Gunvault Speedvault Biometric

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Portable but permanently fastenable gun safes meet two unique needs: They keep a firearm handy and hidden but also securely locked. Wasn’t too long ago the only safe in a home was hidden in a basement or garage — far from the normal daily activities of the house, effectively out of reach. But if you wanted your gun handy and didn’t keep a gun on your person, it often ended up on top of the fridge, out in the open.

So along came portable safes. They solved the handy and hidden part but now we wondered if there were faster ways of getting to it. Under stress, fingers fumble keys and combination locks. Eventually, biometric locks such as the one you see on this SpeedVault (retail $345.99) became more commonplace. Swipe your finger over the reader and click, the safe opens, allowing you to access your gun.

The SpeedVault can be mounted just about anywhere. A special mounting bracket can be fastened to a cement wall or to the studs in a wall. Or you could install it inside a closet. Once mounted and programmed, anyone who has their fingerprints stored in its electronic memory can access the safe with a swipe of a finger.

SpeedVault allows for up to 120 stored fingerprints, including two administrators. There’s an “enrollment” process and a “learning” process but it doesn’t take long to set up and the instructions on how to do it are clear. If needed, the unit can be reset, clearing all the data and allowing you to start over. The whole system is powered by a user-replaceable 9V battery; a low-battery warning will tell you when to replace it.

Should the fingerprint scanner fail for any reason, the SpeedVault comes with two keys to override the scanner and allow access to the safe’s contents. Inside the SpeedVault is a foam carrier for a handgun, effectively holding the muzzle and frame and offering the stocks of the gun to you when the door pops open. For more info, www.gunvault.com, Ph: (800) 242-1055
By Mark Hampton