Pacsafe Travelsafe
The Travelsafe 100 is a heavily reinforced, lockable nylon bag with steel cable woven through the fabric and an external steel cable which makes it possible to lock the bag to a stationary item (such as the frame of a bed in a hotel). The bag is 8+" x 13" and quite light. It's more of a deterrent to casual thieves, as a well-equipped, professional thief armed with a hacksaw or 5" bolt cutters could probably penetrate it (a knife would not be sufficient to cut the steel mesh). On a recent surf trip to Costa Rica, the hotel safe at the main office was only open 8am-6pm, and was basically unavailable given our daily schedule. I used the bag to store my digital camera, iPod, passport, wallet, traveler's checks and money by locking the bag to the hotel bed frame (my travel buddy also put some of his things in it, too). If you don't want to be burdened with a key, you can buy your own combination lock, though the spindle needs to be thin enough to fit. Pacsafe also sells lockable knapsacks, shoulder bags, computer bags, and even steel mesh covers to extend over large backpacks or suitcases. I chose the model I did because I wanted something relatively inexpensive and small enough to just hold valuables and electronics.
-- Carl Hamann
$45
Available from Amazon
Manufactured by Pacsafe
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Dave King
The entry "Pacsafe Travelsafe" can't be found by searching on the word "safe". Fortunately I discovered a bookmark I had saved that took me to it.
Keep up the great work!
Dave King
My wife and I just completed our first (3 week) trip using this product. It has positives and negatives.
It's over-sized for our use; storing only our passports and money, it's heavier than you might think, and things you can lock it to in a hotel room are surprisingly few. Additionally, it has "steal me; I've got good stuff inside" written all over it. This is perhaps an emotional issue, because either it's secure or not. I eventually addressed this issue by locking it to the plumbing under sinks. This seemed to be always available, secure, and allows you to tuck the bag up out of sight. However, crawling under the sink to make the attachment may not be for everyone. Additionally, I replaced the supplied key lock with a combination lock. This frequently necessitated using a flashlight under the sink to enter the combination to open it. Additionally, being out of sight increases the possibility of it being left behind. I plan to address this on our next trip by decorating an unused wallet card with a bright red lock symbol, and setting out this card to remind me to retrieve it.
Is it really secure? I believe is. The cable could be cut with a specialized tool, but only a professional thief would be likely to own one.
Given all the negatives, we will use it on our next trip. It can be an annoyance to use, but the peace-of-mind trade-off makes it worthwhile.