Gun Safe Info...

[NW SAFE]

I am the Safe Technician at NW Safe in Enumclaw. I can tell you that non UL Listed electronic locks fail a ton (have a life of around 1-5 years). UL listed electronic locks do fail a lot more than dial locks, and have a life of about 7-14 years. The good old dial combination lock has the best reliabiliity and longevity, we have the least amount of problems with those. Electronic locks account for around 85% of my service calls. Whether its a failed lock box, dead battery, trying to replace the battery, side loading the lock, etc..... If you practice with a dial lock, they can be opened very quickly and they will last a lot longer. I was timed at opening a lock on a safe that I wasn't familliar with the combination on in under 8 seconds.

A lot of people want the electronic lock for accessing the safe in an emergency situation for home defense, and that is not what is recommended. We recommend having quick access pistol boxes or long gun cases/mounts set up through the home in the living spaces close to the occupants. You want a good mechanical kaba simplex lock on the box (no electronic stuff). Those locks are the easiest to use in a high adrenaline charged situation.

 

[Cornerblade]

Thanks for the input. I have been planning on coming to see you at NW SAFE in the near future.
What can you tell us about Biometric locks? Can you add Biometric locks onto safes that dont come with them? Are they worth it or do you have a similar experience with them as you do the E-locks? I dont have an issue with Dial locks just exploring my options. Also do all dial locks have a key as well? Does the key in effect act as a second lock? Thanks again.

 

[wolfcreek]

My Liberty has the S&G manual lock and came with a key for the "day lock" in the center - that seemed to work so poorly that I wouldn't trust it to even keep kids out of a safe. YMMV. I don't remember how exactly it failed anymore because it was a while ago, but I have not used it (the day lock) since.

 

[NW SAFE]

Thanks for the input. I have been planning on coming to see you at NW SAFE in the near future.
What can you tell us about Biometric locks? Can you add Biometric locks onto safes that dont come with them? Are they worth it or do you have a similar experience with them as you do the E-locks? I dont have an issue with Dial locks just exploring my options. Also do all dial locks have a key as well? Does the key in effect act as a second lock? Thanks again.

Biometric locks function worse than just a standard electronic lock does. The fingerprint readers are very touchy, and do not work well at all. You can put a biometric lock on a safe that doesn't come with it as long as the safe has a UL listed lock footprint. Not all dials have a key, the ones that do just lock the dial down so it wont turn.