Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody Review

Is this your first time heading to a new country? Or do you just often travel through crowded areas and want a bit of extra peace of mind? For those reasons and countless others, you might want a bag with extra security. Pacsafe’s anti-theft bags are built just for that, with measures to counter slash-and-grabs, pickpockets, and other sketchy situations so you can feel safe and secure while traveling.

How easy are they to use, and is the 7L Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody a bag you’ll actually want to carry daily or on a trip? Let’s find out.

External Components

While technically a sling, the Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody is definitely on the larger scale for that style of bag. Maybe it feels that way because of its vertical design, or maybe it’s because of the thick, durable materials. It’s made with recycled polyester with a PFC-free water-resistant finish to keep your gear dry in the rain. The material is beefed up with eXomesh Slashguard, a wire mesh between the exterior and interior fabrics, to keep someone from trying to cut into the bag. It provides the bag with structure, too. You can’t see or feel any of the gear you carry inside this 7L bag, and while it can’t exactly remain upright on its own, it has a nice base for packing.

There’s a padded carry handle that you can use to move it from place to place, along with an adjustable crossbody strap. It’s very broad and beefed up with Dyneema wire along its edges to prevent someone from cutting it, as well. It has a plastic adjuster and a plastic strap keeper to contain the excess, and there’s also a PopNLock security clip on the right side. That allows you to unclip the strap from your bag and lock it around a fixed object, like the back of your chair at a restaurant, to keep someone from snatching it as they pass by.

Pacsafe uses YKK zippers throughout the bag, and the ones on the front and main compartments include locking features. The zipper pulls for the main and front compartments fit together to lock. Then, you can feed them into a Roobar Sport locking system at the top of the bag for additional security. We don’t tend to do that daily because it impedes accessibility, but that’s the point; you want to slow thieves’ access to your gear, and it does a good job of that. You can fit all four zipper pulls into the lock between the two tracks at once. Unfortunately, whether locked or not, the metal zippers are quite jangly as you walk.

The zipper on the back panel pocket slides into a garage for weather-resistance, but does not lock. If you carry the bag as intended, it will be against your body and hopefully secured that way. Those travelers who are truly concerned about security will want to use this pocket for things that don’t matter much, like ticket stubs, notebooks, and maps.

Fit Notes

The Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody has a simple strap, but it’s still pretty comfortable. It isn’t the softest on bare shoulders, yet it doesn’t dig in uncomfortably, even when carrying a full bag and a water bottle. We find it stays on your shoulder easiest when worn crossbody, though you can swing it over one shoulder for short trips.

It’s a simple bag, as far as aesthetics are concerned. The Pacsafe logo is printed subtly on the front in the same color as the bag, and the rest of the face is plain. The only thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of zippers on this bag, and they can be noisy, both visually and audibly. Even if you lock them all down, you’re still likely to jingle as you walk, so hold it close if you’re trying to sneak out of the hotel room before your companions awake, or your bag might give you away.

Inside The Crossbody

For a 7L sling, the Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody has plenty of ways to keep your gear organized.

We’ll start with the side, where there’s a bottle pocket lying close to the bag. While the front is the same recycled polyester material as the rest of the bag, the back half of the pocket is a stretchier material topped with elastic. It expands to hold a standard-size bottle when you pull it, though the fit is tight and it takes a bit of effort. The tradeoff is that it holds onto your bottle securely, so you don’t have to worry about it falling out.

Against the back of the sling is the lone unlockable pocket on the bag. It encompasses the entire back panel. On any other bag, we’d say it’s good for your passport and wallet because it’s close to your body as you wear the bag. This is a Pacsafe bag, though, and there are more secure places to put that gear. Instead, use this pocket for small items you want to access quickly that don’t bulge out uncomfortably. Lip balm, your phone, or a small notebook would do well here. We, frankly, didn’t use it much because there are so many other places to stash gear.

The front compartment is nearly the size of the main compartment, so you can really divide your gear up between the two places without sacrificing accessibility; they’re equally easy (or hard) to get at, depending on your perspective and whether you’re using the locking zippers.

There’s a large zippered mesh pocket on the face of the front compartment, and, against the back, a large RFID-blocking pocket and two pen slots. That secure pocket is large enough for your passport and a minimalist wallet, or for a travel wallet that holds your passport. It’s also topped with a hook-and-loop fastener, so you don’t have to worry about them sliding out if you dump the bag. There’s capacity between the two sides to fill, as well, though there’s more space for that in the main compartment.

That space opens via the zippers in the center of the bag, but they don’t extend as widely as the front compartment zippers. Still, it’s easy enough to access gear in this spot, which you’ll want for reaching into the zippered mesh pocket against its front. That’s where you’ll find a key clip on a leash. Since this mesh pocket and the one in the front compartment are fairly identical, we kept opening the front compartment, expecting to find our keys, for the first week or so of using the bag. We got used to the placement after a while, but we still think it’s a little more logical to stow keys in the front compartment than the main compartment. Again, though, the layout and capacity of the bags are so similar that it really doesn’t matter much—it’s just something you have to get used to.

The back side of the main compartment contains a padded, softly-lined tablet sleeve. Whether you use it for an iPad, an e-reader, or a notebook (or physical book!), it keeps it standing upright and accessible. We found it convenient for a trip to the doctor’s office, since you nearly always have to wait to be seen. We like bringing a novel along, but you could stash the entertainment of your choice, from a puzzle book to a Nintendo Switch, in here to keep busy while you wait.

That might be the best use case we can think of for this bag. If you’re planning to take public transportation on a trip and have a long ride ahead of you, you can bring something small to keep yourself busy, along with a snack, a drink, your wallet, identification, and your phone, without issue. The Pacsafe V Anti-Theft Tour Crossbody is a bit large for days when you just need to carry the contents of your pockets, yet it’s too small if you need a laptop. However, when you want to carry more than a small sling can handle yet don’t want to bring a full backpack—and you want security features—it’s a good option.