Pacsafe Metrosafe X 20L vs Venturesafe EXP35

Pacsafe makes the anti-theft bags that actually mean something — slash-resistant mesh laminated into the panels, locking zipper hardware, RFID pockets — rather than a hidden pocket and a sticker. So the question isn’t whether the technology works. It is which bag you should put it on: the 20L daypack, or the 35L travel pack.

The answer surprises people, so here it is up front: for most travelers, the daypack. The reasoning is below.

At a glance

Secure the bag that’s exposed

This is the argument, and it is worth spelling out because most anti-theft roundups get it backwards.

Think about where each bag spends its day. Your main travel pack is on your back while you walk between a station and accommodation, and then it is in a room, a locker or a wardrobe. It is almost never sitting open and unattended in a crowd. Your day bagis the opposite: it hangs off a café chair, rides a packed metro at rush hour, sits beside you on a beach and goes into a market where people press against you.

Theft happens to the exposed bag. So if you are buying one bag with slash-resistant panels and locking zips, buy the one that gets exposed — which is the 20L. That logic is also why our anti-theft roundup puts a daypack at the top of a list of travel backpacks.

What the EXP35 is genuinely for

There is a real case for the bigger bag, and it is specific: extended travel where the main pack itself is repeatedly at risk. Long-term travel through high-theft cities, hostel dorms night after night, overnight buses and trains where your bag rides in a shared hold, months rather than weeks.

In that life the main pack is not safely in a hotel wardrobe — it is on a rack behind you on a night bus, or on a dorm floor. Slash-resistant panels and lockable zips change that situation materially, and the ability to lock the bag to a fixed object is worth real money.

It is also a genuinely good travel pack independent of the security: 35 liters is the capacity we recommend for international travel anyway, because it clears sizers a 40L pack fails. See our international carry-on roundup for why that matters more abroad.

What the security costs

Three things, and all three apply to both bags.

Weight.Wire mesh laminated into panels and reinforced strap anchors are not free. The Metrosafe X is a published 1.87 lb for 20 liters, which is heavy for a daypack — a packable 20L is a fraction of that. You carry that weight on the safe days as well as the risky ones.

Convenience. Locking zips are slower to open. That friction is the mechanism by which they work, and it is aimed at you as much as at a thief. If you open your day bag thirty times a day, you will feel it.

Money.Both cost considerably more than an equivalent bag without the hardware — the EXP35 is the most expensive way to buy 35 liters of capacity that we cover. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on your destinations, not on how anxious the marketing makes you feel.

The published-spec gap

Worth noting because it affects how confidently you can plan. The Metrosafe X publishes capacity, weight, external dimensions, fabric and warranty — enough to check it against a personal-item allowance before buying. The Venturesafe EXP35 listing publishes capacity and its security features but not dimensions, weight or warranty.

For a bag whose main selling point is being a carry-on, that gap is real. Our carry-on read for it is exactly that — our read, based on the stated 35 liters against typical limits — not a manufacturer measurement. Measure it when it arrives, using our measuring guide.

The setup we’d actually recommend

For the large majority of travelers, including most people going somewhere with a pickpocket reputation:

An ordinary good travel pack plus the Metrosafe X as the day bag. The main pack can be a Cotopaxi Allpa 35L or an Osprey Farpoint 40— both of which have lockable main zips already, which handles the realistic dorm-and-train risk — and the secure daypack covers the exposed hours. That combination costs less than the EXP35 alone in most cases, and it puts the security exactly where the risk is.

Buy the EXP35 when your trip is long, your accommodation is shared, and your bag will spend nights out of your sight. That is a real traveler, just not the majority one.

The verdict

Buy the Metrosafe X 20L unless you have a specific reason not to. It secures the bag that is actually exposed, it publishes its numbers, it works as a personal item, and it costs a fraction of the bigger pack.

Buy the Venturesafe EXP35for extended travel through genuinely high-risk places, where the main pack is repeatedly out of your control — and understand that you are paying a premium and carrying weight on every trip, including the quiet ones.

And if neither feels necessary, that instinct is probably right. Most theft is opportunistic, and habits — day bag on your front in crowds, nothing valuable in an outer pocket, cards split between two places — do more than hardware. We’d rather tell you that than sell you a heavier bag.