Thinking about getting a barska biometric safe. Anybody got any thoughts?

[Working 4 U]

So I am looking at a Barska Bio safe small one for my pistol, anybody have any experience with them. Thanks

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[wwkii]

I dont know about that brand but i have a gun vault that has the finger combo and i really like it and its actually pretty fast at opening. I really am not a huge fan of having to lock up guns and as my son gets older i wont have to but he is only 5 So for now i went with the cheaper brand . And a high dollar safe

 

[GuyBMeredith]

I'm do not care for electronic locks. Smells too much like something that would support a politician's push for biometric controls on "smart" guns.

 

[JustSomeGuy]

I agree with Guy on this but for a different reason. Electronic locks need electricity and we all know batteries die or sometimes just "go bad". I would reccommend a good quality mechanical lock and then practice practice practice to develope the muscle memory to manipulate it quickly and accurately. This way, if you should need the weapon in a hurry you won't have to call a time-out on the bad guys so you can change your batteries.

 

[wwkii]

well to be honest the kind i have also takes batteries but as they start going dead it warns you by beaps that its time to change them. it also has a key to open it. it really is not the perfect set up if it were just my wife and i, i would have guns stashed all over the house but until he is a little older and can comprehend exactly what damage misuse of a gun can do this is what i feel i need to do. and i also open that safe probably everday so i will need to change those batteries more often but it also makes me get very comfortable with it.

 

[ATCclears]

I went with this pistol safe from Fort Knox. It has a simple mechanical lock and you can easily change the combination. It has room for two full-size pistols.
<broken link removed>

Peter

 

[Spitpatch]

Two doubts:

1) Barska is not really counted among the "cadillac" brand names of firearm accessory suppliers.

2) Personal experience with biometric entry systems at my workplace and sporadic reliability of such would preclude my personal safety being dependent upon them.

 

[pietro beretta]

Also a good EMP blast, which most likely isn't going to happen -- or a major solar flare, which could happen would fry those electronics.

Unless those electronic locks are shielded, they might be but I kind of doubt it.

 

[Tangent123123]

Also a good EMP blast, which most likely isn't going to happen -- or a major solar flare, which could happen would fry those electronics.

Unless those electronic locks are shielded, they might be but I kind of doubt it.

Hey! Natgeo and "the experts" say neither will never ever happen! There's nothing to see here, move along!

 

[wwkii]

Good thing ive got a plasma cutter and some cutting torches haha

 

[wwkii]

Trust me these safes are for keeping kids out you can probably open them with a hammer and prybar

 

[packman]

i have a biometric handgun safe and i used it for a month and should have put in the trash.it's a neat idea but. i rarely was able to get into it, it usually took several tries to get it to open. if i had had a bad guy get in the house while my gun was in the safe i would have been screwed.go with the fort knox. just my .02

 

[Working 4 U]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

1) Barska is not really counted among the "cadillac" brand names of firearm accessory suppliers.

+1, they are more the Yugo of accessory suppliers.
I'd go with a gunvault Handgun Safes - Hand Gun Safes - Pistol Safes | GunVault They make biometric ones too if that's the route you want to go, and they are a much more trusted name than barska.

 

[NCW Ray]

Not knowing anything about biometric safes, but do know a little bit about fingerprints. I'd be concerned about the readability of your fingerprint from one day to the next. For instance, will it read your print if you've spent the weekend handling landscape blocks bare handed which can sand down your fingerprints, or if you accidentally cut your finger and it leaves a scar on it?

 

[RS0530]

My only problem with any of these small bio safes is having to bolt it to your nightstand, floor or where ever you decide to place it. I don't like the idea of someone breaking into my house and taking the safe with them when they leave.

 

[RS0530]

Not knowing anything about biometric safes, but do know a little bit about fingerprints. I'd be concerned about the readability of your fingerprint from one day to the next. For instance, will it read your print if you've spent the weekend handling landscape blocks bare handed which can sand down your fingerprints, or if you accidentally cut your finger and it leaves a scar on it?

From the experience I have using biometrics, they usually have you scan a few different fingers into it just for those concerns. Also, when I was fingerprinted for my CPL, the lady doing my prints could tell that I "work" for a living because my fingers where pretty banged up. That didn't slow down or affect my background check at all because they use multlple points of identification from each finger. The higher end the bio safe, the more identification points it will use on your fingers as well. Cheaper biometrics will just take a picture of your finger and try to match it up everytime you use it.

 

[asiparks]

got one about a year ago to keep the kiddies off my guns, works absolutely fine. It holds multiple scans of my, and my wife's finger/s. Mine is bolted to the floor. It beeps when the batteries are low and it comes with a key to open it in the event of vigorous solar flares/emp.

 

[8ball]

Barca and Gunvault are pretty much the same quality i.e. mid level Chinese made products. There are plenty of videos showing Gunvaults being opened by tapping on the door.

Personally I like the Fort Knox for three reasons. One - no electronics to fail at the worst time. Two - it is almost silent. I've been told you cannot disable the beeping on the Barca. And three, Fort Knox appears to be slightly better quality based on reviews.

 

[GuyBMeredith]

One of the "Sensible Gun Law" proposals that keeps coming up is the proposal to require all guns to use biometric lockout to prevent anyone but the owner from using it. If biometric safe locks are popular then why should the guns not also have the same lock that needs to be engaged in place of the current safeties?

Hard to argue. The fact that three wires can be used by any intelligent 10-year-old (politicians don't seem to qualify at any age) to bypass the controller means that once again responsible owner is burdened without actually accomplishing what is intended.

Personally I don't care to be in the field with muck and all or facing a violent attack and depend on biometric systems so I will avoid giving the bigots any support.