Choosing which anti-theft bags are worth carrying is our job. That's exactly why we'll be honest about the features that aren't worth paying for.
The moment a bag matters most is the one where you can't see it. On a packed train with your back to the doors. In a market where the crowd is close enough to feel. At a café where you've hung it on the chair and turned to order. Every anti-theft feature is really an answer to that moment, and some of them answer it far better than others.
The trouble is that the market is full of claims, and most of them are written to sound reassuring rather than to be true. Choosing anti-theft bags is what we do, and we have a simple rule for what earns a place in the range: if we wouldn't carry it ourselves, it doesn't make the cut. So we've spent a lot of time working out which features actually do something. Here's the honest version, feature by feature, including the ones we don't think are worth paying a premium for.
RFID blocking: useful, and overhyped
RFID-blocking pockets are the feature most likely to be oversold. The idea is that a hidden reader could skim your contactless card through your bag. It's technically possible. In practice, the fraud it prevents is rare, banks already cap and monitor contactless transactions, and thieves overwhelmingly prefer the wallet in your hand to a signal they have to guess at.
So the bags we carry, like the Commuter 20L, include an RFID-shielded card pocket, because it costs nothing extra and it's genuinely nice to have your cards in one protected place. Just don't choose a bag for it, and don't pay extra for it. It's a small comfort, not a security strategy.
Slash-resistant fabric: real, rarely the actual threat
Slash-resistant panels and anti-cut webbing are real, but it's worth being clear about what they do. They don't make a bag impossible to get into. What they do is remove the fast option, so a thief counting on a quick slash and grab has to give up and move on. That's the whole point. The honest question is how often you'll meet that threat. It clusters in a handful of crowded tourist spots. Rome, Paris and Barcelona top the European rankings year after year, and the crush around the Trevi Fountain or Las Ramblas is exactly where it happens. On a Tuesday commute in Sydney or Melbourne, it almost never does.
We look for anti-cut webbing in the straps when we choose our anti-theft range, because a cut strap is the one slash that actually loses you the whole bag. But if a brand is leading with slash-proofing as the headline reason to buy, ask yourself where you'll be carrying it. For most people, most days, it's a reassurance rather than the deciding feature.
Locking zips: the one that earns its place
This is the feature that does the most work for the least noise. A thief in a crowd needs speed and quiet. A zip that locks, or that needs two hands and a deliberate motion to open, removes both. It's not about defeating a determined thief with tools and time. It's about not being the easy bag in the crowd, and easy is what opportunistic theft runs on.
Every anti-theft bag we carry uses lockable zips on the main compartment. The Tempo 18L takes the simplest version of the idea, a magnetic locking pull that clicks shut on its own. It's the least dramatic feature in the range and the one we'd tell you to care about first.
Hidden back-panel access: the design choice that matters most
The best anti-theft feature isn't a material or a lock. It's a decision about where the openings face. On the Roam 23L, the main zip sits against your back, so the only way into the bag is to take it off. Worn normally, there's no opening a hand can reach without you feeling it. Nothing to unzip while you're reading the departure board.
The best anti-theft bag is the one a thief can't get into quickly, and can't get into quietly.
That's the whole principle, and it's why we'd rank these features in almost the reverse of how they're usually advertised. Back-panel access first. Locking zips second. Anti-cut straps third, for where you'll actually need them. RFID last, as a pleasant extra. A bag that gets the first two right protects you on the ordinary days, which is nearly all of them.
If a bag can't be opened quickly and can't be opened quietly, most opportunistic theft simply moves on to an easier target. That isn't a thrilling sales pitch. It's just what actually keeps your things where you put them, which is the only thing an anti-theft bag is really for.
