Any suggestions on how to protect my small electronics (PDA, iPod, etc.) when the hotel doesn't provide in-room safes?

1) Don't bring them on your trip
or
2) Carry them with you at all times

or

3) check them at the front desk to put in the hotel safe

I'm not a big fan of option 3. So many people can have access to the hotel safe, so unless the hotel is willing to reimburse me (stated in black and white) if my item gets lost, I'd never do it.

1. Carry them with you
2. Leave them at home

and a very distant third & fourth:

3. Check them in at the hotel's front desk safe
4. Lock them into your empty suitcase in the room

I read in a post or trip report about portable travel safes you can buy. I googled this and found a company where you can purchase various size travel bags (wire reinforced) that you can attach to a stationery object in your hotel room. They were not too expensive. I don't remember the site or company, and I don't know how well these work.

My reply may sound redundant, but see the long explanation at option #2:

1) Leave them at home, or
2) Carry them with you always during the trip. Let me expound on that: You would carry these items in a safety pouch around your neck. Check a reputable travel store or on-line travel site, which will give you options for pouches you wear around your neck even while you're swimming at the beach or in the hotel/resort pool.

beachdreams -- Thanks for the helpful response. I found a portable safe on the web: http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php...tail&id=18

You can use a similar cablelock to hook your suitcase to a piece of furniture.

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You would carry these items in a safety pouch around your neck. ...even while you're swimming ...
>>

There's no way I'd be wearing a pouch around my neck with my iPod/mp3 player, PDA and/or other small electronics.

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You can use a similar cablelock to hook your suitcase to a piece of furniture.
>>

Yes, but unless your suitcase is a hard case, a determined thief can just use a knife to rip open your luggage. The Pacsafe bags are reinforced with steel mesh so they can't be cut open.

I've watched a couple of the videos on the Pacsafe products (on the website linked above) and they seem like good products. I've been thinking about getting one for my trip to Peru in the spring.

Do you really think a "determined thief" is going to be IN your hotel room and knife open a suitcase to steal an iPod?

CortoLaus,

That was the same product I had found in my search. If you buy it, please let us know how it works out.

BTW, since there is some discussion here about what will stop a determined thief, my opinion is that the reason to use any of these approaches (locking items in an in-room safe, using the hotel safe, securing items in a locked suitcase, carrying valuables with you, etc.) is to serve as a deterrent to prevent crimes of opportunity by an amateur/unskilled thief, rather than to stop a professional thief.

I always carry my iPod/Zune with me just like I do when at home. Unless I'm going swimming, I've never found it necessary to carry them around my neck in a special security pouch while traveling.

If I'm in an area that has such a high risk of theft/robbery that I shouldn't be carrying them like I normally do, then I wouldn't bring them in the first place.

I normally carry them in my purse - I use a small purse with a zip close (no snap close or simple flip close as they're too easy to have things fall out) and a thicker strap that is long enough to carry across my chest and hold the bag to my front. I never let the bag swing towards the back of my person or use a backpack style purse and they make it too easy for someone to slit them. I use the same type of purse regardless of whether I'm traveling since it's just as, if not more, likely to have it slit/stolen at home.

We bought a packsafe for our current round the world trip. We have been away a year now and used it only three times! It seems great in theory (which is why I bought it) but in practice it proved virtually impossible in most places we stayed to find anywhere secure (and not out in the open) to lock it to. as a result I have carried my iPod in a packsafe money belt.

beachdreams3--I bought the Pacsafe Travelsafe 100 at amazon.com for $39.95. My husband will be taking it on trip to London next week, and I'll let you know how it worked out.

I would switch hotels.

The theif could just steal your pac safe and take it home where he has the time and tools to break it open.

No safe is a deal breaker to me.