travel inspira Luggage Scale Digital Suitcase Weight Scale for Travel

Why it's worth it

This one adds what the Etekcity leaves out: a backlit screen you can read in a dark hotel room, a data lock that holds the number after you set the bag down, and a two-year warranty. It weighs three and a half ounces and ships with its battery.

Airports and hotel rooms are badly lit places to squint at a small LCD. The backlight fixes that. You can weigh a bag before dawn without turning on the overhead light, or repack on the floor in a dim corner of a terminal, and still read the digits without holding a phone flashlight in your teeth.

The data lock is the feature that matters most. A suitcase doesn't hang still. It swings, the contents shift, and the number wanders for a second or two before it settles. Reviewers at outlets like Condé Nast Traveler point to a hold function as the thing that separates a usable scale from a frustrating one, because it freezes the reading so you can put the heavy bag down and then look.

From our review of 6 luggage scales

What we like

• +Airports and hotel rooms are badly lit places to squint at a small LCD
• +The data lock is the feature that matters most
• +The rest is the same job as the Etekcity, done a little more carefully
• +A CR2032 comes in the box, which sounds trivial until you're packing the night before a flight

What to know

• –It costs more than the Etekcity for a set of conveniences, not a jump in accuracy
• –It's still a small plastic body on a fabric strap, so treat it accordingly