Experienced feedback on safes

[E4 No More]

I am in the market for a safe. I don't need anything huge or that can stand up to a blast furnace for hours. I'm more worried about security than anything else. Aaron at Parker Safes has a Champion Medalist 19 and a Superior Master 25. The Safe House has a Champion Trophy 19. I would like independent feedback on these safes or if I'm way off base and should be looking at something else.

 

Thoughts, please?

[runco]

My independent feedback:  Heavy, able to bolt it to the floor with hardened 1" bolts, and have some minimal fire rating.  Just remember, a smash and grab kind of thief likely has a crowbar or will rummage through your tools for a saw-all or a sledge hammer.  The door and wall steel gauge should be adequate enough to discourage a crow bar and saw.  The safe should have some challenge causing long periods of time to the smash and grab low information thief.  To the intelligent thief with time, nothing you can do, buy insurance.   One more point, don't tell anyone you have a safe.  Hide it in a closet or a fake wall/room, don't show and tell.  My experience and my :2cents:

 

Search youtube videos, it will help or discourage you!

[hipower]

My independent feedback:  Heavy, able to bolt it to the floor with hardened 1" bolts, and have some minimal fire rating.  Just remember, a smash and grab kind of thief likely has a crowbar or will rummage through your tools for a saw-all or a sledge hammer.  The door and wall steel gauge should be adequate enough to discourage a crow bar and saw.  The safe should have some challenge causing long periods of time to the smash and grab low information thief.  To the intelligent thief with time, nothing you can do, buy insurance.   One more point, don't tell anyone you have a safe.  Hide it in a closet or a fake wall/room, don't show and tell.  My experience and my :2cents:

 

Search youtube videos, it will help or discourage you!

 

 

This , Runco's post, pretty well sums it up.  Heavy enough and tough enough to discourage the opportunistic thief/burgler. Those that have some time or knowledge of your posessions will find a way into most any safe.

[E4 No More]

Thanks for your feedback, guys, but what I'm asking about is the manufacturers. Go to the safe manufacturer's websites and they all say that they're the best, and have patented ___, and blah, blah, blah this. I've read posts of what THEY say and what the stores say, but I want to know what the people who own them say. 11 gauge or better steel, conventional tumbler lock, bolted to the floor, and out of site are all givens to me, (although I didn't say that before). For instance, Liberty uses a lot of FUD on their website. Does their stuff warrant the cost difference to others? Things like that.

[monkeylizard]

I'd ask questions like what ga. steel is the body made of? What's the fire rating temp and duration? Does the safe have a good organizer system built-in, or available as an option?

 

Do that and you'll start seeing differences between the Stack-On on sale at Academy and the Browning ProSteel Super Deluxe With A Fringe On Top^(TM) at a safe shop.

 

"Worth the money" is relative to what you're protecting and what other layers of security you have. Don't put a $1,000 gun collection in a $3,000 safe. Do you need to stop a determined and skilled thief for hours? Or do you think it's more likely that you'll need to stop a smash n grab thief for no more than 10 minutes before the police roll up after your monitored alarm went off? Where will the safe be located? A crowbar is much harder to work in the back of a cramped closet than it is along an open wall in the basement.

 

Questions like that will help you decide if the better quality safes are worth it to you.

Edited March 21, 2014 by monkeylizard

[RED333]

Go see the Safe House, vendor on the site, great guys, fair prices and

VERY GOOD SERVICE.

I have one of their products at my house, owner came out the set it in place.

[toby1304]

Got my Champion Model T from the Sportsman Store in Dickson. They have a pretty good selection and I believe they are having a sale.

[frankmako]

The master from Parker's is the way to go. Go as big as you can. Aaron will take care of you. Best Safe dealer around.

[nightowl556]

Looked at the safe house and other places before I bought a safe and the guys at the safe house are great !  If you can afford it the Fort Knox is the best out of all of them, but more expensive, the champion is not as good a safe from my research but will be better than the big box safes.   Forget the little guys who sell safes the safe house has more safes than all of them put together and he will match there prices if its legit.   Oh , get a bigger one than you think you need. 

[E4 No More]

Thanks all. I ended up with a Browning from The Safe House.