Choosing a Home Safe

 

When choosing a home safe, there are several things that we should consider, and first among those is what do we want the safe to protect against. Most home safes that you buy at stores like Wal-Mart or Home Depot, or on-line from Amazon are designed to protect against fire and maybe water damage, but provide very little protection against burglars targeting the safe itself. This being said, a burglar targeting your home at random probably isn't prepared to break into a safe of any type.

 

The Sentry fire and water resistant safe (Model: SFW123DSB) has a good overall reputation for home safes costing less than $250. If you choose a Sentry Safe, I recommend that you chose the dial combination model, and avoid the safes with an electronic keypad. 

 

It is possible to quickly defeat the electronic key pad locking mechanisms using a strong magnet, as can be seen in the following Mr. Locksmith videos:

 

Sentry Electronic Fire Safe Opened in Seconds with No Sign of Entry

Open Sentry Safe in less than 5 seconds!

Open a New Sentry Safe XXL with a Rare Earth Magnet

 

While the random burglar is unlikely to be carrying a rare earth magnet, someone who was aware of your safe and who wanted to gain surreptitious entry to it could defeat the electronic lock for about $15.

 

Note that while the dial combination solves the problem of using a magnet to bypass the lock, you are unable to change the factory set dial combination, where with the electronic keypad you can change the combination to your safe as often as you wish.

 

The Sentry Safe pictured above weighs 90 pounds, so while a burglar won't be tossing it in to a bag and running down the street with it, little effort would be required to carry it out your front door to a waiting vehicle.  For this reason you should always anchor your safe to the floor and/or wall with the provided mounting bolts.

 

So, should you invest in a safe for your home? Yes, if you have important documents and such to protect a fire and water resistant safe is a good investment. You also gain some protection against the random burglar who breaks into your home unprepared to deal with a safe.

 

If you have expensive jewelry, cash, or other small valuables in your home, and you are concerned about a targeted burglary, then you should consider a safe specifically designed to resist attempts to break into it. Examples of this type of safe includes:

 

Steelwater AMSWFB-450 2-Hour Fireproof and Burglary Safe

 

Mesa Safe MBF1512C All Steel Burglary and Fire Safe

 

The cost of your safe now increases from the $200 range to the $600 - $700 range, but if you have a few thousand dollars worth of valuables to protect, spending a few hundred more dollars for a more secure safe is probably worth it.

 

If your concern is burglary over fire, you might consider the Gardall LC1414-G-C Commercial Light Duty Safe for around $350. This is a smaller safe (Inside: 13.50" H X 13.50" W X 11.00" D) weight 60 pounds, so you will need to anchor it to the floor / wall.