Southern Style Cooking: We Put Carry-on Suitcases through an Obstacle Course and Hit Them with Baseball Bats

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

We Put Carry-on Suitcases through an Obstacle Course and Hit Them with Baseball Bats

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Luggage

We Put Carry-on Suitcases through an Obstacle Course and Hit Them with Baseball Bats

If you ask me, a good carry-on suitcase is the single most important piece of luggage in a traveler's arsenal. Not only do I try to use mine every time I fly so that I can avoid the time and cost associated with checking a bag, but I also use it for road trips and weekend getaways. The right carry-on provides enough space, organization, durability, and maneuverability to get you through any trip—whether you go by land, air, or sea.

But there are a lot of carry-on luggage options out there. So we put 11 of the very best to the test to see which carry-on suitcases are truly worth your money. We chose the highest-rated and buzziest bags on the market, ranging in price from under $90 to almost $600. They varied in style; we picked everything from a classic black softside piece to a shiny aluminum case. And we tested these bags vigorously. In our Brooklyn lab, we packed and unpacked each bag and took notes on its capacity and organizational features, like fold-out garment panels, toiletry pouches, and shoe bags. We wheeled the suitcases over cobblestone, cement, carpet, and wood—we even rolled and pivoted them through an obstacle course of cones to gauge agility. And yes, we took hard swings at them with a baseball bat (and repeatedly dropped them from a 6-foot ladder) to see just how tough they were.

We found some clear winners and included them all in our roundup. Here are some of my personal favorites:

Travelpro Platinum Elite Spinner: The brand is a favorite among pilots and flight attendants, and it showed why in our testing. It tallied perfect scores across the board.
Monos Carry-On Plus Spinner: Everything about this suitcase felt neat and tidy, and the exterior style is beautiful. I didn't know much about the brand before testing, and I came away impressed.
Briggs & Riley Baseline Domestic Carry-On: This bag's features made it stand out from the rest. I particularly loved the fold-out garment panel for keeping suits or dresses neat, as well as the unique expansion system that adds 2 inches of packing space.

I encourage you to take a look and pick the right carry-on for you. And browse our related roundups below to prepare even more for your next adventure!

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	Chris Abell Senior Commerce Editor

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