Raden sent me one of their A28 Check luggage to see if it could hold up to my challenge. After the abuse it took, I won’t be sending it back. (I received no other compensation for writing this review.) Here’s my Raden luggage review.
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Goldilocks of Luggage
There are few things that can make a trip or break a trip more than a piece of luggage. If it’s too hard to maneuver, it can weigh down your whole trip. Too big and bulky, it becomes a hindrance. Too small and the luggage is bursting at the seams or you’re ditching souvenirs before you get home. This is very much a Goldilocks scenario — it needs to be just right.
The Challenge
Once every year, my family of frequent travelers takes an extended vacation over the holidays utilizing remaining vacation days, weekends and lots of built-in holidays like Christmas and the New Year holiday. This trip would take us over 18 days and span six countries with the following itinerary for those so inclined: PIT-YYZ (car) YYZ-ORD-PEK-SYX-CAN-BKI-BWN-BKI-HKG-PEK-DFW-YYZ YYZ-PIT (car). It looked like this:
This piece would replace a carry-on which would greatly limit or in-airport equipment, but had to hold up to the rigors of 21,000+ miles of travel in just over half a month. That’s a lot of abuse and not all bags have been up to the challenge.
Why Raden?
Raden is one of several “smart luggage” manufacturers. The first was BlueSmart, then Away, and there are now several others. Raden offers the following features in their A28 Check luggage piece:
- In-Handle Digital Scale
- Companion app for both Apple and Android
- Relative proximity tracking
- Charging (Tablet and Phone)
- Light-weight polycarbonate shell
- Omni-directional dual-rolling wheels
- Combination lock
- Reverse zipper
- Colorful options
- 13 lbs
Many manufacturers have a few of these features, but few have all of them. Traveling with a child, one that we didn’t think would be particularly interesting was the material strength of the polycarbonate case — that was helpful as my daughter routinely jumped on and off the case and it never took a dent. My Rimowa Topas… was not so lucky.
What Worked Well
The scale was quite helpful as we flew (for the first time in a long time) coach on a carrier for which we did not hold status with that carrier nor the partner. Being able to weigh the case accurately gave us some vision as to how we would need to adjust the weight in our bags for the one segment where language would be difficult and we would have no status saved us from luggage fees.
Having both a “tablet” charger and a “phone” charger (dual USB ports) was excellent. There were a few times where this came in handy. Specifically post-flight, waiting for a taxi or the other bag to come around the carousel, the tablet charger would have my phone out of the danger zone until we could get to the hotel. I have no doubt that you could charge both a phone and tablet at the same time without an issue. The battery was quite large and held a charge no less than 60% from the time we left Pittsburgh until the time we returned.
The durability of the suitcase was tested a few times. The A28 Check consistently exceeded 70lbs in weight for much of the trip, was tossed, dropped, and jumped on (by a 30lb toddler), was shoved into taxis, pushed onto luggage carts and plopped onto carousels only to be heaved into cargo holds and jostled through turbulence before doing it all over again. On our trip it was checked and flew on nine separate flight segments in between all of the other abuse. While we were concerned when it arrived with a plastic strap around it in Toronto, we were relieved to see that despite an ambitious bag agent in China (I will discuss that shortly) that it lived through every test.
What Went Wrong
There are some issues with lithium-ion batteries in checked bags, and China was particularly difficult to navigate. Due to the language barrier, I was inadequately equipped to discuss the matter and explain the benign nature of the battery and in fairness, even if they spoke English or I was fluent in Mandarin, I doubt I could have left the battery operable in the case.
The solution was simply to disconnect the battery and deposit it elsewhere in the bag, however, it made one feature of the case inoperable, the proximity indication. Their proximity indication will let you know (using a series of pings) when the case is near to you and keeps a track of places you’ve been. It doesn’t, however, actively track the location of the bag in real-time in the instance that the case is lost and misplaced. Here’s what it looked like in the Raden app.
The placement of the battery is not ideal should you need to retrieve the battery, so if you plan on flying to or through a country that will not allow batteries connected in the luggage, plan ahead and remove it first. On the way home, though we passed through mainland China, we departed from Hong Kong who did not flag the battery issue to us. As a result, Chinese baggage handlers in Beijing not only removed the battery but then left a note (as TSA and CBP do in the US) to let us know they had been in the case and if just to give us a scare, they then put a plastic strap around the bag twice.
Some baggage handlers attached stickers to the outside and most were easy to remove. Little baggage trackers (white numeric stickers with barcodes) are easy to remove and fall away. Oversized (and weight limits) orange luggage stickers were not so easy to remove. I reached out to Raden regarding this and they indicated that they offer a simple cleaning kit, we had no trouble getting the case back to “like new” condition, though we also appreciated the patina.
The case was also a little heavy for those that might not have the weight allowances that come with status. It had no effect on our trip, however.
Would I Buy One?
Absolutely! The A28 Check was reliable, durable, and had the features and benefits we actually used. The lock was excellent and easy to set, the zipper kept liquids out and our valuables dry, the scale was helpful and accurate — there wasn’t much we didn’t like. The suitcase certainly enhanced our travel experience.
The price is really in the mid-range when comparing to other premium products at $395, an A22 Carry-on bag is available for $295 or the pair for $590 (known as the A50). It comes with a lifetime warranty (which beats other luggage brands like our beloved Rimowa’s 5-year warranty or Tumi’s five-year limited warranty) and service before and after the sale was excellent. In the future, we will remove the battery from packing before leaving home, but we will make this a regular part of our trips around the world.
If you want to take a Raden home for yourself, you can check out their line up here. You can also see how the bag stacks up against the Away carry-on here.
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review. Any opinions or impressions, positive or negative are my own.
Read More: Luggage Review: The Away Carry-On Rollaboard Smart Bag
Read More: Airlines Aren’t Killing Off Smart Luggage Manufacturers
Read More: Away Travel Replaces Smart Luggage Batteries
Have you tried the Raden A28? Do you have a favorite piece of smart luggage?
I read the reviews on this and the away bag, but I still can’t decide on which one to purchase. I am looking towards the a28 and the large. Which receives less damage? Which would you over all recommend?
I had a similar question. In re-reading the Away review from this same author, he seemed to have some concerns with sturdiness and scratches, but from the pictures provided, the smooth surface of the Raden looked like it was thrashed! I read reviews on Amazon that all really complained about that. No idea what the comparison would be with Away.
The Raden also has some of the colors on back order and as I am planning a trip in a month, I think I will go with Away of convenience. Away has a 100 day trial period, which they honor even if you travel with the bag. That is my plan for now, since it seems low-risk to try it out in myself, since my concerns may be different than the author of various reviews I’ve read.
Thank you both for reading the blog, sorry I didn’t see this comment until now. To address both of your concerns, the outside of the Raden was covered in sticky residue from the airport baggage stickers, but they sell a cleaning product. I haven’t been able to try it out yet, so I can’t comment on its effectiveness. In regards to the Away bag, I returned it to them and couldn’t say whether or not they were able to remediate the scratches. I did love both bags though and might think of those scratches like a patina as I do with my Rimowa. A little character never hurt anyone.
I have two Raden bags. HATE. The small Pink carry-on is TRASHED because I checked it ONCE. And the battery pack makes for a horrible security experience, even with Global Entry. The Large Copper Checked bag is also DESTROYED. After 6 trips I now have a 3-wheeled, Supremely dented scratched piece of Crap. As a frequent traveller (I travel 1-3 times monthly, I had a Swiss Gear bag for over 15 years before I was gifted the Raden bags. They have last me less than 4 months, and I’m embarrassed dragging them around the airport. To make it better, Raden won’t fix the large busted three wheeled bag (one wheel LITERALLY SNAPPED OFF) because I didn’t purchase it myself. Do yourself a favor, buy ANYTHING ELSE. That being said, My friend has an AWAY Brand bag and hates it.
I highlighted some issues with the Away bag in my post (http://bit.ly/awaycarry-on). I have had similar issues with Rimowa TOPAS (http://bit.ly/2miU35J) in terms of wheels breaking when they are out of my possession. With Raden, my experience was just different – I didn’t have those issues. I had a soft side Samsonite for years that worked great, but once it started to go, the thing just fell apart. It was the zipper, the liner then the handle and on and on until we replaced it all together.
I have images if you need proof that I’m being Serious.
I don’t doubt your experience at all. It differed from mine, but perhaps I don’t use it as much as you use yours.