Recommend: Quick Access Pistol Safe, Biometric?

Jerzsubbie

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I've been thinking about it for a while and have been using a cheapo $20 lock box recently, but with the number of friends with kids that visit our house, I figured it's time to get a quality quick access safe. Coincidentally, a friend just texted me today asking for recommendations for the same.

Reading reviews for biometric safes, it seems like the technology is not quite there yet. Reviews seem to be hit or miss, and this is not something I want to have to fiddle with.

Wish list:
Ability to fit 2 full size pistols
Ability to securely mount it to a shelf
Fast opening
Key back up is a must
Battery preferred for flexibility in location
Bonus for me if it can be mounted in a drawer

Budget:$100-250
I'm more in the $100-200 range, he's fine with $250+ if necessary.

So far, I like the:
Vaultek VT20, non-bio but has a BT app $175 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072TR7WJJ)
Liberty HDX-250, biometric $195 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077SKC6VC)
Gunvault GV2000c, non-bio $110 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001XZZA6A)

I'd love to hear your experiences and get your input.
 
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The more I read about the Vaultek and durability tests on youtube, I think I'm sold. key pad, backup key, or bluetooth app. The app has a log of all access/attempts and settings changes too so if someone does try to open it you'll know exactly when and by which method. This thing also looks so good, I'd be fine leaving it out on my nightstand.

Still curious to hear your feedback about all options, however.
 
On the old site I did a complete review of the Barska line of biometric safes. Short story is they are rock solid. A few years later I still have not had a single failure or complaint.
 
Interesting. Admittedly, I wrote off Barska due to the brand's mediocre quality reputation. Would you mind linking to the model(s) you have?
 
I have used Gunvault for years, handplacement imprint is easy/quick to orient, even in the pitch dark, swings open like lightning with authority, then a natural reach to grab weapon...only good to report. I have a biometric larger unit by a different company, the latency of recognition, though very quick feels slow in comparison to using the keypad ymmv
 
Intrested to see recomendations for models as well.
 
Interesting. Admittedly, I wrote off Barska due to the brand's mediocre quality reputation. Would you mind linking to the model(s) you have?

I did at first as well (wrote them off). But then I caught on that the reviews were for optics, etc. the safes had great reviews.

Mine is basically what Butter linked, but opens on top vs front.
 
Great timing. My wife just informed me she’s not all that comfortable w a pistol on my nightstand.


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@Jerzsubbie a little story about one of my neighbors:

He has a biometric safe, and in the middle of the night one night, he had a need to access it quickly.
The safe failed to open on the first or second try. It opened on the third.
Luckily for him, the situation was not as extreme as he thought it was, and everything turned out ok.
He carefully reviewed his actions and determined that under stress, his finger placement on the pads caused the scanner to misread. He had placed his finger half on, half off the scanner.
He remedied this failure by storing multiple sets of his own fingerprints in the vaults memory.
He scooted his fingers left, half on half off, save.
He scooted his fingers right, half on half off, save.
Centered his fingers, scooted forward until half on half off, save.
Centered his fingers, rotated 30degrees right, then left, save and save.
Lifted fingers so that only the front half of the print was saved.
You get the idea.
He tried to mimic as many possible stress related variations to finger placement as he could to minimize the chances of that ever happening again.

ETA: I say 'fingers' because he did this for multiple fingers in case he had a bandaid on one or some similar situation


Full disclosure: this was ~3 years ago and his vault was a couple years old at that point. I do not recall what brand it was.

Im sure there's been some advances in the industry since then and the scanners are probably a little more adept at identifying the correct print in less than correct orientation, but it's something to keep in the back of your mind.
It'll only cost you five extra minutes during setup.
 
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I have the hornady rfid ar Wall locker. It works great. It is rfid Keyes or punch code operated. It works great and is solid I would think thier pistol safes work great too. I have a keyed safe for now but will upgrade to the rfid soon


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Any of you guys wear a watch 24/7? One of our members came up with a pretty smart solution to how to get his safe open under stress. If you're interested, I'll ask whether he's willing to share.
 
@draco88 that makes a lot of sense, it's basically what the iPhone does to recognize your prints, just in a more seemless fashion. Most of the safes I've seen can remember a lot of different prints so I guess this is a good solution to increase the chances of the safe opening on the first try.

ETA: the liberty and Vaultek can only store 15 prints. That doesn't allow for many variations or different fingers on one person, not to mention you and a spouse. I still think I'm going to skip on the biometric.
 
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"I'm going to skip on the biometric"
Good call in my opinion
Your setup has to be "fail safe" pun intended
 



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I really like the RFID entry but they only have single pistol sized boxes. I actually stopped at Bass pro on my way home to check out the model. I wish Vaultek had RFID rather than finger print.
 
I’ve had the gunvault you linked for 7 or 8 years. Works every time and batteries last a long time. I’ve only had the low battery indicator come on once. Usually replace the battery every year or so but current has been in well over a year. Probably should go ahead and replace. I only check it monthly or so for operation. I keep the key hanging behind my headboard on a command hook just in case.
 
I’ve had the gunvault you linked for 7 or 8 years. Works every time and batteries last a long time. I’ve only had the low battery indicator come on once. Usually replace the battery every year or so but current has been in well over a year. Probably should go ahead and replace. I only check it monthly or so for operation. I keep the key hanging behind my headboard on a command hook just in case.

This post needs to be stickied.
 
I totally missed those, especially the first one. I was primarily looking on Amazon but that one was really far down the search results because it's not prime.

$160 for the 2 pistol
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000598141/hornady-rapid-safe-4800kp-rfid

$255 for the AR locker which would fit great under the bed and would easily allow for an SBR or PCC.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG4YVH2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_974IAb756C6S5

Now I have some decisions to make... Hmmmm.
 
