Travel Tuesday: July Capsule Carry On Pro Luggage Review

I’ve never been a big fan of hardshell luggage. Even as I’ve seen them become the preferred option among travelers that I see in the airport, not that I’m keeping a strict count, I never really understood them. Mainly, my issue is that the typical clamshell design that splits the bag into two equal parts just doesn’t fit my preferred method of packing. That’s why, when I saw the July Capsule Carry On Pro, I wondered if it might be the hardshell solution I’d been looking for.

See, even though I love the soft-sided bag I’ve been using for years, lately I’ve been thinking about lightening the load I carry in my backpack. In particular, I’ve thought it might be nice if I could move my heavier laptop to my carry-on while keeping a lighter device in my personal item. That said, keeping a laptop in a soft-sided bag didn’t seem like such a good idea — but a hardshell made the dream seem more possible. So, between July’s laptop section and some other key features, I decided to give it a try.

Now that I’ve taken my Capsule Carry On Pro on a couple of trips, am I a hardshell luggage convert? And, more importantly, was this pretty pricey bag worth the cost? Let’s get into what the July Capsule Carry On has to offer and my experience with it so far.

About the July Capsule Carry On Pro and What Makes It Different

Price and Color Options

We’ll start with the bad news: this bag is $395. That’s not only $70 more than July’s own Carry On Pro and $100 more than its Carry On but is also $100 more than the retail price for the Monos Carry On Pro (I know this because those were other bags I was considering before buying the Capsule). It’s even a bit more than Away’s similar Topside Carry On. In other words, it’s not cheap.

With that out of the way, there are also a limited number of colors for the Capsule Carry On. Currently, you can pick up the case in Dune (a beige, brown color), Alpine Green, Ocean Navy, or Midnight Black. Previously, a white version was also available, but I don’t see it as of this writing. Personally, I went with the Alpine Green, although it was between that and Ocean Navy for me.

Size

According to July’s site, the external dimnsions with wheels included is 21.9″ H × 14.1″ W × 9.5″ D. That puts it beyond the “standard” carry on size of 22″ H × 14″ W × 9″ D. This was honestly something that concerned me at first… but then I remembered that I’ve never once been asked by a domestic airline to check the size of my bag (at least not if it fit in the bin). Moreover, while that may be the standard size domestically, many international airlines have much stricter size and weight requirements, so it’s kind of moot. Nevertheless, it is something to keep in mind, and you may want to check your favorite carrier’s policies before deciding if this bag is right for you.

Features

Top-Down Design

Now we get to what makes the Capsule Carry On Pro different from many other hardshelled luggage bags. Rather than splitting into two even sections via clamshell, the Capsule unzips closer to the top (or front, depending on how you look at it) of the bag. This allows for top-down packing more akin to what several soft-sided bags offer.

To be fair, the Capsule isn’t the only hardshelled bag to come up with this idea. For example, the aforementioned Away Topside Carry On has something similar, although that opens in a different direction. In any case, as someone coming from a soft-sided bag, I very much appreciate this top-down design and think it fits the way I like to pack much more than traditional hardshell bags do.

Laptop Pocket

When you open the Capsule Carry On, what you immediately access won’t be the main, top-down section. Instead, there’s an accordion-esque pouch with a divider and laptop pouch. July says that this pouch can accommodate devices of up to 18″. Meanwhile, other items can also be placed atop the divider, although they’ll likely need to be pretty flat.

On that note, the reverse side of the divider also has zippered sections… but I’m not sure how useful they’ll be. I suppose that, if your main section isn’t too full, you could fit some bulkier items. Otherwise, though, it would seem as though only flat items would really fit into these pouches.

By the way, to get to the main compartment, you’ll need to unzip the two interior zippers. These are connected to that accordion-style fabric. Because of this, I’d be careful about overpacking, lest you tug on these zippers too hard and cause a tear. This thankfully hasn’t happened to me, but I do worry about it, honestly (which is why I’m learning to pack this bag correctly, but more on that later).

Access Flap

Since the laptop flap blocks your ability to access the main compartment, July has come up with a clever solution. At the top of the divider is a magnetic flap that can be folded down. That way, you can grab something near the top of the main compartment.

As for how I’d utilize this feature, I might consider putting some snacks at the top so I can steal from my supply en route if I wanted. However, I think a more common usage would be placing your 3-1-1 liquids bag near this flap so that it can be removed during security screening when needed. Either way, I think this is a smart addition from July.

Wheels and Wheel Lock

I’m not going to pretend that I know what makes a luggage wheel good other than the fact that it rolls well. So, I’ll just quote July’s wording here and say that the bag includes a “single-plate wheelbase and internalised wheel-housing for better stability and wheel health.” There are four wheels on the bag for full spinning capabilities, which is what I prefer.

