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Gunvault safe heads up

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  • Gunvault safe heads up

    I bought a GunVault model GV1000C small touch pad electronic safe for $125.00 at a gun show last October from a vendor....It looks like a nice little one pistol safe with a 4 button electronic pad on top for the combination...The vendor said he had sold lots of them in the past and they work well and I was in the market for something like it to be able to get to my pistol in the dark if needed so I picked one up from him...I had seen them advertised in several gun magazines so I was familiar with the brand but not the product so I took a chance without doing any research....

    I started using it in November and the first thing I noticed was that it works off of 8 AA alkaline batteries and the battery mounting location is bolted to the inside top of the box under the protective foam which must be torn loose in order to get to the battery compartment....Getting the battery compartment out almost requires you to be a triple jointed midget Houdini contortionist and that is the easy part, getting the whole package with fresh batteries back in place is next to impossible....

    I finally got it done and programmed in my combination and screwed the safe to the floor, so far so good....The instruction book says to only use Duracell batteries so I went out and bought a 20 pack thinking that would do it for a good while....Well in less than 3 months I'm on my second 20 pack of batteries because the thing eats them every 3 weeks or so and then it won't open unless you use the key plus it gives you no low battery warning beep or LED and you find out the batteries are dead again because it won't open with the combination pad...I do the Houdini thing again and replace all 8 expensive Duracell's and it will work another 3 weeks then dead again....Not good for a product you may depend on to open first time every time in the dark to save your life while someone is breaking in your house trying to kill you!!!

    I looked on the internet and see this is a very well known common problem with this unit and many have complained about the extremely short battery life....I called the GunVault customer no support number and the guy was very rude and said he had never heard of such a problem....Since I bought it at a gun show and paid cash the only sales receipt I have doesn't have a date or company name on it and he refused to admit there is a problem or offer a solution to correct the issue under the 1 year warranty so at this point I'm S.O.L......

    I hate to bash a product but I really tried to be nice and ask the Gunvault rep for help with the problem or how to go about either getting a new safe or repairing my 3 month old safe and was basically told to pound sand so as a service to my Kahrtalk forum friends I would advise you to stay away from GunVault products and look for another brand if you are thinking of buying a small electronic gun safe....
    " An armed society is a polite society".... Robert A. Heinlein

    Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes.......

  • #2
    Thanks for the heads up, I'm in the market right now
    No sir, I do not own any guns. I sold them all in fear that they might grow legs and murder me and my family since they've been portrayed as such evil objects by our current administration

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    • #3
      Companies are stupid... that $125 POS just got wiped off the list of any member here and if word went to another forum... well think what that costs them. A business reputation is the most valuable asset and many businesses don't get it!
      My New Web Store!
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      • #4
        +1 on the thanks for the heads up. I looked at those a while back on Amazon and other sites and saw a few complaints on the battery life.

        My wife bought me a Sentry Quick Access safe for the night stand drawer for my birthday a few weeks ago. It is similar to the Gunvault and has an automatic gas shock that raises the door when you open it. I haven't had it long enough to have an opinion on it yet, but it works fine so far. I'm not sure I'll keep it long term though. I bought it to prevent my little ones (8 & 3) from getting a hold of my handgun, while still allowing me quick access to it. What I don't like about it is that it only has a 4 key keypad with up to a 6 digit code, that's only 4096 possible codes. It wouldn't take long for someone determined to get into it to crack that code. I wish it would lock the electronic lock out indefinitely after 5 or 6 wrong entries and only allow access via the keyed lock. Don't get me wrong, I intend to teach my girls about guns, in fact my 8 year old already loves to shoot but I still wouldn't want them gaining unauthorized access to them.
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        ”Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”
        Ben Franklin

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        • #5
          This is why I always look up online any sort of electronic device greater than $20 before purchasing to read user reviews. I spend the majority of my time at Best Buy on my phone, looking up things I am thinking about buying that I see there.

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          • #6
            I got a Stack-On QAS-1200 foe about $60 just after Christmas. I like it so far, but it could open a little quicker.

            http://www.stack-on.com/categories/q...2/products/222
            "To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medication to the dead." Thomas Paine

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            • #7
              I had one

              Originally posted by KoolBreeze View Post
              +1 on the thanks for the heads up. I looked at those a while back on Amazon and other sites and saw a few complaints on the battery life.

              My wife bought me a Sentry Quick Access safe for the night stand drawer for my birthday a few weeks ago. It is similar to the Gunvault and has an automatic gas shock that raises the door when you open it. I haven't had it long enough to have an opinion on it yet, but it works fine so far. I'm not sure I'll keep it long term though. I bought it to prevent my little ones (8 & 3) from getting a hold of my handgun, while still allowing me quick access to it. What I don't like about it is that it only has a 4 key keypad with up to a 6 digit code, that's only 4096 possible codes. It wouldn't take long for someone determined to get into it to crack that code. I wish it would lock the electronic lock out indefinitely after 5 or 6 wrong entries and only allow access via the keyed lock. Don't get me wrong, I intend to teach my girls about guns, in fact my 8 year old already loves to shoot but I still wouldn't want them gaining unauthorized access to them.
              siilarto that about 20+ years ago with 5 buttons that u pushed in a sequence that you set from the inside. It worked great but then I forgot the sequence and whereI stored the pattern even. . Unbleievable how bad I tore that vaultup to finalyt getit open. Not the vaults problem. I should have known better. stupid is as stupid does: forrest gump
              . My PM9 has over 34,000+ rounds through it, and runs much better than an illegal trying to get across our border


              NRA BENEFACTOR MEMBER


              MAY GOD BLESS MUGGSY

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              • #8
                aw

                Originally posted by KoolBreeze View Post
                +1 on the thanks for the heads up. I looked at those a while back on Amazon and other sites and saw a few complaints on the battery life.

