Packing cubes, vacuum bags, rolling, even wearing every coat you own on the plane. We packed the same week-long trip with all 10 and scored them on the things that actually matter.
Every packing hack video promises the same thing: fit more in less. So we put them to the test. We looked at 32 of the most talked-about packing products and hacks, bought the 10 with the best reviews, and packed the exact same week of clothes with every single one.
Every product got a score from 1 to 5 in five tests:
We'll start at the bottom and work our way up to the one that actually worked.
Here's how each one did, starting at the bottom.
The famous free hack. Rolling took us almost twice as long as folding, and the pile only shrank a little. Rolled clothes come out creased too, and finding one shirt means unrolling half the bag.
The classic way to dodge a bag fee. It does free up room in your bag, but you spend the whole flight sweating in three layers, and you still have to carry it all through the airport after.
These squash things flat, but only when there's a vacuum cleaner nearby. Once you're at the hotel, there's no way to pack them back down for the trip home.
You roll the air out by hand, no pump needed. It worked at first, but the seals leaked and the bags slowly puffed back up. One of ours ripped along the seam after the third use.
We love how organised these keep a bag, and they're easy to use. But they don't compress anything. Our pile took up just as much room as before, only tidier.
The expansion zip gives you extra room, but once it's expanded it can end up too big for the airline's sizer. We ended up kneeling on it to get it shut.
A clamshell carry-on backpack like the ones all over TikTok. It's comfortable and has great pockets, but nothing gets compressed. Our week of clothes filled it to the brim, with no room left for the coats.
The plastic bags you seal with a pump, hand or electric. They do shrink your clothes a lot. But they come out as stiff, lumpy slabs that don't sit well in a bag, the thin plastic wears out after a few trips, and you need a separate pump to pack back down.
The runner-up. A second zipper squeezes each cube smaller, by about 20 to 30 percent. Nice, but full cubes bulge into lumpy shapes that don't stack well, and that's nowhere near enough for winter coats.
This one surprised us. It's a carry-on backpack with a vacuum bag built right inside, and it comes with its own little pump. Our whole week of clothes, jackets included, pumped down flat in seconds, and it stayed that way for the entire trip.
It was the only product that got top marks for space and still looked good enough to carry anywhere.
Everything goes into the vacuum bag built into the backpack. Put the pump on the valve and the air comes out. Our bulky jackets and a week of clothes packed down flat.
No vacuum cleaner needed. The small pump comes in the box and has its own pocket in the bag, so you can pack back down at the hotel for the trip home.
The vacuum bag is military-grade nylon with a YKK airtight zipper. Unlike the plastic bags we tested, it didn't leak or tear.
A laptop sleeve, room for toiletries and shoes, hidden pockets for your passport and valuables, and a TSA-compliant lock on the side.
At 19.3 x 12.6 x 8 inches it goes on the plane as a carry-on. No checked bag fees, no waiting at baggage claim, and nobody throwing your bag around.
Scored 1 to 5 in each test. Overall is out of 10.
Scores are our editors' opinions from our own packing tests.
It's 19.3 x 12.6 x 8 inches, which fits the carry-on limits of most major airlines. It's always worth checking your airline's rules before you fly.
No. It comes with its own small pump, and the pump has its own pocket in the bag, so you can pack back down anywhere.
The vacuum bag is made of military-grade nylon with a YKK airtight zipper. Ours stayed flat for the whole trip.
Yes. With the Travel Together Bundle, 2 bags are $298, and every extra bag you add costs less.
You get a 60-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it on a real trip and send it back if you don't love it.