Many of us have gone on a trip and had our luggage go on an unexpected adventure without us. I’ve been stranded in Germany without my bag for four days, relying on promotional t-shirts while waiting for my suits to return from Singapore. I’ve had to negotiate with Chinese department stores while trying to find something that fits, while my bag chilled in an unknown destination. And I can’t count the number of times my bag has been stranded in LA while I was in another part of the US.
Before AirTags, you just had to accept that the whole situation was out of your hands. But now that we have smart trackers, we have the power to tell Qantas or whichever airline exactly where our bags are, giving us at least a modicum of control back.
Australian suitcase company July recently launched its smart CaseSafe line, which is one of its excellent suitcases paired with a built-in smart tracker that’s compatible with both Apple and Google’s tracking networks. I’ve now taken this bag on adventures to Taiwan and Japan, and overall had an excellent experience, with just one drawback.
Table of contents
- First impressions
- Specifications and price
- What is CaseSafe, and is it any good?
- The actual suitcase
- The one thing that I hate so very much
- Who is the July CaseSafe Checked suitcase for?
First impressions
My first impression is that this is a very sleek suitcase. I love July’s whole aesthetic, and I’ve been using the Carry On Trunk for years. It’s easy to see that this is a premium suitcase.
Setting up the tracker was easy; I just pulled the battery tab and then immediately connected it to Find My, and I was good to go.
July Checked with CaseSafe specifications and price
| Price (RRP) | $445 |
| Warranty | Lifetime warranty on manufacturing faults |
| Official website | July Australia |
| External dimensions (including wheels) | 66cm x 47cm x 29cm |
| Internal dimensions (excluding wheels) | 61cm x 45cm x 28cm |
| Weight | 3.8kg |
| Capacity | 80L |
In addition to those specs, the CaseSafe feature uses a button battery and is compatible with both Apple Find My and Android Find Hub. The quoted battery life is one year. However, that has not been my experience.
What is CaseSafe, and is it any good?
CaseSafe functions almost identically to an Apple AirTag, Samsung SmartTag or Moto Tag in that you can see the suitcase in the app after it’s set up, and your phone can notify you if it’s left behind. Crucially, though, you can still keep using it if you change phone ecosystems.
When I travelled to Taiwan, I had the CaseSafe bag, a first-generation AirTag in another bag and a second-generation AirTag in yet another bag. Based on my comparison, the CaseSafe’s performance was much closer to that of the second-generation AirTag. It could be detected from further distances than the original, and usually updated its location shortly after the AirTag 2 did.
The benefit of having the CaseSafe built directly into the suitcase will be obvious to anyone who has ever had their bag searched by TSA and had a small item or two fall out during the search. But it’s also handy because you never have to remember if it’s in there, or if you’ve accidentally taken it out. Plus, having it closer to the surface means it’s more likely to have a better signal than a tracker insulated by clothes.
Just like the AirTag, you can share the item’s location with major airlines through their form by generating a temporary link. You can then send this link to the people who lost your bag to help them find it in the Big Shed Of Bags (or whatever the official name for suitcase purgatory is). I was lucky enough not to actually lose my suitcase on either trip, so I can’t review that aspect. But I did really like being able to check in Find My that my suitcase had made it onto each flight.
The actual suitcase
The July Checked has a lot of really thoughtful features, like the traditional zip-up section; a hard, flat storage pouch you can use to compress your clothes down into a more manageable size; and a laundry bag that seals the stink in. The telescopic handle has multiple stops, too, so I could get it to the right height for me, my much shorter wife, and my medium-height mother.
Although it doesn’t look that big, we managed to fit a lot of stuff in there. It’s a good shape, and having the reinforced corners is very appreciated. I have lost so many suitcases to negligent baggage handlers over the years (seven-plus mortally wounded suitcases is my tally so far) that I’ll take any extra structural strength I can get.
The one thing that I hate so very much
While almost everything about the July Checked CaseSafe suitcase was excellent, I will forever hold a grudge against it.
For some reason, less than a month after I activated the tracker feature, the battery ran low while in Taiwan. No worries, these things happen. Dud batteries are a reality of life.
Except, instead of just sending a notification to my phone, it beeped loudly for five minutes. In the middle of the night. With no way to stop the beeping without removing the battery. Two nights in a row. The first night, we couldn’t work out where the sound was coming from. The second night, I spent most of the five minutes trying to find a coin to open the battery compartment while half-asleep.
Why on earth would you design a suitcase (which either gets kept in your hotel room by your bed, or in storage where you can’t hear it) to beep loudly when the battery runs low? That’s just poor design and badly thought out. I did not take kindly to being woken up by something that could have been a banner notification. It wasn’t urgent.
No suitcase should have the power to wake the owner at an unscheduled time. Had it woken my toddler, it would have been yeeted into the sun.
Who is the July CaseSafe Checked suitcase for?
This suitcase would suit anyone who needs a new checked luggage suitcase and would be sad if their bag got lost in transit. In other words, every traveller who brings checked luggage.
But please, I beg you, July, make it so the next model doesn’t beep. It really doesn’t need to do that.
The post July Checked with CaseSafe review: Track your luggage anywhere appeared first on GadgetGuy.
0 (mga) komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento