Smart-Luggage Battery Woes, SSDs, and Changes in Air Conditioner Stock: New This Week

Bluesmart, one of the original smart-bag creators, earlier this month announced that it would wind down production. Despite the promise of its $2 million crowdfunded origins in 2014, the smart-luggage maker wasn’t able to overcome a flaw in its initial designs that concerned us when we first tested its luggage two years ago. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the five largest US airlines have all imposed bans on checked luggage with built-in batteries. Both versions of the Bluesmart suitcase have an internal battery that’s too difficult for most people to remove quickly while travelling—even a 2017 redesign still required the removal of four screws and three wires to disconnect the component.

The Federal Aviation Administration has long banned battery packs from checked bags, and it was only a matter of time before the FAA or major airlines began regulating them in the cabin as well. If you’re sure you still want a smart-luggage option, check out the Raden A22. It offers many of the same features as the Bluesmart design—including location tracking and a built-in scale—but has an easily removable battery (albeit of a lesser capacity) that complies with the regulations and protects against future rule changes.

As for Bluesmart, as part of its liquidation, the company has sold its designs and intellectual property to Travelpro, the maker of our longstanding top pick for carry-on luggage. We hope Travelpro will be able to find ways to integrate some of the things we liked about Bluesmart’s bags into luggage we can test, and continue to recommend, in the future.

Here are some other things we updated this week:

The Samsung 970 Evo is now our upgrade pick, replacing the old 960 Evo. This new version is cheaper and faster, and also has a longer warranty. [SSDs]

We’ve brought back the Haier Serenity Series ESAQ406T as an alternative to our current pick for bedrooms, the Frigidaire Gallery FGRQ08L3T1. [Air Conditioners]

We’ve also reinstated the Whynter Elite ARC-122DS as our portable AC pick. But we’re wrapping up a new round of testing, so our recommendations may change soon. [Portable Air Conditioners]

Our previous pick for grill brushes, the Qually United, has been discontinued, so the appropriately named Best BBQ Grill Brush is our new top pick. [Grill Tools and Accessories]

Netgear announced a new version of our top pick, the Orbi RBK50, with a built-in modem, but we don’t recommend it. [Wi-Fi Mesh-Networking Kits]

Several of our picks in this guide have been discontinued. We’re aware of the problem, and we’re in the process of testing new models now. [GPS Running Watches]

Our readers have been asking why we didn’t test Ex Officio briefs for this guide, as we did for our guide to travel underwear. We’ve added some explanation to the How we picked and tested section. [Boxer Briefs for Men]

DJI has added another new drone to their Phantom Pro line, the Phantom 4 Pro V2.0, which improves on our current upgrade pick. [Best Drone]