Homak First Watch Electronic Access Pistol Box, Medium

Let's be honest. This is not a gun safe. It is a lock-box for sidearms. It's a very good lock-box, too. I purchased this because I want to keep a loaded weapon near my bed, but we have four small children in our home. This box is perfect for restricting access from the following:- Children, aged infant to 14- Nosy house-guests or extended family- Snatch-and-grab burglarsThis box, while surprisingly solid, will probably NOT keep out:- Anyone over 14 with a pry bar, a sledgehammer, and a medium amount of determinationI don't know, though, it might even keep those types out, too. I'm not sure what kind of steel is used, but it's thicker than I expected. Much thicker than your typical cash-box you might see at a high school football game concession stand--maybe double. And the hinge and lip around the opening seem pretty well designed so that it would be difficult to get a pry bar into the crack. One possible weak area is a strange window on the back of the box, directly behind the locking mechanism, about as big as half a playing-card, covered over with a small piece of steel (same thickness as the rest of the box) and riveted into place. Was this window necessary for the production of the box? I don't know why it would be. If the box is bolted into a wall, however, it shouldn't be a problem. I would also say the "guts" of the box (locking mechanism, internal supports, electronics, etc.) seem to be well-made, solid, and not prone to tampering from vibration or dropping.And now we get to why I feel this box deserves 5 stars: Functionality. I love how there is only ONE way into the box, and that is knowing the code. There's no master key to hide. The re-coding button and powersource (4 AA batteries in a plastic caddy and velcro'ed to the side) are securely inside and out of reach of probing implements. If the power gets low, a light will blink at you and remind you to replace the batteries soon. If the power fades completely, a 9V battery can be held up to the two exterior terminals and the box can be opened using the code. My wife and I could remove any written record of the code from our house and have complete confidence the box will only open if we are present. We couldn't say the same if we hid a master key somewhere.Some people have complained that their custom code will revert to the out-of-box, unique 5-digit factory code without warning, and they will have to either dig out the manual or even spend days on the phone with HOMAK getting 3 codes a day until their box opens. You know what a really simple solution to that problem would be? Don't change your code. Just keep the one that came with it. I promise that nobody I listed above that you want to keep out of the box will guess the factory code. I know you REALLY wanted your code to be MOHKA, or HAMOK, or MOOOO. Just stick with the default code and never worry about trying to open the box when you really need it, only to find out it has reverted. Since I have not changed my code and therefore never experienced this particular malfunction, it will not negatively influence my review.The size the box is decent. I think it would hold one full size semi-auto duty type weapon and some mags, or up to three compact or sub-compact sized weapons. The size of the door makes it so you need to kind of angle most guns in and out of the box, which isn't really too awkward. Right now it holds my Ruger SR-22 and extra mags with plenty of room to spare.I will point out a couple of "dings" I have to give to the box, or things I might improve in the design (which even collectively do not justify taking it down a whole star rating):- The little liner for "padding" that comes inside the box is pretty useless. It does not stay where you would want it to in the box unless you glue it in there. I just use the padded zipper case my pistol came with and leave it in as a liner.- The mounting holes (4 of them) are not spaced for most standard house studs so at least two of them will need to be drywall anchored if you mount it.- Mounting through the front of the box with a hand tool or power drill is not easy without an extender.- When you enter the correct code, the green light flashes and the locking mechanism opens. You then press the upper left corner of the door to pop it open. Not sure if this could have been added without greatly increasing the price or negatively affecting the operation of the lock, but a spring-assisted, automatic open when you enter the right code would be perfect.Bottom line: This is a very secure lock box (not a safe) at a great value for its intended use. It is well thought-out and well executed. I don't think we'll be seeing any YouTube videos entitled "How to Crack HOMAK Pistol Box in 30 Seconds!" from this one, as we have from others. Time will tell.

There are a lot of reviews on this vault and most are good and a few are bad. I had one issue with one of the boxes, but it was partially operator error and partially installation error. There was some comments about metal guns shorting out the electronics. That must have been corrected, as upon inspection, I couldn't see how this would be possible. On the one unit I had a problem with, one of the batteries came loose, after in put my gun in the vault. So, I though, no problem, I'll use the 9 Volt external battery back up procedure. Well, to my dismay, even though it indicated that it took the factory code successfully, I still could not pop open the box. I was going to see if I could drive the pin out of the box door hinge, but as it turns out this will not gain you entry into the vault without damaging the door. I didn't actually try it, as it may be staked or pined in. I suspected maybe the gun was possibly shorting the electronics or blocking something, so I gave it a sharp thump with my hand in a manner to drive the gun away from the left side, where the lock mechanism is, and to my amusement, it worked and I was able to get it opened. Although I am not sure what I did to make it work, there was a battery that was not fully seated that caused the unit not to register any button pushes. My only other gripe is about the installation, in that the 4 mounting holes are too far into the corners to get a drill into to make a nice perpendicular hole. I ended up drilling some new holes a little further inward. Also I only got 4 lag screws that were 2" long. The instructions indicated that there should only be 2 lag screws, which is weird since there are 4 holes. For some installations, those screws would be too long. Fortunately I had some shorter screws, but if you don't have a big selection of lags screws, you will be going to the hardware store to get them. One tip to remember, if you get more than one vault, is to write in the back of the book which vault the book goes to, as there is a unique factory code listed in the back that you will need to use if the batteries ever go dead on you. A design improvement here would be to have the batteries mounted on the outside, have an optional DC power supply input and to have a lithium cell back up to retain your code should the main batteries die. An even better design option would be to have a keyed back up access. Of course all of that would cost more money and the price is why I bought this. I would have preferred to get a $230 vault with the pop open access and back up locks or even the RFID lock on the new Hornady vaults, but I couldn't have afforded 3 of them that I needed around the house.

The safety box is built well it’s roomy enough for at least 3 large items and it installed easy. My only concern is a possible locking mechanism failure. If the electronics of the mechanism fail the box can’t open because there is no key. They have thought of a dead battery but they don’t have anything for bad electronics.Update: The only way to open the safe in case of bad electronics is to break into it. I hear there are ways of doing this, I guess we'll find out when and if the problem arises.

Cumple bien con su funcion de mantener joyas, pistola o dinero fuera del alcance de niños o extraños, el interior si podría mejorarse, por que tiene un tapetito muy muy sencillo que tuve que sustituir por espuma tipo marqueta de huevo

Funciona bien solo cabe un arma y algo pequeño pero es muy resistente y fácil de operar

Resulto mas pequeña de lo que pensaba y de intstalacion complicada. Lo devolvi

Great little pistol box. Shipping was quick. The product does not come with batteries, you'll need 4 AA's. For mounting, it comes with 4 lag screws and there are 4 predrilled holes at the back of the safe (2 on top, 2 on bottom). Overall good product for what it is. Definitely recommend.