Biometric boxes

[rx slim]

Anybody use a biometric gun box? I am thinking about getting one so I can keep my gun relatively accessible for home defense. I have a 3 year old girl and a 9 month old boy, so I want something with no risk of them ever getting into it, but still readily available in case of emergency.

These biometric safes seem like a good option, but I wanted to hear from those that use them if they are as good as advertised. It would be pretty awful to go to get the gun in an emergency and have the stupid gun box fail.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Gunvaults first biometric gun box was pulled from the market due to problems with the biometric reader. Don't know anything about thier new models.

Gunvault makes a good product so I'm sure they will be successful.

When buying a gun box I look for one that has a key override in case the battery dies. I also look for one that does not have an audible BEEP when I push the button. The quieter the better.

 

[Gun-Safe-Guru]

rx slim - I think the Biometric safe would be a good option for the following reason. Although your 3-year old may not be capable at this time to remember a combination, as your child grows older (or for anyone with older kids) you wouldn't want them to find the combination for this type of safe. With Biometrics it will take a swipe of your finger (...and only your finger) to open the safe.

GunVault is probably the most popular of the biometric safe companies. They have a trusted product that comes in 3 different sizes. You may come across the occasional post about a defective unit, but as with any type of electronic device, that is to be expected. Overall I have heard great feedback on these models.

Barska is another brand that some may be familiar with because they also make high-end scopes and binoculars. They have one size and it's the largest of the pistol sized biometric safes.

SmartTouch Biometrics makes a very compact biometric safe, the BioBox. This is another very popular safe because of its compact size.

Take a look at all these models here.

The Biometric safes offer a fast and easy method of getting to your handgun. However, there is also a high probability for "user error" because this technology has not been used by many people. If you purchase one of these safes I recommend becoming very familiar with the safe and the instruction manual before even attempting to register your fingerprints. Don't get me wrong, this is a simple procedure, but one that you want to make sure you get right the first time so that you have effortless openings in the future.

 

[APS]

For those of you with these biometric boxes, do you have to have alot of light around the sensor to open the box? Like, if it's mostly dark in your bedroom but you can still see enough to move around, do you now have to switch on the light to open the box?
adam

 

[NE450No2]

If you get one of those "finger print" boxes, be sure you have several of your fingers, "keyed" to open the box.

Something happens, you only finger gets cut, or bit off durring a home invasion, then even if you got to the box you could not get it open....

 

[Dave Nash]

Anybody use a biometric gun box? I am thinking about getting one so I can keep my gun relatively accessible for home defense. I have a 3 year old girl and a 9 month old boy, so I want something with no risk of them ever getting into it, but still readily available in case of emergency.

These biometric safes seem like a good option, but I wanted to hear from those that use them if they are as good as advertised. It would be pretty awful to go to get the gun in an emergency and have the stupid gun box fail.

Any input is appreciated.

If you get one of those "finger print" boxes, be sure you have several of your fingers, "keyed" to open the box.

Something happens, you only finger gets cut, or bit off durring a home invasion, then even if you got to the box you could not get it open....

For the reasons already given (and a few more like trying to operate a combination lock or use a key in the dark under stress), a fingerprint reader makes a lot of sense. However, there are a number of things that you need to consider. None of them should scare you away but they cannot be ignored. Hopefully, in something of a logical order, here are a few of them.

Stick with a name brand and a brand that is associated with this kind of technology and not just a company that added a biometric device because it was necessary to complete the line.

You not only need to be concerned with the quality of the reader itself (the hardware) but also with the software it employs for it is the software that determines how accurately, how forgivingly and how quickly the machine figures out that it is you that is trying to get in. While I am a big proponent of buying things “online”, being able to see these boxes and, better yet, see how they operate before you buy, is a obviously a good way to go. Not only are the ease of operation and the speed of operation important but so are the number of rejections of a known good print and the allowances of an unauthorized one.

“Hands on” (sorry for the pun) is also a good thing if you can actually find a dealer who will “test enroll” you in his demo or sample model. I say this only because some people don’t print well electronically. Skin type, age and in some cases, sex and ethnicity can affect your ability to be “enrolled” (or entered) or” read” once you are on file in a given machine. Making sure that you are not one of these (relatively rare but still existing) examples before you spend your money might be worthwhile.

You should also select a device that either allows external access to the battery compartment or that runs off a battery eliminator or that allows you to switch to an eliminator if the batteries do fail. A low power indicator (lamp) would be a good thing too. And I personally like being able to just run it off the convertor so I can keep it plugged in all the time; although your needs and ideas about this might be different. In any case, you have to be able to get “in” if the batteries do go “down”.

