Travelon Anti-Theft Greenlander Compact Sling Review

From carrying your phone, wallet, and keys to having a spot for extra tissue, sanitizer, and lip balm, there are plenty of reasons to add a sling to your pack-out. Sure, you could pack all that and more in your travel backpack, but you may be fighting to get into the pockets if you’ve packed it for a week or two. Plus, you’d probably rather not have to crawl over your seatmate to get into your bag when it’s in the overhead bin of the plane, and it’s hard to carry a travel daypack with a big backpack since they’re both meant to go on your back.

That’s why we like carrying a crossbody bag like the Travelon Anti-Theft Greenlander Compact Sling. It’s a perfect pocket dump to keep your gear in one place as you go through the airport and has features to help secure your valuables, as well. How well does it work? Is it a good anti-theft bag? And is it comfortable to use daily? Let’s dig in and find out.

External Components

Travelon’s Greenlander line of bags are made with recycled materials to reduce the environmental impact of their products—hence the “green” in Greenlander. Since they’re diverting plastic bottles away from oceans and waste streams, it’s a more sustainable choice for Earth-friendly packers.

The polyester material has a thick weave and feels like the thick fabric you find on many other bags and backpacks, and dirt brushes off pretty easily. That’s good since you can only spot-clean this sling, as submerging it in water will affect the RFID protection and void the warranty. We’ve had no issues brushing off makeup, flour, and other dirt we’ve encountered along the way, though, so unless you spill hot chocolate on it, you’ll probably be fine (and if you do, it should come off with cold water).

We’re testing the Galaxy Blue colorway, a navy hue with seafoam accents—including a tiny webbing loop to hang it up—and a black strap. As of the time of writing, you can also get it in Jet Black (with yellow and gray accents) and Diamond Ash (charcoal gray with coral accents and a diamond ripstop pattern). The Travelon brand name is stamped in raised lettering in the accent color along the bottom right of the bag’s front, and that’s about it for branding, except for the Travelon name and logo debossed on opposite sides of the main compartment zipper.

The zipper is one part of the 5-point anti-theft system on the Greenlander Compact Sling. It hooks to a D-ring on the left side of the bag to stop someone from quickly opening the main compartment and getting at your gear. The front pocket zipper has a locking mechanism, as well. This time, it’s a webbing loop where you can slide the zipper pull through to, again, slow down a potential thief. This zipper pull has paracord woven through it to be easier to grab, and although the zippers are unbranded, we’ve had no issues and can’t complain about their quality.

The body panels are slash-resistant, and so is the strap. Plus, the strap locks when you slide a square on its front up. It’s a good theft deterrent and also prevents the buckle from accidentally popping open. Like the zippers, the hardware on this Travelon bag is unbranded, though everything functions as we’d expect. If you’re keeping track, that’s four of the five points in the anti-theft system. What’s the fifth? You’ll have to keep reading to find out!

Before we get to that point, though, let’s talk more about the strap. After all, that’s an important feature for a bag you want to wear crossbody. It’s attached to the left and top of the bag, so the sling hangs vertically no matter which shoulder you throw it over. If you’d like the bag to hang on your front, you need to put it over your left shoulder; if you wear it on your right instead, it will rest on your back.

While that’s convenient for bike riding or hanging onto the back of your boyfriend’s motorcycle, it’s not a super convenient way to access your gear. That’s because if you swing it to your front, it will sit, at best, horizontally or, at worst, upside down. The zippers close at the left side of the bag, so you can get at your gear without it naturally falling out, as long as you don’t completely open the main compartment. If you unzip it all the way, there’s a chance gravity will take over, and your favorite lip balm or lotion could fall to the floor.

That’s a long way to say we prefer wearing it over the left shoulder. Thanks for sticking with us.

Either way, the strap is thick, soft, and threaded through the adjustment slide so that there’s nothing extra dangling around to amuse your cat. Sorry, Fluffy! To make it even better, a built-in elastic keeper holds the two strap layers together so you don’t accidentally grab one side without the other.

There’s no padding on the back panel (or on the front panel, for that matter), but since this doesn’t even have a 1L capacity, we don’t miss it. The angle of the strap does a good job of letting the bag hang comfortably, so nothing digs into your body as you carry it around.

Fit Notes

The Tl;dr on the fit is that it’s casual and comfortable. Really, that’s pretty much what you need to know.

We like wearing the Travelon Anti-Theft Greenlander Compact Sling to the market or the movies, because everything we need to carry is easily accessible yet secure. But the recycled polyester material and color combinations don’t exactly scream “red carpet ready,” so it’s not something you’ll wear to your friend’s black tie wedding.

Is there a sling out there that’s really posh? Probably not. That’s why dinner jackets have pockets, and little clutch purses come in any color to match your dress. This sling is made for keeping your gear secure throughout the day’s adventures, and, especially if you’re rocking athletic wear that lacks those stretchy pockets on the leg, it comes in handy to do just that!

Inside The Sling

Even though this is a 0.75L bag, there’s still an exterior pocket where you can stash some gear. It opens with a diagonal zipper and spans two-thirds of the front of the bag, basically the area beneath the zipper. That does mean that, unlike some similar slings and pouches, you can’t tuck something taller inside because it doesn’t extend above the opening.

Instead, we use this for lip balm, lotion, sanitizer, and/or AirPods. Depending on what tiny gear you want to carry, you can fit more or less inside, but there’s no extra organization to keep things from falling to the bottom, so you may have to rummage around a bit to find what you need.

To get into the main compartment, unlock the zipper pull on the left and open it around the horseshoe-style zipper all the way to the right. This gives you a good view of what’s inside, although it can allow you to overpack the sling if you’re not careful.

It’s a small bag, and the more gear you put in the front pocket, the less you can put in the RFID-blocking slip pocket along the front of the main compartment. For those of you still keeping track, that’s the fifth and final anti-theft feature on the Travelon Anti-Theft Greenlander Compact Sling. So, while the front pocket can encroach upon the space in this area, we don’t find it that big of a deal since this is designed for flatter gear, like your passport or minimalist wallet, to protect your information from digital theft.

However, the domino effect continues when it comes to the rest of the space. For example, after packing lip balm and AirPods in the front pocket, a minimalist wallet in the interior slip pocket, and a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer and some tissues in the main area, we had a difficult time slotting a phone in. So you’ll have to pick and choose what’s the most essential for you to carry in this sling before heading out the door. Otherwise, while you may be able to squish everything inside the first time you carefully pack this bag, you’ll probably have a more challenging time cramming your phone, for example, back in after taking a call or sending a text.

So, when we say this is a good sling to keep travel essentials safe on your next trip, note that we’re emphasizing essentials, not the entire contents of your junk drawer. No one wants to carry that much around anyway!