The Capsule bag also features a wheel lock. Located under the handle is a toggle switch that can be used to activate this option. Personally, I find that to be a better, more convenient method versus having the lock switch on the wheels themselves.

TSA Lock

On the top of the Capsule Carry On, you’ll find a TSA-approved combination lock that secures the exterior zippers. This three-digit lock is easy to set and there’s a release button next to it to eject the zippers. I actually haven’t used a lock with my carry-ons before, but having one built in is certainly a nice and convenient feature.

CaseSafe

Accompanying the TSA lock is July’s CaseSafe technology. Basically, you can think of this as an Airtag as Apple users can even add their luggage to the Find My app by following some simple instructions. Meanwhile, Android users can add it to whatever the Google equivalent is.

If you’re curious, while the battery should last quite some time, you can replace it with a CR2032 battery (the same as an Airtag). Also, the tracking app on your phone should tell you when it’s time to change it out. FYI, since the CR2032 battery is so small, it’s under the FAA’s lithium limit, meaning that it’s approved for both in-cabin and cargo stowage.

Of course, the irony here is that tracking shouldn’t really be necessary for a carry-on. Then again, things do happen, so this could provide some peace of mind. And, in the event that you’re forced to gate-check your bag, this feature could come in clutch.

My Experience So Far

I’ll be honest: the first time I used the Capsule Carry On Pro, I was a bit concerned. In particular, I thought that I was going to accidentally break the interior zippers, which I had trouble zipping. Well, it turns out that the issue wasn’t so much with the bag but with how I tried to use it. Specifically, I tried to double dip and do two reviews at one by attempting to fit the Away PackAway Closet into the July bag. Clearly, it didn’t go so well — mainly because that accessory was a bit too tall, which led to the issue with the zipper.

That’s why I decided to do things a bit differently on my most recent trip, to great results. This time around, I put my clothes into a vacuum bag (another future review) and then placed the other items I needed on top. When doing this, I had no issues with the interior zippers. So I guess the moral of the story is that you don’t want to overpack this bag… which actually should have been pretty obvious.

As I mentioned, a big reason I wanted to buy a hardshell bag in the first place was that I thought it would make it easier to travel with two laptops. Luckily, that’s turned out to be true so far — and it’s been wonderful. In fact, on my most recent trip, I was even able to put a flat external monitor in the pocket alongside my laptop, allowing me to travel with a nice, light backpack. My only fear is that a situation might pop up where I’d need to check my bag, in which case I’d likely be forced to relocate the laptop into my backpack, which could be a pain. Although I am curious to see how a device would fare in the bag if checked… so I might need to run a test with an old machine some time. Until then, though, I wouldn’t take my chances. Nevertheless, I’m comfortable with using the laptop compartment when I’m carrying on as intended.

Moving on to the wheels, I have to say that they roll like a dream. I actually thought that this may have been partially due to the fact that my local airport recently installed new flooring, but I was impressed with them well beyond those conditions. I will also say the wheel lock is pretty awesome. I could definitely see this being useful on trains, shuttles, etc.

Similar to the wheels, I find the telescoping handle to be smooth and solid. I haven’t had a single issue with it so far and have been impressed with how little shake it has overall. Also, while some might find it odd that the button is on the bottom of the handle, I kind of dig it.

Lastly, despite my ever-so-slight worry that the bag might be a big too big, I had no issues getting it into the bins on my Allegiant or Delta flights (those were aboard an A 319, A320, Boeing 717-200, Boeing 767-300, and an A321neo). In fact, on the planes that had smaller-sized bins on one side, I could have still fit my bag if I rotated it. However, this brings up one flaw in the Capsule bag that I’ve found: it lacks any side or bottom handles. This hasn’t been a big deal, but it would be nice to have an alternative place to grab the bag from in order to make getting it out of the overhead bin a bit easier.

Final Thoughts on the July Capsule Carry On Pro

All in all, the July Capsule Carry On Pro has done exactly what I hoped it would do. At the top of the list, it’s allowed me to pack the way I’m used to while also offloading my laptop to my carry-on without worry about its safety (for the most part). Plus, the wheels and wheel lock work well, the telescoping handle has been great, and I also just like the look of it. So even if I’m not a fan of hardshelled luggage options on the whole, I am a fan of this particular piece.

With that said, $395 is a lot to spend on a single carry-on. Additionally, as mentioned, I do worry about those interior zippers if you try to overpack the main section. Also, like many hardshelled bags, my July carry-on has shown a few scuffs when I’ve returned from flying with it (although these have been easy enough to clean up so far). For those reasons, if you don’t need the specific features I’ve detailed here, there may be better and more affordable options out there for you.