Aluminium or Recycled RPET: Which 28-Inch Check-In Case Should You Buy?

You have decided on a 28-inch check-in case, and now there are two on the shelf at very different prices: one in magnesium aluminium alloy, one moulded from recycled plastic. Most advice for this choice is a lecture on materials. The lecture is not wrong, but it is not what decides it. What decides it is how you travel, what you bring home, and what the two cases actually are on paper.

We make both cases, so we are not neutral. What follows uses only the specifications on our own product pages, and where the pages say nothing we say so rather than fill the gap. Prices below are what the shop pages show on 2 October 2026.

The two cases side by side

VOX Magnesium Aluminium Voyage Box, 28-inch check-in. A magnesium-aluminium alloy shell with a fine-groove design and reinforced corners. S$590 founders' price (S$690 retail). Capacity 79.83 L. Weight 5.75 kg. It is the Founders Heritage edition, numbered 1 of 50, with a numbered plate and free engraving of your initials on the interior tag.

VOX RPET Voyage Box, 28-inch check-in. A 3D moulded case in advanced engineered RPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) with a scratch-resistant texture. S$290 founders' price (S$390 retail). Capacity 96.63 L. Weight 5.15 kg. It expands by 5 cm, adding 16.66 L, so 96.63 L becomes 113.29 L. It has an anti-theft, anti-split double zipper.

What they share. A TSA-approved combination lock, 360° multi-spinner wheels with cushion axles, an aircraft-aluminium telescoping handle, a 210D water-repellent lining, and a 5-year warranty on shell and wheels. Delivery in Singapore is free and takes 1–3 business days.

The thing people assume, and the spec says otherwise

It is natural to assume the dearer case is the bigger and stronger one. On the published numbers, the dearer case is the smaller one and the heavier one: 79.83 L against 96.63 L, and 5.75 kg against 5.15 kg. That is not a flaw in the magnesium case. You are paying for the material, the finish and the numbered edition, not for room. But if you were about to buy the S$590 case because you need more space, stop and look at those two capacity figures first.

The weight gap matters too. 0.6 kg is the difference in what the empty case weighs, and every kilo the case weighs is a kilo of your airline's allowance you cannot use for clothes. Whether that matters depends entirely on your airline and fare, so check your own booking rather than a rule of thumb. Our post on avoiding the overweight surprise at check-in covers how to weigh at home with a margin.

Question 1: do you come home with more than you left with?

If the answer is yes, that is the clearest reason to pick the RPET case. The 5 cm expansion and the extra 16.66 L are what the case is built for: the same trip out, and room for what you buy. The magnesium case has no expansion on its published specification, so its 79.83 L is the whole of it.

One honest caution. Expanded, the RPET case is 35 cm deep, and an airline's size limit may count that. Do not use the extra 5 cm on the way home without checking what your airline measures. We have not published an overall size with the wheels and handle retracted for either case, so if an exact figure matters to you, email hello@voxjourney.com and we will measure the actual case. Also remember that extra volume is not extra allowance: a fuller case can be over your weight limit long before it is full. The shopping-trip problem is worked through in packing for a trip where you know you will buy a lot.

Question 2: how much do you value the shell itself?

This is where the magnesium case earns its price. It is a metal-alloy shell with reinforced corners, and for some buyers that is the whole point: a case they want to own for years and like looking at. It also comes as one of only 50 numbered Founders Heritage units, with your initials engraved on the interior tag at no charge. If those things matter to you, they are real, and the RPET case does not offer them.

If they do not matter to you, S$300 less is a good reason to pick the RPET case. The RPET shell is moulded rather than woven, with a scratch-resistant texture, and it has the double zipper that we think is the part of a case most likely to ruin a trip. We went into why in does recycled RPET luggage hold up to real travel.

Question 3: what is the price actually buying?

Look at the list above for what is different and what is the same. The lock, the wheels, the handle, the lining and the warranty are the same on both cases. So the price difference is not buying you a better warranty, a better lock or a different wheel. It is buying the shell material, the finish and the numbered edition. That is a legitimate thing to buy, and it is also something you can decide on calmly instead of assuming the higher price means higher protection. For how a budget breaks down in general, see what your luggage budget actually buys you in Singapore.

Reading the warranty before you buy matters more than either case's material, and the headline number is only the start: reading a luggage warranty before you buy lists the questions to ask. On ours: it is 5 years on the shell and wheels, registered to your email at purchase. Servicing arrangements are still being finalised, and we will publish them in full before they are needed rather than promise a process we have not confirmed.

A quick way to decide

• You shop on trips or often come back with more than you took: the RPET case. The expansion is the feature.
• You want the metal shell, the numbered edition or the engraving: the magnesium aluminium case.
• You want the lower price and the larger capacity: the RPET case. It is S$290 against S$590 and 96.63 L against 79.83 L.
• You are weight-limited on a regular route and every kilo counts: the RPET case is 0.6 kg lighter empty, but check your own airline's limit before treating that as decisive.
• You are buying a gift: read giving a suitcase as a gift first, because the return rules below matter more when someone else will unwrap it.

What we cannot tell you yet

Vox Journey is new. We do not publish customer ratings or reviews, because there are none to publish, and we are not going to borrow someone else's. We have not published the overall dimensions with wheels and handle retracted, so we have no linear total and are not going to guess one. And the servicing arrangements, as above, are not final. If any of those three is a deal-breaker for you, that is a fair reason to buy elsewhere, and you are better off knowing it now.

If you buy one and it is the wrong choice

You can return a case within 7 days of delivery, in its original condition with the original box. Email us first at hello@voxjourney.com and we will confirm the details; the case comes back to our Ubi address. Each return is handled case by case, and once the case is back with us it takes 7 working days to process. Keep the box and the dust cover until you are sure, and do not stick the luggage tag on until you are.

When the case arrives, spend ten minutes on it before the trip: set your own combination on the lock and test it, extend and retract the handle a few times, roll the case across a hard floor and a rug, and if you chose the RPET case, open and close the expansion zipper once so the first time is not at the airport. Our checklist for the first ten minutes is in your new suitcase has arrived: what to check before its first trip.

You can see both cases on their pages: the VOX Magnesium Aluminium Voyage Box, the VOX RPET Voyage Box, and the wider buying guide for luggage in Singapore.

Still deciding between the two? Message us on WhatsApp and tell us how you travel, and we will tell you honestly which case fits.