Life Pod Trek Pack Safe with Sling Bag: Portable and Affordable

When we talk about safes, most of us picture a big steel box with a combination dial and a three-prong handle. Much like a Vault, even some gun safes are massive in size and weigh more than a car. But have you heard of the Life Pod Trek Pack portable safe with a sling bag? Not all safes are meant to weigh so much they can’t be moved.

Vaultek has produced a line of portable, easy-to-access safes under its Life Pod line that are great for multiple things. Portable is the idea behind this line of small, compact safes. And when you buy the Trek Pack, you get a Life Pod safe and a sling bag for carrying it. I work in law enforcement, and the longer I’ve done this job, the more I find myself wanting to lock everything up.

I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but the unfortunate truth is people steal things that don’t belong to them. Thieves are not the only reason for locking items up either. In many cases, someone may need to secure a firearm, knife, medicine, or other items while traveling to keep them away from small children.

If you are not worried about locking things up, the Trek Pack still has plenty to offer. It’s resistant and will protect your personal items against the toughest elements out there. The Trek Pack is small and compact but has a lot of great features that make it perfect for home, the car, or traveling. Let’s go over the specs on the Life Pod and sling bag before we talk about some of the benefits of using one.

Here’s the 4-1-1 on the Life Pod Trek Pack

You can’t think of the Life Pod as just a safe because it’s much more than that. It’s a small-sized container that measures 5.75 by 8 inches on the inside opening. When closed, the outside dimensions of the life pod are 2 inches thick, 7 inches wide, and 10 inches long. If you’re trying to envision what size this is, I have a leather copy of Moby Dick that is about the same size as the Life Pod safe.

Some Life Pods of biometric fingerprint scanners for unlocking the safe. The model that comes with the Trek Pack, however, is the basic version that has digital and key access only.

Two side latches pull the lid down firmly against the water-resistant seal. Because the two latches work independently of the lock, you can use the safe without locking it. A locking system is located on the front of the safe and uses a digital code or manual key. When setting the code, you can select from a 4- to 8-digit passcode.

A 9V Alkaline battery powers the electronic lock and has an estimated run time of one year in the Life Pod. But don’t forget: There is also a manual key, so it works without a battery. A mini-USB port in the front of the safe allows you to connect power if the battery dies.

What is the Life Pod good for?

As I mentioned earlier, it’s great for multiple things, including home, vehicle, traveling, camping, and more. The Trek Pack includes a sling bag for carrying the Life Pod so it’s great for taking with you on the go. It comes with a steel cable for securing the safe to stable objects to keep someone from walking off with them. The cable is designed to lock into the corner of the safe and loop around anything you would like to secure it to.

A second smaller cable with a combination lock attaches in the same manner and allows you to attach and detach the safe to objects without unlocking it. When I saw the cable, my first thought was “Anyone with wire cutters could cut this and run.” This is true, and they could. But the point of the Life Pod is to keep someone from accessing personal items when you’re out and about.

In my law enforcement career, I’ve responded to a lot of burglaries where criminals had plenty of tools for their evil deeds: crowbars, wire cutters, hammers, and even torches on a few occasions. But that’s not what the Life Pod is meant to protect items from. When you’re traveling and need to secure some items momentarily, from my experience, this little safe works great.

While criminals have and use tools to take things that don’t belong to them, they don’t normally carry them around at the mall, on the beach, or in some other crowded place. On these occasions, thieves try to grab anything they can quickly walk away with. That is what the Life Pod is perfect for.

What fits in the Life Pod and Sling Bag?

If you are headed out and want to keep a few things locked up or protected, it may feel a little weird just carrying around a safe. But when you can throw it in a sling bag, it’s much more convenient to take with you. There is enough room in the extra pocket on the sling bag to keep a cell phone, wallet, keys, or other items.

But the big question is what fits in the Life Pod safe, right? When you open the safe, you will find several layers of foam. This allows you to adjust the thickness of the inside area so items don’t knock around. If you just need to keep some cash or other paper items in the Life Pod, you can remove the first thin foam insert, which leaves about a quarter-inch of space in the safe.

Remove the second foam insert, and there is about an inch of room, which is perfect for a wallet, cell phone, keys, and most handguns. A Ruger LCP and M&P Shield 2.0 fit nicely with just the first insert removed. Handguns that are a little thicker, like the Glock 19, also fit but were a little too snug. These guns fit better when I removed the second insert and left the first and third. This allowed the G19 to compress into the foam insert just a little, so it didn’t move around when carrying it.

Larger guns like the Sig M17, G17, or full-size 1911s will fit, but not with tactical lights or optics. All three foam inserts will come out for maximum depth, but then there will be no padding at all in the safe.

Great protection at a low cost

For a quality safe, sling bag, and two steel cables for attaching it to secure items, $130 is a great deal. From float trips, a day at the beach, or just locking up your personal items on the go, it’s a great quality, compact safe. When you buy the Trek Pack, you can select from four color combo options, which include:

• Cover Black Life Pod with Black Sling Bag
• Rush Orange Life Pod with Gray Sling Bag
• Olive Drab Life Pod with Black Sling Bag
• Luxe Blue Life Pod with Gray Sling Bag

The quick-access digital buttons work very well. I found I could type in a four-digit code, undo the side latches, and open the safe in about four seconds. While someone with wire cutters could cut the steel cable and run off with the Life Pod, the cable is a 1/4-inch cable, so it would take some good-sized cutters to do that.  If you’re planning to do any traveling, I would check out the Trek Pack made by Vaultek.