Electronic Handgun Safes

[BrassSlapper]

Please forgive me if there's a recent thread on this I missed...

So, I'm in the market for a new handgun safe. While my Fort Knox is serving me just fine, I'm looking for something simpler and easier that my wife can access while I'm out of town on business. The idea of her fumbling around in the dark trying to punch in a Simplex combo makes me nervous if she's got to get in quickly. So, I'm doing research and I run across an article that's got two different options for hands-free operation-- (article for reference here) (https://gununiversity.com/best-handgun-safes/)--

One's a bluetooth operation with the Vaultek. And the other's a Hornady with an RFID bracelet. Now, I know she can work her phone in her sleep and she could be dialing 911 along with opening her safe at the same time. But the RFID is literally hands free. Just tap the bracelet and voila! it's open.

The real question is...do any of you guys actually own either of these? I'm looking for some real, legit input from actual users. Or if you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears.

[GyroF-16]

I’m very satisfied with my Vaultek.
I bought this one:

https://vaulteksafe.com/products/vaultek-slider-series/slider-colion-noir-edition/

almost two years ago. (At the time, I had to look up who Colion Noir was, so it wasn’t based on his endorsement).

It’s bolted to the bedside table, so a thief would have to carry out a 50 lb piece of furnature to go to work on opening it.
I like the redundant methods of opening it. It reads my thumbprint and opens in about 3 seconds 95% of the time, and always within about 5-6 sec. but I (or my wife) can quickly fall back to a remote button hidden within Bluetooth range to push and open it. Or the keypad. Or the app on my iPhone. Or the mechanical key.
It slides open and presents the handgun, grip-up. I use it every night to holster up to take the dog out.
It runs on a rechargeable, replaceable battery, so no external power required.

I’m a satisfied customer.


Please forgive me if there's a recent thread on this I missed...

So, I'm in the market for a new handgun safe. While my Fort Knox is serving me just fine, I'm looking for something simpler and easier that my wife can access while I'm out of town on business. The idea of her fumbling around in the dark trying to punch in a Simplex combo makes me nervous if she's got to get in quickly. So, I'm doing research and I run across an article that's got two different options for hands-free operation-- (article for reference here) (https://gununiversity.com/best-handgun-safes/)--

One's a bluetooth operation with the Vaultek. And the other's a Hornady with an RFID bracelet. Now, I know she can work her phone in her sleep and she could be dialing 911 along with opening her safe at the same time. But the RFID is literally hands free. Just tap the bracelet and voila! it's open.

The real question is...do any of you guys actually own either of these? I'm looking for some real, legit input from actual users. Or if you have a better suggestion, I'm all ears.

[Clusterfrack]

I found this website helpful
https://www.handgunsaferesearch.com/recommended-safes

Apparently the Vaultek can be compromised very easily. I am not convinced that any of the electronic safes offer anything worthwhile over a simplex button combo lock.

I bought the V-line mechanical safe for my daughter. It is simple, reliable, and solid.

[GyroF-16]

Apparently the Vaultek can be compromised very easily.


Yes, I’d read about that, but
1. Not sure how current those reports are
2. Figure there’s extremely little overlap between burglars and hackers
3. Really like the form factor and convenience

[Clusterfrack]

Yes, I’d read about that, but
1. Not sure how current those reports are
2. Figure there’s extremely little overlap between burglars and hackers
3. Really like the form factor and convenience

Apparently you don’t have to be a hacker. All you need is a paperclip or a zip tie

https://www.handgunsaferesearch.com/vaultek-safe

[ViniVidivici]

Why does the pistol need to be locked up when she's home?

Suggestions would be, not having it in a box. My wife uses a holster. Gun's under the bed while sleeping.

[GAP]

I absolutely love my Hornady AR Gunlocker as a quick access option. My brother also purchased one and he loves his, too.

Simply punch in a 5-digit code and it flips right open.. has enough room for an AR.. mags, a few handguns, whatever...

You can also use the stickers on a phone or something else to flip it open. I don’t personally because I have small children.

https://www.opticsplanet.com/hornady-rapid-safe-ar-gunlocker-98190.html

[BJXDS]

I do not own either of those and I don’t know this is a better suggestion but,
The Fort Knox with simplex is probably the beat overall in terms of security and ease of use. I don’t need to worry about small kids so a gunvault works for me when I need to make anything I put in there is not readily accessible.

I would not trust Bluetooth or RFID. If you needed a gun are the access times you mentioned acceptable?

