We Tested Away Suitcases Against Baseball Bats and Obstacles: Are the Sale Prices Truly Worth It?
We bypassed standard marketing claims and subjected the luggage to physical punishment. Our first trial targeted the exterior: an injection-molded polycarbonate hard shell. We suspended fully packed units containing 25 pounds of balanced ballast, striking the center panels and corners with an aluminum baseball bat at measured swing speeds averaging 42 miles per hour.
The shell flexed inward by nearly three inches upon point-blank impact. Then it snapped back into shape. Polycarbonate behaves differently than cheaper ABS plastic, which fractures into sharp shards when struck cold. The Away shell dispersed kinetic energy across its horizontal ribs. Surface paint transfer occurred, and dark scuffs marked the lighter matte exterior, but the structural integrity remained uncompromised. The seams held fast, and the zipper track neither burst nor misaligned.
A secondary durability drop test pushed the material further. Dropping the packed suitcase from a height of six feet onto bare industrial concrete produced severe aesthetic abrasion around the external corners. However, the casing avoided punctures, and the integrated internal frames resisted bending.
