Is anti theft bag necessary?
 

We are leaving for Europe in a week. We will be visiting Paris, Rome, Normandy, and London. I will be taking my Nikon D7000 and two 2.8 lenses. I have a Baggallini run away satchel or a Pacsafe Citysafe 200. I would like to take the Baggallini as it is lighter and looks nicer, but I dont want my camera equipment stolen. Both bags hang across body and rest on front and zip closed, but the main difference is the Pacsafe is anti theft and the Baggallini is just a normal travel bag.

Can you share your thoughts or experience?

Normandy not a problem.
Paris and Rome watch public transport and cafe, yes keep it on
London similar but less so

I think pac safe is unnecessary and heavy.

I've used Le Sportsac for the past 25+ years. It has 5 zippered pouches, so a pickpocket wouldn't know where to look.

It's been on the famous #64, pickpocket express, many many times without incident.

Le Sportsac just doesn't want to show signs of wear. Lightweight.

It will hold anything from a picnic lunch to a 12 pack of beer, and then some.

I had a small PacSafe "slingsafe" bag with me on a recent trip to Rome and Paris...also on the (infamous) #64 bus, plus Metro systems in both cities. I really liked knowing that with the bag slung cross-body and in front of me, my valuables were totally secure. The steel-reinforced strap gave me a lot of peace of mind. It wasn't heavy, and easily held my phone, walking-around cash, credit cards, digital camera, passport and guidebook. Access to everything was easy (for me) as it hung just above waist level. For your camera equipment, you would need a larger one, though.

Keep everything valuable as close to your body as possible. If it can't be held close to your body then wear it across your body Sam Browne style so the strap goes over one shoulder & under the other and held in front of you. Rucksacks should only hold sandwiches and water bottles - and MUST be taken off in any busy area more for the safety of other people as you turn forgetting that you stick out several inches further than normal

Agree that a Sportsac is my bag of choice for europe. I 've gone through several of them - and use the mid size barrel as a day bag and the large size barrel as a carry-on or weekend bag. (The smaller one has a number of small zipper compartments and I put small valuables in those next to my body - but do carry camera along with other stuff - water, umbrella etc - in the large center compartment.

In more than 90 trips to europe have never had a problem with any of them - nor have I had any close calls. (I did LOSE my sunglasses when it got cloudy and I ended up leaving them on a table of an outdoor cafe in Bern. When I got back an hour later they were gone - but as I said I LOST them - they weren't stolen.)

Caveat: I'm a native New Yorker and many precautions that seem obvious to me seem to be a mystery to many other people.