I used a simplex for years when I had small kids, one day one of the buttons failed probably after being used a million times but the point is anything can fail. I do believe overall the simplex is the most reliable overall.

One last thought, if you and your wife train with your pistol why not train opening the simplex in various conditions ie dark or under a time constraint?

[Crazy Dane]

I have circled back to this with a couple of thoughts. Every time this comes up somebody posts links to how to hack these types of safes. I don't think its necessarily germane, here is why; If your home gets broken into on a smash and grab it doesn't matter if you bolted the safe to the bedside table. It will get kicked, pried and hammered until the safe and whatever pieces of come loose. The safe gets carted off to be opened at a later date. If it is a targeted robbery, you have been watched and patterned until the thief thinks they have ample time to what they do and if they find your locked gun vault they will have time to youtube how to hack it on the spot or kick, pry and hammer it free so that can figure out how to open it at their leisure. That said the only time I think hacker proof comes into play is when there are smallish children in the house. The ones that are curious/old enough to try and figure things out.

That said, I never had one of these small safes. I no longer have small children in the house, its just me and my LEO wife. The gun of the day is on me or with in arms reach. When I leave it is on me or locked in the big safe. My wife keeps her duty weapon in her night stand if she is home or its on her. If it gets exchanged for a bug, it goes in the big safe where the bug come from. All of our children grew up with guns and all had at least one at the age of 16. When they were small the guns were on us or in the big safe.

Just some rambling thoughts.

[BrassSlapper]

Why does the pistol need to be locked up when she's home?

Suggestions would be, not having it in a box. My wife uses a holster. Gun's under the bed while sleeping.

My son is getting into absolutely everything nowadays. Not gonna risk it.

[jd950]

I assume you talking about the "safes" for a single pistol and not a larger box. I have seen both simplex and electronic locks fail on pistol boxes. A company called Fas1 has boxes that include both simplex and key locks so you can use either/both. Some or maybe all vaultek boxes and some hornady boxes also have keys in addition to electronics, so they can be opened if the battery dies or electronics fail. I like the idea of a secondary means of access not so much because of access in an emergency, but because at least you could get the gun out of a failed box without having to resort to extreme methods to do so.

I don't care a great deal about the ability of a small box to resist hardcore attempts to break in, as I assume a criminal would just take the whole box. The role of these things is security from the curious, like kids, roommates, house guests, TSA, etc., and people who might take something if an opportunity presented itself, but are not committed to the theft. That said, the heavy duty simplex boxes from Amsec and Vline seem pretty robust. On the other hand, it is my understanding that given an hour or two, one can run thorough every possible simplex combination and open the box.

[BillSWPA]

Why does the pistol need to be locked up when she's home?

Suggestions would be, not having it in a box. My wife uses a holster. Gun's under the bed while sleeping.

Although everyone’s circumstances are different, in most instances I would suggest on one’s person or locked up.

Within the past couple of days, I have read 2 news stories of kids accidentally shooting a sibling with a gun they found. Not only are these incidents tragic, but they also move people on the fence to support gun control.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[psalms144.1]

I recently picked up a Verifi safe from Costco, and have been very pleasantly surprised with its ease of use and accuracy of reading fingerprints. Haven't been able to spoof it open with light touches, and it also hasn't failed to open with a "verified" fingerprint. I programmed both thumbs, both forefingers, and both social fingers for me, both thumbs and indexes for my wife.

[GyroF-16]

I’m very satisfied with my Vaultek.
I bought this one:

https://vaulteksafe.com/products/vaultek-slider-series/slider-colion-noir-edition/

almost two years ago. (At the time, I had to look up who Colion Noir was, so it wasn’t based on his endorsement).

It’s bolted to the bedside table, so a thief would have to carry out a 50 lb piece of furnature to go to work on opening it.
I like the redundant methods of opening it. It reads my thumbprint and opens in about 3 seconds 95% of the time, and always within about 5-6 sec. but I (or my wife) can quickly fall back to a remote button hidden within Bluetooth range to push and open it. Or the keypad. Or the app on my iPhone. Or the mechanical key.
It slides open and presents the handgun, grip-up. I use it every night to holster up to take the dog out.
It runs on a rechargeable, replaceable battery, so no external power required.

I’m a satisfied customer.

Quoting myself for a correction... I timed the fingerprint reader this morning- under 2 seconds to open.

[ViniVidivici]

That's why I asked what I did, because mission drives the gear.

