BAGSMART Blast review: the one-bag backpack that opens like a suitcase

For years the one-bag travel backpack market was a choice between $250 specialist packs and shapeless gym bags pretending to be luggage. The BAGSMART Blast sits exactly in the gap most travellers actually live in: around $50, flight-approved as a personal item, and built to open flat so you can pack it like a tiny suitcase instead of stuffing it from the top.

We've been carrying it as an under-seat bag on short trips for the last month. Here's the honest read.

Who it's for

The Blast makes the most sense if you fly carry-on-only on budget fares and want your bag to count as the free personal item — the one that goes under the seat in front of you. It's also a strong "second bag" if you check or overhead a roller and want an organised daypack for the cabin.

It's nota backcountry pack. There's no hip belt, so once you load it past about 15 lbs the weight sits squarely on your shoulders. For airport- to-hotel travel that's fine; for all-day hiking, look elsewhere.

Packing it: the clamshell is the whole point

The Blast unzips into two flat halves like a clamshell suitcase. That sounds minor until you've used it — you lay packing cubes flat on one side, shoes and electronics on the other, and zip it shut. No more excavating the bottom of a top-loader to find your charger. Pair it with a set of flat packing cubes and a carry-on's worth of clothing genuinely disappears inside.

The clamshell opening is the difference between a backpack you tolerate and one you actually enjoy living out of for a week.

Sizing & the airlines

At its dimensions the Blast slides under the seat on most US domestic carriers and counts as a personal item on the major budget airlines. As always, the airline that will give you trouble is the one with the strictest under-seat box — check your specific carrier's personal-item dimensions before you fly, because the rules change more often than the bags do.

What we liked, what we didn't

The verdict

At this price the Blast is the easiest travel-backpack recommendation we can make. It does the one thing most cabin bags get wrong — access — and gets the fundamentals (laptop protection, under-seat fit, water-bottle pockets) right. If you want one bag that turns a weekend trip into a carry-on-only trip, this is it.