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I totally missed those, especially the first one. I was primarily looking on Amazon but that one was really far down the search results because it's not prime.

$160 for the 2 pistol
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000598141/hornady-rapid-safe-4800kp-rfid

$255 for the AR locker which would fit great under the bed and would easily allow for an SBR or PCC.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XG4YVH2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_974IAb756C6S5

Now I have some decisions to make... Hmmmm.
I love the AR wall locker I got back at christmas. It opens super fast and is lag bolted to the wall studs
 
I love the AR wall locker I got back at christmas. It opens super fast and is lag bolted to the wall studs


It looks like it can be mounted vertical or horizontal? How far is distance between mounting holes or is there a couple sets or drill new ones if needed? Thanks in advance Got unique spot in mind and trying to figure out options
 
IIRC the instructions say to mount it vertical as for the mounting there are 3 or so predrilled holes but you could probably drill your own.
 
I think I'm going to hold off on the AR gunlocker for now, but that will fit great for future long gun storage separate from my main safe.

I'm going to stick to my original objective, a 2 pistol safe. I'm a little torn between the 2 below so I'm going to type it out here...

Hornady 4800KP RFID safe $160 (https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/0000598141/hornady-rapid-safe-4800kp-rfid)
RFID is really nice especially with the stickers, extra stickers can be had for $6ea, can store up to 5 RFID tags, can use the same RFID tag for for multiple safes, 14g steel, key pad and barrel key backup, 4xAA batteries, AC adapter, faster opening of the 2.

Thoughts: I'm a little put off by the lack of info/reviews to be found about this model. I like to read a lot about any important purchase and this is kind of a big one as far as importance goes. The lack of available info is making it hard for me to get comfortable with the product, if that makes sense.


Vaultek VT20, non-bio but has app $175 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072TR7WJJ)
Rechargeable LiIon battery good for up to 4mo, power adapter and other accessories included, bluetooth app logs access attempts, 16g steel but every review I've seen mentions the robust quality, key and key pad plus open with app. keypad would be primary.

Thoughts: The Vaultek app is very attractive when thinking about house guests and kids, so that the issue can be addressed immediately rather than finding out later that the safe has been locked out due to incorrect codes etc, or guessing that someone may have touched it because something was moved ever so slightly. I've found nothing but glowing reviews of the product, with exception of the finger print which I'm not interested in anyway. Seems to be really well thought out despite being a very new company who got started by crowd-funding $75k just 2yr ago.

I'm going to get my wife's 2 cents, but I find myself still leaning towards the Vaultek.

UPDATE: The wife also thinks the app is more valuable than RFID, Vaultek it is
 
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It looks like it can be mounted vertical or horizontal? How far is distance between mounting holes or is there a couple sets or drill new ones if needed? Thanks in advance Got unique spot in mind and trying to figure out options
Just to be clear, @Zbizzle911 has the AR Wall Lock, but linked above for me the AR Gunlocker, 2 diff products, somewhat similar and confusing names.
 
Bought a cheap Stack On safe "box" that has 2 relocking bars, hex pad keyless entry, tubular keyed entry. I think I paid $50 bucks. It does the job. It's not the last word in elegance, being burglar proof or anything else but it works. It's better than nothing. Serves multiple purposes in my household. Wife loves it.
 
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It looks like it can be mounted vertical or horizontal? How far is distance between mounting holes or is there a couple sets or drill new ones if needed? Thanks in advance Got unique spot in mind and trying to figure out options

Heres a video I made of mine after I mounted it. The door is spring loaded so when the RFID device is put up to the sensor it opens pretty fast.

 
So I thought that I would add something to this conversation. I purchased a new light for my HD/fighting AR that I keep in the Hornady RFID locker seen above in my video. I took the old light off that was a bit smaller and put the newer Scout type streamlight rail mount on the same side of the rifle ( right side if looking from the rear) I then went to put it back in the locker and what do you know it doesn't fit because the light sticks out a bit more than the older one. I had two choices at the time 1. Move the light to the left side or figure out a way to shim the wall locker off the wall 1/2 inch or so. Instead of removing the locker from the wall I just moved the light to the left side and it works just fine. This is just something to keep in mind if you get a wall locker like mine. If I had it to do over again while mounting I would take a 12-15" wide pine board and painted it then used it between the wall and the locker to shimmy it out some. I would probably use longer lag bolts too since I would be changing how far they would be going into the studs.
 
So I've had the Vaultek VT20 for a couple weeks now and am very pleased. The entire thing is really well thought out, definitely high quality, nicely packaged, and simply works really well. There is nothing else you need to buy, it even includes a battery charger and mounting hardware, among other accessories.

It's very easy to set the code. It can be 4-8 digits. The keys are nice laser cut type, not the cheap barrel type that are much more easily picked. I haven't even used the app yet but will do so tonight.

It can fit 2 full sized pistols, or I can even fit my 2 shields in their holsters.

The first thing I did was try to see if I could type the code in faster than the Vaultek could respond. Thankfully it's fast... even though I'm fast (of course I'm fast), it's faster! They keypad beeps are pretty quiet but I haven't looked to see if I could silence them yet. I'll follow up with some info on the app.

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Even though I was sent mine for photos, I absolutely love it and would gladly buy it if I had too. I wish I would have gotten one sooner. I have the I model with the finger print reader. Makes gaining entry even quicker.

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So the app does allow you to turn off the beeps. As I expected, the app is very slow to open and access to be able to open the safe. So the app is certainly a backup method of opening the safe.

When you open the app, it takes a few seconds to pair with the safe, you're asked to enter your "drag unlock pattern", then you're brought to the main screen.

Btw yes my battery is still at 100% after 2 weeks. Granted I've probably only opened it about 2x/day.

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