When our kids were younger and at home, it was still holster/on you, or in the safe. Only change was, instead of under bed at night, under pillow. Now that they're grown and moved out, life is easier.

Small kids around siva legitimate concern.

At the time, we discussed a small quick access box, like what's being talked about, but in the end my wife realized that her reaction time would always be faster, anywhere in the house, having it on her, as opposed to not. G19.

[vandal]

I have the Vaultek MX. I bought it because a few times I've been halfway to work (when commuting was a thing) and wondered "did I close it?" So I wanted to be able to check the status on my phone. The other gee-whiz features seemed neat too, and having more room than my previous two-gun Simplex safe sounded good.

One thing I immediately liked was it uses an 18650 rechargeable battery for backup power. The cable jack is a little picky but once set up it works.

I got lucky (because I did not measure) but it barely fits inside my nightstand. I can't really see the buttons because they are so close to the inside of the nightstand, but I can find the fingerprint sensor which is what I typically use. I have had pretty good success with it recognizing my fingers even if not placed perfectly.

The Vaultek is definitely lightweight construction compared to my previous bedside safe which was a basic simplex-lock variety. I don't know what gauge steel it was but it was half the size and heavier than the Vaultek.

After about 40 days the Vaultek finger print scanner just quit working one day. After way too much "try this" back-and-forth with support, they had me send it in for evaluation and they replaced it. Since it was (just) outside the initial 30-day period they would not cross ship a new one. I did use the remote pushbutton thing during the fingerprint outage and it worked fine.

As time has gone by I've found a number of the "gee-whiz features" annoying and disabled them. Like the "you left me open" alarm. Sometimes I want to leave it open... like if I hear a bump in the night and suffer the noise of the safe opening, do I want to suffer the noise of closing it to avoid the alarm sounding while I'm creeping through the house?

The tamper (bump) sensor was way too sensitive so I turned that off. That was after it went off when my wife was vacuuming and there's no way to silence the tamper alarm remotely.

Occasionally it has forgotten about my wifi network, and I find it's not connected. Fortunately that's only happened when I've been home.

While the size is big, oddly it's just barely tall enough for my G19 with RMR in the vertical slots, and that's only after taking the slide-out tray out. The vertical slot foam also did not anticipate a weapon light and/or tall sights. Had to cut it. I find that I put the G19/RMR in the vertical slot, but I pull my G48 in the holster off and put it on the side... so I could probably just lose the whole vertical-slot thing entirely.

The last "feature" still on is the entry light... which I will probably turn off as well. Sometimes I want to toss a gun in there when my wife is already sleeping, and for bump in the night response do I need to be backlit? No.

So I'll be left with a too-big but less secure box, stripped of its internal and external features, and vulnerable to electronic failures. I gave my previous simplex lock safe to a new gun owner so I can't get that back... but I probably would if I could.

I ALSO have the Vaultek LifePod which I use for TSA travel. It seemed like the right size and durability and I prefer a combo to a key and like to cable lock it to my suitcase frame. Previously I had a one of the small aluminum cheap ones but on getting home I found that the hinge had separated on one side. Glad that didn't happen when I was checking it in!

There was a youtube video about breaking into the LifePod with a fork, and that was definitely doable... until you put a Glock 19 in it.

[omega9]

I’m very satisfied with my Vaultek.
I bought this one:

https://vaulteksafe.com/products/vaultek-slider-series/slider-colion-noir-edition/

almost two years ago. (At the time, I had to look up who Colion Noir was, so it wasn’t based on his endorsement).

It’s bolted to the bedside table, so a thief would have to carry out a 50 lb piece of furnature to go to work on opening it.
I like the redundant methods of opening it. It reads my thumbprint and opens in about 3 seconds 95% of the time, and always within about 5-6 sec. but I (or my wife) can quickly fall back to a remote button hidden within Bluetooth range to push and open it. Or the keypad. Or the app on my iPhone. Or the mechanical key.
It slides open and presents the handgun, grip-up. I use it every night to holster up to take the dog out.
It runs on a rechargeable, replaceable battery, so no external power required.

I’m a satisfied customer.

Could this safe accommodate a handgun with a red dot? From the photos it doesn’t appear that it would, but maybe the foam can be tweaked so that it would?

[GyroF-16]

Could this safe accommodate a handgun with a red dot? From the photos it doesn’t appear that it would, but maybe the foam can be tweaked so that it would?

