PacSafe
The PacSafe was a genuinely clever idea and this short review liked it for the right reason: a steel mesh cage over a pack, locked to something solid, defeats the slash-and-grab.
The company is still trading and the range has grown well beyond the original cage into bags with the mesh built in, which is a better idea for most people because you carry the protection whether or not you remember to.
What it does and does not defend against:
- Does: someone opening your bag in a dorm or a left-luggage room, and someone walking off with the whole thing while it is out of sight.
- Does not: the two things that actually happen. A bag taken off your back or from beside you at a station, and a hand in your pocket.
What has changed since this was written, and it changes the calculation. In 2007 a stolen pack meant a stolen camera, a passport and travellers' cheques. Now the expensive item is a phone, it is in your pocket rather than the pack, and the pack mostly holds clothing worth less than the lock.
So the priority order in 2026: passport, phone and cards on your person; a cheap padlock and a lockable hostel locker; a tracker in the bag; then the mesh, if you still want it.
And the thing worth more than any of it: do not look like the richest person on the street, and do not put a bag down where you cannot see it. Most theft is opportunistic and most opportunities are ones we create.
Part of the guide to packing and organisation.