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B**B
This is a great value for moderate security.
Okay lets face it. If you're planning on keeping stacks of 100s and gold bars in this you're in need of a reality check. But for personal items and other modest items of value needing to be secured this is an affordable, portable, deterrent and an effective "safe".1) It is not "thick" steel like a proper safe. However the door is reasonably thick so as to prevent any attempt at quick cutting or drilling. It feels hardened and the finish is nice and hard. The sides are less so but likewise as a short term deterrent it is plenty difficult to get through.2) The bolts don't tightly 'slide' into place. You turn the locking tumbler and it just turns. After it's closed there's some bolt clearance so the door does move in and out just a slight amount but it's not like you're shaking the safe all the time.3) It is somewhat lightweight. For me that's good since I live on the third floor so I would look to move in the future (soon). This makes this a great option to move from place to place as needed. In fact it is tabletop for me so its nice that I don't have a 250# piece of steel on top of wooden furniture on a third floor apartment. The best bet is to secure the safe using the four included bolts either to the wall or to the base that its on. That way whoever is brazen enough to steal it would have to take whatever its mounted to as well. That would take some decent planning on their part. Key word in this case is deterrent... not worth the trouble.4) There is a master code and no it is not 0000. That the code is customizable between 3 and 8 numbers is a nice feature. It is also easy to set per the instructions. Please do not throw those instructions away, the factory code is there.5) CON - The button presses are mushy but the feedback comes from the beeps so that's a minor niggle. Considering the low cost of the safe who cares.6) CON - The beeps from the button presses are ugly. Like crow ugly. Like if a tree fell in the ugly woods, this is the sound it would make. It's too bad. They're not excessively loud and it only beeps when you press it. So what, its not a pretty sound like in the movies. Who cares, your stuff is secure.7) The bypass keys are nice, not cylinder keys, not groove and edge keys. These are channel groove keys. Significantly harder to pick if one is not prepared. They are also serialized.So far I'm very pleased with the purchase and I'm glad I searched for this one. I suspect it is very close to or the same as the Amazon Basics safe of the same relative size. I'm going to be adding some motion sensing magnetic LED lights on the inside to turn on when I open the door, and some racks for the inside to organize my stuff.
W**A
Simple and secure
Your browser does not support HTML5 video. Security had always been important to me, and currently, with the situations throughout the USA, it is becoming a little more of a pressing matter to me.I want to be sure my important papers and stuff is indeed safe, and in one spot, easy for me to defend and retrieve in an emergency.This safe definitely provides that.It is made of 16 gauge steel, and has a double bolt lock. That will block any passive intruder. They will have to work to drill it, and even a crow bar on it will take a good bit of time.Since it does have the mounting holes in the back, I am taking advantage of them. I amMounting it into the printer cubby in my desk. It is a snug and almost perfect fit. This will make it so the whole safe can not be stolen to open later, and will make drilling or prying even more difficult.I like how I can use a key, or the code to open the safe. While my wife and I both carry a key, the code is super convenient.This gives me additional piece of mind. I know that my titles and insurance paperwork and other important documents are I. A safe place. I know that our most valuable possessions are in a single safe spot. I keep them inside in a fire proof bag. That way in an emergency I can grab and go.Where I am mounting it will be out of the way, and easily accessed, while still being quite undercover.It is the best security you can get.
M**G
Seems like a good value and security for the price
First thing, I'm reviewing the 0.5 Cu. Ft. model. Some reviews seem to be for an older, larger model. Second thing - I'm not an expert on safes or security, so take what I say with a grain of salt.Here's hoping:1. That I never really need this, and2. That if it ever gets tested, it holds.I looked at dozens of safes in this class, did a little research, and chose this one. Obviously this is not the class of device you're going to use to store bags of jewels or anything. My main purpose was to store a handgun and some ammunition. Not fooling myself into thinking it's impossible to get into, but to be responsible enough to prevent it from being easily stolen and used elsewhere. I may get a fire/water-resistant document bag to put some important papers in there, too. Since this makes no claims of being fire or water resistant.No safe is impenetrable, so don't think that a $50 safe would be anywhere close. You're trying to buy time, and force the bad guys to get noticed (like make noise). I feel like there are 3 primary attack vectors at work here: lock picking, bouncing, and violent attacks.With respect to lock picking, this is a good choice compared to many alternatives in this class. That's because it's using "sidewinder" laser-cut keys, which are far more challenging to pick than the round keys or little 4-pin varieties. At first I was seriously considering a bio model with fingerprint reader, but didn't see any with this key style in my price range and saw too many stories about how insecure low-cost fingerprint readers can be. Sometimes more features aren't a benefit!Your #1 task would be to anchor the safe. It weighs about 15 lbs. empty and would not be difficult to carry off. Thus if someone just walks off with it they can take all the time they want to get at what's inside. Prevent the smash & grab! Also, that should help reduce the probability of bounce attacks. You can search that on Google but basically it may be possible to "bounce" the safe so the lock mechanism just opens without any key or combination. I didn't try, but it's in the class of safe where several models are vulnerable to this. But that seems to largely require picking up the safe and bouncing it; anchoring should help prevent this.Understand too that there are TWO codes, which are both set to the factory default here. There's a "user" code and a "master" code. I don't really know what differentiates the two in intent, but either one will open the safe and from there you can reset either one. Make sure you change them both! Oh, and that's clearly in the manual, which compared to reviews on others seems like it's pretty good.It feels tough; bolted down in a corner there's no flex at all. The welds look good. But it's not the thickest, nor hardest, metal in the world. Again, given some time and tolerance for noise it should be pretty reasonable to grind or cut through it. I drilled a couple of holes in the sides and bottom for better attachment and that was not challenging.There are 4 holes in the back pre-drilled, but they didn't line up with a stud so I drilled one new one, plus one on a side and one on the bottom. The new back and bottom holes (going into a stud and hardwood floor, respectively) got lag bolts and fender washers. One of the existing back and the new side holes got 100+# toggle anchors through drywall (not the included things, those look maybe good for concrete?). It's small enough and I have it buried under stuff so there's a good chance it wouldn't even be seen...A couple of other notes:Some reviews and/or questions mentioned a shelf. The 0.5 Cu. Ft. model I received does not have a shelf; those might be referring to the older, larger model.The key pad beeps at each button press and upon success or failure. If you're hoping for something you could open stealthily to get your gun during a break-in without giving up your position, well, I guess you could use the key. Otherwise this isn't it.Overall I'm going to give it 5 stars when used properly because I do feel like it provides decent security for the price.
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