No, I don’t think so. With the gun stored muzzle-down, there just isn’t much room in the grip-to-top-of-slide dimension. A Beretta 92 Centurion barely fits, in both height and length.

[BehindBlueI's]

I have circled back to this with a couple of thoughts. Every time this comes up somebody posts links to how to hack these types of safes. I don't think its necessarily germane, here is why; If your home gets broken into on a smash and grab it doesn't matter if you bolted the safe to the bedside table. It will get kicked, pried and hammered until the safe and whatever pieces of come loose. The safe gets carted off to be opened at a later date.

Maybe. Layered security can help prevent this though. A monitored home alarm, for example, will limit the amount of time the burglars have in your house.

My guns and gun safe survived two burglaries at a friend's house while I was overseas. My power tools, in a much easier to pry open locked container, did not.

[Crazy Dane]

Maybe. Layered security can help prevent this though. A monitored home alarm, for example, will limit the amount of time the burglars have in your house.

My guns and gun safe survived two burglaries at a friend's house while I was overseas. My power tools, in a much easier to pry open locked container, did not.


I don't disagree with layered security, every step makes it that much harder. My home alarm systems have 4 legs and run on kibble. I live in an area where a monitored system would be a really expensive way to be told your house just got broken into. If I got lucky and a deputy was on my side of the county it would still take minutes to respond. I sometimes forget that is an option that works well.

I feel like I was victim of a targeted smash and grab when I was stationed at Ft Hood. The only thing that was taken was my guns and ammo. I had all of my hunting guns secured in locked hard side cases and chained and padlocked to the closet rod with the closet locked, I had changed the knob to a keyed entry. The drywall was kicked through from the opposite side and the closet rod ripped out. The main entry door to the apartment had been pried open, no dead bolt. My Marlin 57M was recovered a few weeks later when Copperas Cove PD busted 4 dudes and found my hard cases still in their abode. I did not know any of the 4 they arrested, was I watched? The serial number was filed off of the Marlin but I was able to give identifying features and it was returned to me. I still have that one but the others were never found. An alarm there would have been nice but back then alarms weren't main stream and I was renting. This is why I don't have confidence in small "safes"

[FAS1]

Please forgive me if there's a recent thread on this I missed...

So, I'm in the market for a new handgun safe. While my Fort Knox is serving me just fine, I'm looking for something simpler and easier that my wife can access while I'm out of town on business. The idea of her fumbling around in the dark trying to punch in a Simplex combo makes me nervous if she's got to get in quickly.

You know she can pre-punch all or part of the combination on a Simplex lock before she goes to bed. That way she just has to turn the knob to open it or say punch the last button in the combination and turn the knob. In the morning just clear the lock to reset it.

[BrassSlapper]

You know she can pre-punch all or part of the combination on a Simplex lock before she goes to bed. That way she just has to turn the knob to open it or say punch the last button in the combination and turn the knob. In the morning just clear the lock to reset it.

As much as I think that could work, there's going to be a time where she'd inevitably forget to reset the lock and the firearm would be unsecured for how long. Don't get me wrong. I trust my wife. But complacency does get the best of us all sometimes.

[FAS1]

As much as I think that could work, there's going to be a time where she'd inevitably forget to reset the lock and the firearm would be unsecured for how long. Don't get me wrong. I trust my wife. But complacency does get the best of us all sometimes.

I certainly understand that point. The real issue that you are faced with, like many of us, is that you want to be sure your wife is safe and can protect herself when you are not there and most women, including my wife just aren't interested in guns/self defense to the point I am. She mainly depends on me to be there.

What my wife does, and our kids are grown and gone, when I am not there is to open the safe when she goes to bed and leave it open at night. It's mounted to the bed frame and when the door is open the front edge of the door with the holstered gun sits just above the mattress to where it is visible from her side. Also, she does make the bed every day so it would be very unlikely she would miss closing the door in the morning.

It would be nice if you can get your wife to just practice enough for it to be second nature for her to open it. How often does she practice with your gun? Are you sure she's ready to handle the gun and shooting someone? I know you like the Simplex lock and know how reliable they are, but do you trust the inexpensive electronics to work every time on the Chinese made safes? I know I don't.

[rob_s]

so did we ever arrive at a concesus for these things? I'd sure like to have something easier to open in our campervan, particularly where the concern is more about child access than criminal.

I "feel" like I know better than to trust thing thing but the "wants" are getting the better of me...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07S8S9KCW/ref=crt_ewc_title_huc_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A6V4EXTV28J1X