Samsonite Zipprix FT Waypoint review: A smarter take on an everyday travel essential

For decades, your suitcase has remained largely the same. Sure, the materials have become lighter, the wheels have become smoother and the designs have gotten a lot more interesting, but the basic idea of a suitcase hasn’t really changed. You pack your clothes, zip it up, check it in at the airport and hope it comes out on the other side.

But here comes the Samsonite Zipprix FT Waypoint, which is trying to give you a way to keep track of where your luggage is without having to buy an AirTag or any other accessory.

I spent some time with the Zipprix FT Waypoint to see whether these features actually make sense to a normal traveller or if they are just another way of adding “smart” features to a product that doesn’t really need them.

Design:

At first glance, the Zipprix FT Waypoint looks like your conventional hard-shell suitcase. It has the familiar rectangular design, four wheels, a telescopic handle and a polycarbonate exterior.

The suitcase is made from high-grade polycarbonate, and the overall construction feels premium as well. Samsonite has also gone with a fairly understated design, with subtle two-tone detailing rather than trying to make the suitcase look overly futuristic just because it has a smart tracking system built into it.

The version I reviewed was the 68cm model, which weighs 4.3kg and has a 76-litre storage capacity, expandable up to 92 litres. Samsonite is also offering a 10-year warranty for the suitcase.

One of the most useful features of the Waypoint is its flat-top opening, which allows you to quickly access your belongings without having to lay the entire suitcase flat. There are also multiple pockets, cross ribbons and a divider pad to keep your belongings separated. The expandable middle compartment is particularly useful if you tend to return from trips with more stuff than you left with.

I also like that this doesn’t turn the suitcase into some complicated contraption. It still feels like a normal suitcase, just one that gives you a little more flexibility when you need to access your belongings.

The technology:

Coming to the standout feature of the Zipprix FT Waypoint, the in-built tracking system. The process is fairly straightforward, as there is an integrated Waypoint smart tag on the right-hand corner of the suitcase.

You have to press a black-coloured button on the tag for a few seconds before the luggage starts beeping to let you know the tracker is active. The connection process is also fairly simple. You just have to connect to the tracker via Apple’s Find My or Google’s Find Hub, which takes less than 5 minutes for most people.

Once the connection is established, you do not need to worry about the luggage every time you are at the airport. You can just go to your phone to continuously keep tracking its location.

Verdict:

At around ₹17,700 for the 68cm version, the Samsonite Zipprix FT Waypoint is an expensive suitcase. There is no getting around that.

But after spending time with it, I can understand what Samsonite is trying to do here.

The Zipprix FT Waypoint doesn’t reinvent the suitcase. But between the flat-top opening and built-in tracking, it does make a pretty good argument that luggage could be a little smarter than it has been for the last few decades.