Easy Access Gun Safe/Vault

R

RobertSB701

New member
I am in the market for a small safe to keep one loaded handgun and maybe two extra mags. My goal is easy access while keeping curious would be handlers away. Securing firearm from a thief is not a factor as all of the safes I'm looking at could easily be carried away. I like the concept of the GunVault but have read greatly varying reviews. I have also looked at Stack-On Safes. They have gotten good reviews but aren't as quickly accessible. I have NO interest in any of the "bio-metric" fingerprint reader safes as these all seem to be an un-perfected work in progress. I appreciate everyone's input and experiences. Thank you.
 
gunvault mini given to me by my dad for my b-day months ago. i love it. it keeps the gun, 3 extra mags, and 2 boxes of ammo in it. or whatever else i feel like besides the ammo
 
Just bought two of the double Gunvaults with cable locks. Worked like advertised. I got it mostly to keep guns away from kids (nieces and nephews), steel is not thick enough or the lock strong enough for a determined thief. They can be bolted to a shelf or secured with cable locks, makes them slightly less vulnerable. The double is a little taller than the normal model and has two shelfs so you can have two guns available for quick access or a gun and a bunch of magazines.
 
My gunvault took 8 AA batteries every month, and its low-battery "warning" was to NOT open until I punched in the combination again.

Gunvault is a great concept, but my StackOn keypunch safe has been much more reliable, energy efficient, and less expensive to begin with.
 
I've read some complaints about battery life w/ GunVault. After downloading the manual I was not pleased to read the AC adapter appears to only be for the light inside. It states you must use batteries at all times, loss of programmed passwords will be lost with battery power. I was hoping in worked using primarily AC, then reverting to the batteries in power outage...no such luck.:mad: Clicking through the Stack-on sight now.
 
I've got the biggest safe GunVault makes and I am very pleased with it. The manual recommends only using AA Duracell's(coppertop) and so far mine have lasted 14 months of daily use. Mine came with an external jack for AC power or a nine volt adapter which holds the code when your changing the batteries. Also quite often I have to open the vault in the dark (wifes beauty sleep) and the finger groove keypad is amazingly fast and easy to use.
 
I hope you like the Stack-On. Not that it much matters at this point, but my double Gun Vault works flawlessly and without any battery life issues. And I'm using Kirkland brand batteries, not Duracell.
 
I'm surprised to hear reports about short battery life in Gunvaults. I've had mine about three years now and haven't had to replace the batteries yet. It get's used alot too. I'm probably well overdue.
 
You know, I may have gotten a stinker. I don't understand how mine used 8 batteries a month and others' go for years without battery changes, but, then again, I don't understand a lot of things.

I guess you just take a chance buying things and hang on to the things that work for you.
 
If you have a nightstand with a drawer that you normally keep it in, why not just install a lock to keep the kids/etc. out of it? You could unlock the drawer for nighttime use, lock it up every morning. A small lock like you get on a desk center drawer should work and would be fairly easy to install - as well as a lot cheaper
 
My gunvault took 8 AA batteries every month,
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:eek:What?! Doesn't make any sense. I've never replaced the batteries in mine, and it's years old.

Definitely something wrong with yours.

Edit: Whoops, I see you've addressed that in a later post. Yep, I'd be telling them about that one for sure.
 
You know, I may have gotten a stinker. I don't understand how mine used 8 batteries a month and others' go for years without battery changes, but, then again, I don't understand a lot of things.

I guess you just take a chance buying things and hang on to the things that work for you.
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Sounds like you may have a minor short in the circuitry, I would call the Gunvault people up and ask about it. They may send you a new one. I would bring up mentioning it on this forum and how others have not had your problem. I have not had my Gunvaults long enough to say, but my normal safe has gone about two years now with no battery changes.
 
Well you can certainly tell them that if that kind of battery usage is normal, they're loosing business. I was in the market and looking, but I won't be buying their product now. That's not reasonable.
 
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My Gunvault has been in operation for over 7 years. I've NEVER put new batteries in it becuase it's hooked to an AC adapter. Whowever said the AC adapter is only for the lights is confused.

(Oh, and the outlet it's plugged into is wired into the all house uniterruptable power supply which is backed by a 20kw generator).
 
(Oh, and the outlet it's plugged into is wired into the all house uniterruptable power supply which is backed by a 20kw generator).


Now, THAT'S prepared for pretty much ANYTHING!
 
Well you can certainly tell them that if that kind of battery usage is normal, they're loosing business. I was in the market and looking, but I won't be buying their product now. That's not reasonable.
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You won't be buying their product because ONE person in this thread reports problems with his battery life, while many more report no problems for even years with theirs? THAT'S not reasonable.
 
I considered a small V-Line to bolt to the bottom of my box spring mattress frame, but ended up with an inexpensive solution for my purposes in the Sentry X031 unit below. These can be had for much less than $90 retail (I paid prox $60 as I recall). The safe store where I bought it remarked the locking mechanism is especially robust for the price. I have it bolted to a MBR closet shelf and to the wall behind with three holstered handguns and spare magazines inside.

http://www.sentrysafe.com/products/productDetail.aspx?s=252&WT.si_n=ShoppingCart&WT.si_p=CartView
 
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