BootsnAll Travel Community

Hiya! This is my first post. Since I'm leaving for Mexico & C. America in exactly 18 days (but who's counting?) I can no longer keep my mind on work. Anyway, I was just over at my local travel store and although I think that most of their gizmos are silly wastes of money & space, I caught myself fondling a Pacsafe. That's one of those metal fishnets for your pack. You use it while you're wearing it or for extra security in a hostel. Only it's $50 and weighs almost 3 pounds! I'd kinda rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it, but hey, it's to keep people from slashing my pack and if they were considering that drastic measure in the first place, they can just have the darn thing. What are people's opinions about these? (and putting my whole pack where the prisoners do is not an option...)

this is kind of a recurring them--with a few schools of thought.

On the one hand, it DOES keep your stuff more safe (maybe) but it also is like a red flag that says "criminals, look at my bag, it has so many valuable items in it that I must cage it like a wild beast!" Also, if someone wants in your bag, PacSafe or not, they'll find a way.

It also weighs 3 lbs!!! I would suggest just getting some kind of a bike-type wire and lock so you can lock your pack to stable objects so at least someonoe doesn't run off with it, but PacSafe is a tad extreme.

CAsey

I concur.

I was going to get packsafe until I felt the weight...

ITS WAY TOO HEAVY!!!

Id rather be more careful and not have to add 20% to my pack weight

"POVERTY: Bangladeshi Village or You and Your TV"

-Chris Albon

my friends just bought me one for my birthday (along with a whole bunch of other practical thingymibobs for my RTW) what fab ppl. so I'll be taking it with me when I go

I hate to keep harking on like an old dog about my cheap arse idea but I tell you it worked like a dream... More info 'ere.

Not to mention the pliers you have to use double as a theft deterrent too.

"I'll 'ave your's matey!"

Dan

Well Dan, that's a nifty idea! And if I had done a search I would have found it...I was just so excited about finding this website that I guess I prematurely posted...
Giving it more thought, I've decided that bying a packsafe is definitely not worth it. I could fit my hand in between the holes. So, (thinking like a criminal here) given enough time and a sharp object, I could steal just about everything out of a backpack inside of a pacsafe besides a laptop (and I'm not lugging one of those around)! I'll stick to locks and a cable. I was just getting paranoid because the only time I've had anything stolen was in a hostel in Melboure from my daypack, that I fell asleep with my head on! The ability to sleep through anything that one cultivates when hostelling can occasionally work to your disadvantage. Sigh. If I ever own my own hostel, I'd divide the rooms up by party animals, snorers and up-at-the-crack-of-dawners. But I'm still disturbed by another silly travel gizmo that I saw in the store. They acutally sell underwear that are advertised as "WEAR FOR 2 WEEKS STRAIGHT" and they're WHITE!!! How scary is that??

That hotel wasnt Hotel Bakpak in Melbourne was it. Gah, I hated that hostel with a passion!

I found the cable lark handy as a general deterrent and whilst in transit. You cant protect anything you own from persistent hands but like all pre-made security devices - someone, somewhere knows how to crack it.

If you see something you dont know, your a bit more weary.... probably

I was thinking of getting a Pacsafe just so I could leave my baby - my Canon SLR - in my pack and not be overly concerned about it. I mean, I do suffer separation anxiety from that camera, but if I had it in the pacsafe, in the big pack in the camera case I'd feel better about it.

Sure, you can reach your hand through it - but it's a deterrant. If you see a Pacsafed bag, and an empty bag with a cheap $1.50 luggage lock, which one would you take? The easy, fast one to steal or the one that would involve slicing and reaching?

"Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour." -- Sir Ernest Shackleton

I agree with you mate. As a double act, you can get those very high dernier nylon pack covers that offer water-proofing as well as a bit more for a knife to tackle. Wack that with a hefty padlock at the top and a pacsafe round it and your set.

I met a few travellers who used the pack covers and they liked them. Certainly prevented the old "broken support straps" syndrome of air travel.