                My wife bought me a Sentry Quick Access safe for the night stand drawer for my birthday a few weeks ago. It is similar to the Gunvault and has an automatic gas shock that raises the door when you open it. I haven't had it long enough to have an opinion on it yet, but it works fine so far. I'm not sure I'll keep it long term though. I bought it to prevent my little ones (8 & 3) from getting a hold of my handgun, while still allowing me quick access to it. What I don't like about it is that it only has a 4 key keypad with up to a 6 digit code, that's only 4096 possible codes. It wouldn't take long for someone determined to get into it to crack that code. I wish it would lock the electronic lock out indefinitely after 5 or 6 wrong entries and only allow access via the keyed lock. Don't get me wrong, I intend to teach my girls about guns, in fact my 8 year old already loves to shoot but I still wouldn't want them gaining unauthorized access to them.
                comeon, do u think anyone breakingin is gonna crack thatcode??? Hell they wll pry it off the floor or take a pry bar and pry the lid open, before screwing around trying tocrack the code,which IMO unless u know alot about math etc and how things work, u cold be theremonths trying to open the little vault. I ain't seen one that size that can fight a good size crowbar. Just sayin..

                IMO these type of little vaults are meant to keep ur kids out of it andnot the BG..
                . My PM9 has over 34,000+ rounds through it, and runs much better than an illegal trying to get across our border


                NRA BENEFACTOR MEMBER


                MAY GOD BLESS MUGGSY

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                • #9
                  That wouldn't have kept my boys out. Those little buggers could crack Fort Knox. Just sayin'.
                  Never trust anyone who doesn't trust you to own a gun.

                  Life Member - NRA
                  Colt Gold Cup 70 series
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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by jocko View Post
                    comeon, do u think anyone breakingin is gonna crack thatcode??? Hell they wll pry it off the floor or take a pry bar and pry the lid open, before screwing around trying tocrack the code,which IMO unless u know alot about math etc and how things work, u cold be theremonths trying to open the little vault. I ain't seen one that size that can fight a good size crowbar. Just sayin..

                    IMO these type of little vaults are meant to keep ur kids out of it andnot the BG..
                    Nope, I'm not worried about a thief cracking the code. They'll just stick it under their arm and leave with it I'd think, since its not bolted down. But I didn't get it to protect from thieves. I got it to protect curious children whom at some point may have all day, or even several days, to sit there and try to figure the code out.

                    I've read that you can open one of the simplex locks with 5 push buttons in under 10 minutes if you know what you are doing.
                    ”Those who give up their liberty for more security neither deserve liberty nor security.”
                    Ben Franklin

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                    • #11
                      Dang! I wouldn't want to play you bet your life on an electronic POS like that!

                      I have a cheapie vault thingy for keeping the TSA out of it... combo lock on the outside... 4 digits... easy. The cable is wrapped around the spine of the wheeled luggage. It wouldn't do for a car mounted one though. A crowbar would easily defeat it.

                      If I were stiffed like that, I would go to every site I'm on and post your post from this forum. Nobody should be screwed with a life or death POS like that! Sh!t, I would join every gun forum to post there!

                      Wynn
                      USAF Retired '88, NRA Life Member. Wife USAF Retired '96
                      Avatar: Wynn re-enlists his wife Desiree, circa 1988 Loring AFB, ME. 42nd BMW, Heavy (SAC) B-52G's
                      Frédéric Bastiat’s essay, The Law: http://mises.org/books/thelaw.pdf

                      Thomas Jefferson said

                      “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”
                      and

                      "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading".

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                      • #12
                        Another issue I read on electronic safes is that a big magnet will wipe out your code and revert to the factory default which is the same for all of them. The issue with my 1.5 cu ft safe is the battery lid pops off if I close the door too hard. Then I have to dig around for the key. I do have another that we've had about 5 years and the original batteries are still good (the last time I checked). I don't remember if I even have a key access for it.
                        •"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." - O. L.
                        • "America's not at war; her military is. America's at the mall."

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                        • #13
                          I looked at a GunVault pistol safe a few years ago. It may have been the same model you bought, I don't know. In the end I didn't buy it, mostly because I don't have full confidence in electronic keypads or biometric scanners.

                          The model I looked at used AA batteries. I was concerned about battery life but noted an input jack for an external power source. If the unit is plugged-in and the batteries are used for back-up, I suppose it would last a long time. On batteries alone, not so good.
                          NRA Life Member

                          "Owning a handgun doesn't make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician." -Col Jeff Cooper

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                          • #14
                            I have one of these, exact same thing. Batteries never last for me anyway, so it's not surprising. I just use it for storage, not emergencies.

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                            • #15
                              Watch this before you buy.
                              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erGOJxQIf5c
                              "Never pet a burning dog"

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