As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Measurements on this page come from airline sites and Amazon listings, not from a lab scale. Affiliate disclosure
Head to head
Zipperless LEVEL8 HeGent versus the Samsonite Freeform
The HeGent drops the main zipper and weighs 9.9 lb at 22 × 14.9 × 9. The Samsonite Freeform is 6.5 lb and listed at 23 × 15.3 × 9.8. Neither is a strict US fit.
Pick the HeGent if a blown zipper is the failure you are buying against and you can live with almost 10 pounds. Pick the Freeform if you want a lighter Samsonite with a stated 10-year warranty and you already expect to miss a 22 × 14 × 9 sizer.
LEVEL8 HeGent zipperless carry-on, 20 inch, black
Listing and A+ copy: 22 × 14.9 × 9 inches including wheels and handles, 9.9 lb, 38 liters. Product details match: 14.9 × 9 × 22 inches.
9.9 lb on the product-details table.
Check price on AmazonSamsonite Freeform hardside carry-on
Live listing on November 10, 2026: bullet says 23 × 15.3 × 9.8 inches with wheels, and product details say 15.3 × 9.8 × 23 inches, 6.5 lb. Older third-party snippets quoted different numbers. We use this listing.
6.5 lb on product details.
Check price on AmazonTwo hardsides that miss the same test
The HeGent carry-on is listed at 22 × 14.9 × 9 inches and 9.9 pounds. The Freeform is listed at 23 × 15.3 × 9.8 inches and 6.5 pounds. Both fail the strict US major box. The HeGent fails on width. The Freeform fails on height, width, and depth. Southwest's 24 × 16 × 10 box is kinder to both, with less margin on the Freeform's 9.8 inch depth.
So this is not a contest about who fits in the overhead bin at American. It is a contest about shell design, weight, and warranty, among bags you may end up checking.
Zipperless is a real feature, and it is not free
The HeGent listing describes an aluminum frame, no exterior zipper, two compartments, and dry/wet separation pockets. Interior dividers can still be zippered. You are buying protection against the main track splitting when the bag is compressed. You pay for that in weight. At 9.9 pounds empty, a week of clothes can push you over an 8 kg or 7 kg cabin scale before you have packed shoes.
Samsonite's listing does not make a zipperless claim. It makes a weight claim and a 10-year warranty claim. If your zippers have been fine and your complaint is a heavy bag, the Freeform is the more coherent answer. If every zipper you own has died in year three, the frame is the point of the HeGent, including the checked 24 and 28 inch sizes if you want the same idea in the hold.
How we would choose
For a strict-sizer trip, neither. Use the size checker and look at the Travelpro compact. For a Southwest or international cabin with a larger published box, the Freeform's weight is hard to argue with, as long as you measure the bag you receive against 23 × 15.3 × 9.8 and not against a slogan. For a traveler who checks a bag every time and wants the zipper gone, the HeGent frame is the one in this pair that was designed around that complaint.
LEVEL8 is featured through December 1, 2026. Samsonite is not. The weights above are the listings, not our scale.
Questions people ask next
Does zipperless mean the HeGent has no zippers at all?
The shell closes on a frame instead of a main zipper. The listing still describes zippered interior dividers.
Is the 24 inch HeGent a carry-on?
No. The 24 and 28 inch HeGent sizes are checked bags. We link them on the HeGent review with that label.