Thats an important and oft overlooked note. When you drop your pack off make sure that EVERY strap is done to its tightest and try and tuck them all away. If I had a pound for every person I met with broken straps from transit i'd have been able to keep going. Those conveyers in the airport were designed for suitcases, not backpacks with loads of straps!

Dan

I saw someone in the Toronto airport with their backpack in a big, clear garbage bag wrapped with duct tape to protect it. We were chatting, and she said she finds her straps don't get torn off or caught, and people are less apt to steal from it.

"Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour." -- Sir Ernest Shackleton

As for conveyor belt proofing my bag, I've always used my rain cover. I put it on my bag backwards over the straps and I've never had a problem. That way you don't have to worry about carrying anything extra. As for locks, I never had a problem in Aus, NZ, and Fiji with my backpack. But pre-backpack in India, I had stuff stolen out of my suitcase by the hotel staff. I had the main compartment locked but they stole out of the outside pockets. So, what way have people come up with to lock those top loaders with just a drawstring top?

as for the airline cutting, that's why i like my eagle creek. it's got a panel that zips over straps. this protects the straps and also makes the whole bag look more like a drab sack and less like a high-tech western backpack,
before i bought it, i wanted the pretty red one, but an experienced traveler friend, bless him, pointed out that a red bag screamed "wealthy american owns this bag! goodies inside!" so i bought the dark green one instead. with the panel over the straps, it blends in with the other bags on top of the bus.

anyone have a good place to buy a sack to put my big backpacking bag (more like a hiking bag) inside?

"One Life, One World, One Backpack"
-Chris Albon

I bought a backpack cover before I left Canada. A Canadian company called Outbound manufactures it and it cost me something like $35 and year and half ago. All I do is put a combination lock on it after I put it over my pack (80L fully extended). By some of the major scuffs on it, the pack cover has saved my pack some really major wear. It's subsequently doubled as a second bag for stuff like dirty laundry, sleeping bags and associated crap when I've stayed in one place for a while.

To be honest, I much prefer it over the idea of a pacsafe. I checked out the much heavier wire mesh and thought "target" as well. Plus, all that extra weight. I only every check luggage I'm prepared to lose. My camera and my docs stay with me or in the hotel safe.

Happy trails....

Yup - my pack may be a North Face Lhasa, but it's good ol black (and don't start on how PC and I have matching bags, we didn't even know each other when we got them... even if it did turn out to be the same year).

I have 4 little locks that with the zippers - not the world's best deterrent, but a deterrent. I can tuck away my straps, but for Asia I may do a trash bag for extra protection. I'll probably also get a thin bike cable (like the kind you use to make removable seats removable-proof) and bring my bike lock, to help lashing the pack to train luggage racks, etc.

PacSafes are a good invention, but for me and my gear, not worth the weight.

Cheers, Anthony

Too funny. Now that I've decided that it's not for me...somebody bought me one as a going away present!!! (at least I have the receipt) And I just saw a guy coming out of the airport (in Chicago) wearing one and my first reaction was "Oh honey! Why don't you just tattoo 'I'm scared of this big crime-ridden city!' on your forehead and get it over with! Frankly, I was almost insulted on behalf of my hometown to have someone broadcasting that they think it's a such a scary place.

If I had one, I think I'd only use it for putting it on luggage racks or leaving it unattended in my hostel. I wouldn't wear it walking out of the airport into a cab or something... although I would be tempted in a huge, teeming mass of people or in a particulary dangerous region.

They should make them in black or some other non-obtrusive colour.

"Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour." -- Sir Ernest Shackleton

I ran the North Face Warranty & Repair Department for a decade.
Between 1,000 and 3,000 items a month came through our doors, including packs of all kinds.

I cannot remember ever seeing a single slashed pack.

I think that it is much more likely that someone will steal your kidneys.

I've never had my bags slashed (*knock on wood*). I don't bother with chicken wire or a pacsafe. If people want the dirty, stinky clothes in my pack..they can have it.

In South America, I did see people putting their bags in the woven plastic bags that are so common in the region.

But still, I didn't even do that and never a bag slashed.