, especially. The line of Air cases is the perfect tradeoff between weight and protection for me personally when I travel with expensive/fragile cameras and lenses.

The Pelican TRVL ATX 25″ isn’t exactly weightless, as the suitcase tops out at 18.5 lbs/ 8.3 kgs with an empty interior. But, in exchange for that weight tradeoff, you are getting tons of protection.

For my Pelican 1535s, I always add a foam-padded or CRDBag lid in conjunction with a TrekPak interior, which I believe is particularly relevant to the ATX line, in my opinion. More on that in a moment.

There are small design considerations here with the ATX that are just handled (pun intended) so darn well. For one, the handle soft closes (meaning it can’t be slammed down), and each of the latches clicks into place easily without pinching or struggling. Lining up the top lid with the bottom during closing is easy, and everything aligns quickly without effort.

The four wheels all spin easily and quietly 360 degrees, and the handle extends and retracts easily to the point where it’s going to be hard for me to go back to using other non-Pelican suitcases.

I received the Pelican TRVL ATX 25″ ATX 25″ in the “sand” color, and I actually would suggest going with black or charcoal, despite the undeniably cool look of the sand color, for a simple reason: scuff marks do read on the sand finish (see the picture below). In particular, rubber scuffs from luggage belts or airport padding tend to remain on this exterior. I tried to buff off a few of these scuffs with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and I didn’t have much luck, but perhaps I should have used a different cleaning agent.

The interior of the Pelican TRVL ATX 25″ sports one zipping compartment with a flap on the other side that might be nice to hold an extra pair of shoes in place. Notably, the interior has the same issue for me that the TrekPak/Foam options solve in the Air series. There isn’t really a protective layer between your interior contents and the plastic exterior, which means your items can knock directly against the sides of the case.

Of course, you can get around this problem by wrapping your items or using packing cubes, but I would have loved a thin layer of interior foam between the plastic shell and your gear.

Look, the $599 price tag is going to give some pause and rightfully so, but for professional travelers who aren’t interested in having their items arrive damaged, they will find much to love here. For me, I gain peace of mind with the ATX 25″ to the point where I absolutely feel comfortable mixing in bits of camera equipment with my clothing on shoots where space is a premium – I’m not sure I would put any camera kit in the AEGIS (at least not without additional protection around each of the items).

SXH5 AEGIS Protective Sling

I have so many bags from other brands in this particular form factor, and Pelican’s AEGIS version of this sling is my favorite of the bunch. You have the AEGIS semi-rigid protective layer, but it isn’t on the side that impacts your body while hiking around, and there is exactly enough interior room for a camera body/small lens or two, batteries, and memory cards/reader.

There is a little hidden zipper pocket at the rear of the SXH5 that’s a perfect spot for a passport, an AirTag, a wallet, and cash. Pelican smartly put this pocket in a spot where it can be easily accessed by the wearer and not by anyone who might be looking to grab your items in a crowd.

Again, this isn’t a huge bag and I used it mostly for my Sony a7RV or Sigma BF camera with accompanying media and a few batteries. This sling bag is intended for a day trip and not as a catch-all for multiple zoom lenses and primes. For that kind of mobile storage, consider giving the backpack-style PX18 Aegis Travel Pack a look.

The $79.95 SXH5 comes in black, blue, charcoal, and sand colors as of publishing, and along with the ATX 25″, I find myself using the SXH5 most often.

Final thoughts on the Pelican TRVL line

For my work, I’ll continue using the Pelican 1535 Air as my go-to carry-on for camera bodies and optics w/TSA mandated batteries, and the ATX 25″ will be my go-to for everything that can be checked beneath the plane. For longer jobs, the AEGIS 32″ is my catchall for clothing, but I’ll be investing in some Pelican travel cubes for that bag.

After receiving the Pelican TRVL items for review, I went into a local travel shop in California with pricier suitcases to see the overall state of travel bags and suitcases these days. For one, Pelican is generally priced higher, and that’s something I expected, but after walking around the store, I couldn’t find any bags or suitcases that I felt offered the same build quality.

So, the core question remains: are you going to spend $180 on a suitcase that will survive for two years of heavy travel (maybe), or would you spend $599 on a suitcase that could last for a decade or more? I easily put 10,000 airline miles on the ATX 25″ and AEGIS 32″, and except for the exterior scuffs on the sand colored ATX 25″, none of the hardware components show any flaws.

What’s your filmmaking suitcase of choice, and what do you think of the Pelican line? Let us know in the comments below!