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@EdwardZ
Its really a question of philosophy and experience.. but I don't think SLRs are terribly well suited to street photography. SLRs are not just bulkier, nosier, slower (slower to compose, focus, expose and advance) but also tend to demand a less fluid style and better lighting. Without a mirror swinging about one can learn to shoot rather slow speeds. One can easily focus in much lower light on a rangefinder than an SLR. Use some high latitude film and one can shoot pretty much anything in ambient light. Robot cameras have rotary shutters and they let one go to really slow shutter speeds without shake .
SLRs also tend to look like SLRs and in some people's eyes look no different than DSLRs-- eg. a more prime object for a thief to set their desires upon than something "old fashioned". While a nice rangefinder (Leica M, Robot Royal, Zeiss Contax, Nikon SP) is worth much more than one of these Japanese SLRs in the eyes of an unschooled thief..
If you want a rangefinder but one that you can toss.. there are always the Russian Leica clones...