wco81

Saw some travel blogger claim she can pack for 2 weeks in a carry on.

She compresses clothing in the Spacepak Flight 001, which appear to be overpriced packing cubes but she mentioned that she packs it all in an Away carry on which has a battery for recharging devices.

She also boasted that while her carry on is often over the 14 kg limit, she'll just tell the gate agent she has her camera on there and airlines won't check electronics -- unless the DHS makes them do it.

So I Googled a bit and found there is "smart luggage" which typically includes a battery pack with USB ports you can access from outside the case. Not a bad idea but can the packs be removed or do you have to drag the roller near an outlet to recharge the battery pack?

Anyways, here's a roundup of smart luggage:

http://www.mydomaine.com/best-luggage

Several of them appear to have ways to compress your clothing anyways so special packing cubes would be redundant.

One of them goes all out with tech, apparently has some kind of smart locking mechanism which locks and unlocks for you depending on your proximity.

It also has an app. which apparently does some kind of tracking? Unless it has its own data connection, how would it transmit its location?

But it's steep at $450 for a carry on which may not even be a good piece of luggage apart from its smart features.

Anyone using smart luggage?

deniah

luggage is that last thing that i need to be 'smart'. imo theyre very superfluous. for security either its all or nothing, so i keep all my luggages unlocked. for portable charging, i need to have that capability more with me, than tied to my luggage alone.

seems more a case of 'how can we differentiate our product' via esoteric improve rather than needs-based design.

although personally there is 1 piece that im mildly fascinated by - the suitsupply 'race case'. it's a carry-on with integrated scooter. which seems a bit naff to some, but around here kick/push-scooters are used nonchalantly by adults as transport assist.

i dont have a rolling brief for the single-overnight business trip, so this seems better than a carry-on + laptop bag. would be great for zipping through a place like FRA. but im skeptical of the weight and volume, neither of which they list...

ghostrider72

Carry on baggage, using hotel facilities (e.g. laundry) or doing yourself for undepants is perfect even for long term staying. Apart from this consideration (lots of "armored" packs here at www.pacsafe.com but expensive, or have a look at the excellend Osprey Farpoint 40) I believe that smart luggage is totally unuseful.
I have been travelling in the last four years using just a Benzi Ultimo 40 L carry on bag whose price is just about 19,99 euros and in a couple of months I'm upgrading to the Osprey Farpoint (for me) and the Osprey Fairview for my wife. They both sport laptop protected area and perfect straps including the waist one.

wco81

Hotel laundry which charges by the piece is fine if someone else is paying.

ghostrider72

Well, it is not so expensive and doesn't force you to carry tons of baggage with you...

chx1975

I had the luggage with the built in scooter. It's ... not great.

All in all, every. single. time. something is advertised as smart I immediately know to stay away.

A carry on bag needs to be light and sturdy and nothing else.

And seriously, mydomaine.com ? If OP didn't have thousands of posts I'd have reported this as spam.

deniah

can you give a bit of light on that?

found the empty weight - 5.8kg. foreseeing issues since my laptop and charger alone will bring it to 8kg. might fail at its intended purpose since the aim of overnight trips is not to check-in bags

chx1975

An airport is a bad place to scooter around. Too many people. That's a big problem. And yes, the weight is another.

Personally, the scooter is way too small. Most scooters actually suck if you are 6'3" and 230lbs (why do you think I do not fly in normal economy for more than a few hours ). Look at the SwiftyONE TALL and you will see the difference.

deniah

something to think about! thanks

Analise

So can I with this carry-on. You do some laundry in the sink, have it done at the hotel, and/or find a local laundromat to do it for you or you do it there.

I don't need to worry myself with charging my luggage to juice my mobile technology. I carry a small battery charger in my purse that weighs a mere 4.8 oz that can charge both of my iPhones and my iPad mini 4. This is in addition to the mophie battery case on my phones. So I really don't to waste money on luggage doing the same.

wco81

Link doesn't work.

As it turns out, I'm about to do some laundry this afternoon here in Northern Spain.

Hotel charges a couple of Euros per piece. I can afford it but I'd rather not pay 30 Euros for clean socks, underwear, shirts and a couple of pants.

Analise

It works now. Or try this: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/9157...n-medium&csp=f

KRSW

THIS! I expect my luggage to have good wheels, sturdy fabric, sturdy zippers, sturdy handles, and hopefully not weigh a ton. A jack of all trades is a master of none. My current luggage is 10 years old. What technology products from 10 years ago are you still using today? The cassette deck in my 2004 car seemed somewhat dated in 2004. In 2014, it was completely useless.

I do 2 weeks away from home all the time with nothing more than a Costco/Kirkland carry-on and a laptop bag or my laptop shoved into my camera bag.

Depending on attire, I can usually do 7 days without a problem. Beyond that, or for heavy winter clothing, laundry will need to be done on the road. There are many threads about doing laundry on the road on FlyerTalk. You can buy laundry soap sheets if you're not sure what the laundry situation will be at your destination. I usually skip hotel laundry unless it's a self-serve affair (I still feel strange about having other people touch my dirty clothes), and in most major cities laundromats/laundrettes are common and cheap.

boltjames

No one uses "smart luggage".

All of these bags with battery chargers and built-in scales only exist to raise money from investors. No one actually uses these things as they are counter-intuitive to travel as they add weight, expense, and complexity.

timfountain

Bah, I can do 2 weeks easily with just a 20" rollerboard. Not too difficult iMHO and I'm no travel writer or user of advanced, wacky-named travel gadgets. Only one caveat. I have to have 2 weeks days in the same hotel, so laundry can be sent out. I never bother with DIY laundry.