Cool Stuff: Pacsafe Venture X40
Simply put, the Venture X40 is a bag for all reasons. An apt name could have been the Transformer, the Convertible, or maybe Pure Genius.
The magnificence of Pacsafe’s Venture X40 ($249) is that it seems to get vastly more gear and keep it significantly more secure, than any other available bag its size. As its name accurately implies, it has 40 liters capacity, making it quite easy for airline carry-on and onboard stowing.
Cool Stuff saw the Venture X40 prototype 2 years ago and thought it was a great potential concept. After owning one for 3 months it's quite evident that Pacsafe designers had professional photographers’ input. Unknown features of the Venture X40 reveal themselves daily, so Cool Stuff has been very patient in crafting our perspective.
Grab your Venture X40, put in your bits & pieces (batteries, memory cards, cords, laptop, reference manuals) in its special well thought out zippered and velcro pockets. Then toss in your camera gear, DJI Mavic Pro Drone, and off you go.
Hey, not so fast.
Pacsafe is so clever, they created three sizes of padded Camsafe case inserts ($49- $89) to absolutely positively protect your expensive gear, even from yourself. Yes, we in media are usually our own worst enemy in negligently destroying our own gear, from coffee spills, to stepping on our bags, to dropping them, to trusting them to an unsafe environment.
What most of we sports and event professionals do is use our bag only as a safe conveyance to get our gear to a destination, strip out our gear and accessories, and leave the bag in our car or in a designated “safe” media area.
Contrasting this is breaking news actuality coverage, surf, ski, or in air aviation coverage where you may actually live out of your bag for many hours (maybe even for days as with the Samoa Tsunami or cyclone/hurricane/earthquake coverage).
The beauty of the Venture X40 and use of the optional Camsafe, is that it can be a photo bag one minute...pull out the internal Camsafe case and it's a great general purpose backpack.
Cool Stuff returned to the islands from shooting UCLA vs University of Hawaii football, and had to return immediately to Las Vegas for a family medical emergency. Cool Stuff was amazed that my valued Venture X40 transformed in 4 seconds. Just pulled out the inside Camsafe case, tossed in a few clothes and was off to the airport to care for a seriously ill family member.
The heart and soul of any Pacsafe product is its security mesh (Pacsafe’s patented exo-mesh) and solid locking capability. Nobody is going to slash through any Pacsafe product with a razor blade or reach in an unsecured outside pocket to steal anybody’s goodies.
With an optional Pacsafe cable, you can harness your bag to table legs or a pole to make it even more awkward to mess with. The existing right strap on the Venture X40 is already designed for security strapping... so you are actually good to go, Mate.
Pacsafe also helps you ward off hi-tech scanner crooks, as your credit cards & passport are well shielded by RFID protection. Want super extra more, more, more security? Instead of a Camsafe, buy a Travelsafe internal bag to carry your millions in cash to our favorite Territorial Bank of American Samoa.
The outside of your soon to cherish Venture X40, has compression straps to keep your bag tight and small, a pull out rain cover, a hydration port, a rugged heavy duty base for placing it on concrete/dirt, all sorts of hidden straps/clips/loops to connect your hat, Hydraflask insulated water bottle, headphones, lunch bag, umbrella, tripod, monopod, raincoat and more.
The one easy access outside pocket is perfect for ipads and other flat items you may want to grab after boarding a flight.
The Venture X40 is the least expensive bag you could ever buy once you consider how much you save from its protection of your expensive gear, ID, and credit cards from theft, bad weather, and ill placed stumbling feet. The Venture X40 is built to last and has the integrity of Pacsafe’s good name/warranty behind it.
The Venture X40 is available in stealth black and Cool Stuff’s favorite gorgeous blue (which made Cool Stuff an instant hero with the UCLA Bruin Rose Bowl Media Staff, when strutting in proudly with our Venture X40).
Venture X40, is clearly Cool Stuff’s bag for a life of adventure and hanging out with you, our dear Coolio friends across the Pacific.