I Flew With 6 Luggage Trackers in 1 Checked Bag — This Was the Most Accurate

When testing luggage trackers, I was most interested in accuracy and timeliness. The Eufy SmartTrack was among the most accurate trackers I tested, and it updated regularly so I could watch my checked suitcase as it moved from check-in throughout the airport onto the plane and, more importantly, off the plane to the carousel upon landing.

Installation only takes a few moments, but you do need an external app and to make an account. Once connected to the phone, you use Apple’s Find My app to track, so I ended up not using the app at all throughout the test and eventually deleted it. The tracker is conveniently small and fits inside any pocket (including pants pockets) and is very discreet because it is so flat. I just stuck it in one of my suitcase’s internal pockets and left it there throughout my trips so I wouldn’t forget to bring it.

The Details: 1.46 x 1.46 x 0.26 inches | CR2032 battery | Up to 1 year of battery life | iOS compatible

The Knog Scout Travel Smart Luggage Tag was incredibly impressive in its constant and accurate tracking abilities. When flying from New York to Chicago for the first phase of the test, this device even showed the location of my bag (and me by extension) throughout the flight, which was such a fun way to see the flight’s progress. Each time I landed, the Knog Scout was the first luggage tracker of all six to show the bag’s accurate location, which was another plus for a somewhat nervous flier like me.

While I love that the tag is rechargeable, you do need to make sure to charge it before your trip to make sure you don’t lose access midvacation. You can also attach the tag to your suitcase using a special key that I forgot on my first trip, so I had to pivot the bag to a reachable outlet in order to recharge the device. Still, the battery should last up to four months, so you may only need to recharge between trips. I stored my medium checked bag for eight days at the Madrid airport, and I loved that I could regularly check the Find My app to make sure my suitcase hadn’t been moved.

The Details: 3.5 x 1.3 x 0.2 inches | USB-C rechargeable battery | Up to 4 months of battery life per charge | iOS compatible

I checked the Apple AirTag in my luggage along with all of the other trackers I tested, but this impressed me most when my husband brought it along on a five-week backpacking trip across Spain. We weren’t sure if he would have a signal to touch base every day, so we thought giving him the AirTag would allow me to constantly see where he was. Despite the great distance (from New York to Spain), this tracker was incredibly accurate down to the restaurants and hotels where he stopped. While he did notice a chime sound fairly often, the alert stopped when I eventually joined him in Spain, and we reunited the tracker with my phone.

The AirTag is simple to install for Apple users and is another device that utilizes the Find My app. I will say, without fail, every time my airplane took off, I received a notification that said, “Your item was left behind.” Despite the fact that many luggage trackers use Find My, this is the only device that always showed the notification (and caused a lot of stress the first time I flew with an AirTag).

The Details: 1.26 x 1.26 x 0.31 inches | CR2032 battery | Up to 1 year of battery life | iOS compatible

Because this tracker is compatible with all types of smartphones, it requires an additional app to use, but it’s easy and quick to install. Upon downloading and logging in, you choose the type of item you’re tracking (luggage, keys, wallet, pets, etc.), which then assigns the item a cute icon to help keep your trackers organized. 

Throughout the testing period, I found the Tile to be pretty accurate, but it takes a few minutes to reconnect when coming off of airplane mode. When I first landed in Chicago from New York and turned my phone signal back on, it showed the tracker on the Chicago lakefront, which isn’t too far from the O’Hare Airport, but still isn’t quite correct. Like other luggage trackers, you can get directions to the tag and also set off an alarm if you need to locate lost or stolen items.

The Details: 1.49 x 1.49 x 0.28 inches | Up to 3 years of battery life | iOS and Android compatible

I’m not normally a Samsung user — in fact, I had to borrow my brother’s phone for the duration of the test — but this was simple for even me to use. It automatically installed a tracker app on the phone’s home screen and that is what I used to track the device. It also automatically paired with the phone’s paired Samsung account, so you don’t have to log in manually. The tracker itself is a bit more heavy duty than others and has a reinforced (very large) hole so you can attach it to key rings. You can ping your smart tag to help you find it, and the app also logs a location history, which can be helpful in case of theft.

From what I could tell, this had about a 20-minute refresh time, meaning even when we refreshed the app manually or closed out of the app completely and reopened, it would not show the tracker’s movement. That’s not a huge lag time and would be helpful if you were trying to locate lost luggage, but if you were an anxious traveler trying to get constant updates on your bag’s wearabouts, this wouldn’t be frequent enough.

The Details: CR2032 battery | Up to 500 days of battery life | Samsung compatible