The system should be able to store a large number of “prints” but remember that even though the technology is improving and the machines are running faster than ever, if your device runs the stored patterns (they’re called templates) in a series-like sequence, then the more prints you store, the longer it might take to recognize yours as one of the “right ones”. There is a way of shortstopping this a bit and I’ll get to it in a minute.

It was mentioned here in the thread that you should print several of your fingers. Yes, you should but you need to do more than that. You also need to capture multiple but varied images of the same finger(s).

Depending on the type and placement of the reader on the safe/box, you need to decide which finger or thumb makes the most amount of sense to enroll as the primary digit. Let’s say for the purpose of this discussion (and in your actual case, it might be different) that it is the index finger on your right hand.

Following the instructions that came with the device, enroll that finger first in the manner that they tell you. Generally, they will tell you to press down with the pad of the finger; just like you would if pressing a button, pushing in a thumbtack, or being “printed” for real. In any case, follow their directions.

But before you start adding other fingers, if it were me, I would enroll several other “shots” or images of the same finger taken at different angles (“off” to one side, “off” to the other, more of the tip, more of the area between the pad and the first joint, etc.) in an effort to capture a total surface that is broader than just the pad-emphasized (pad-centered) single “print” that you are generally encouraged to capture.

This way, when you lunge at the box in the dark under the stress of needing the gun in a recognized deadly force confrontation and you fail to press you finger as completely and perfectly as when you first recorded it in the comfort of your kitchen or living room, hopefully one of the follow-up images of your purposely misaligned finger will be recognized instead.

So after you record the first four or five images of that primary finger, you need to think about a second one. To be honest, most people probably stay with the thumb or index finger because of the ease of placing it on to the reader but many of them now move to the opposite hand. Again, as with the primary digit you have already enrolled, whatever one you choose next, it should be one that is easy to get on to the reader. And in theory, by selecting one that is on the opposite hand, it should increase your chances of being able to get it there in case your primary hand or arm has become seriously injured, inoperable or just somehow occupied, thereby preventing its use. (Note however, that some people have the opposite belief and stay with the primary or dominant hand for they feel that under stress, the brain will drive you to use the dominant hand in all cases; even if it has been injured. Once again, this is something that you have to decide for yourself.)

I would enroll this second digit in the same multi-pane (multi-template) method of the first one. So now, maybe you’re up to 10 used templates. To be on the safe side, I’d enroll a third digit as well but this time, you can probably live with three images if you have a very limited machine but as most of the better models seem to accept up to thirty prints these days, again you could go up to five.

You mention your children in your eMail, which could mean that you have a wife here somewhere and if you do, I would seriously think about including her. Depending on who is expected to be able to do what in case of an emergency, her enrollment could mirror yours; that is multiple views of three fingers. Or, if something less is expected then perhaps (again, it is your call) something less might be acceptable. Two more things about enrolling her: if she has an equal likelihood of needing the gun under stress, you might want to move her primary registration(s) up in the list. That is, perhaps your primary digit, then hers, then one or more of your follow-ups, then hers. Or some version of that based on what you and her believe makes sense for your needs.

Now remember, we are only talking milliseconds here but as I said before, generally the print templates are read “in sequence” or in the order in which they are entered; so you generally want the most likely ones to be needed to be read “first”. Please note that I am not recommending that you break down my other belief that you should take multiple shots of each finger to accommodate mispositioning under stress. What I am talking about here is entering the “groups” for each finger (if you indeed choose to do that) in their order of importance.

Finally, if you don’t think she should be entered or if she doesn’t think she wants to use the gun (and for those of you who are reading this who don’t have a significant other to enter), I would seriously suggest that you consider what happens if you become disabled or otherwise unable to reach and operate the box. Do your heirs or planned guardians have to saw it open in order to remove the weapon or does entering one of these people (and probably not to the degree as you included yourself for more than likely they won’t have the need to enter the device under stress) make sense? You have to decide that for yourself.

This certainly isn’t everything to consider (depending on how your particular “reader” is designed to function there can be minor issues about how your enrolled fingers are read over time, through perspiration and certain obscurants, as well as after injury, damage and scarring, etc.) but it is a start and I hope that it helps you in not only making a decision but also in better utilizing the device once you buy one.

And not that anything can’t fail at the moment you need it the most, I would also suggest that you test it out perhaps once a week just to make sure that it is still working to the best of your knowledge. Remember that there is a reason why the government has your local TV and radio stations test those early warning/weather warning systems on a regular basis as well.

Take care and again, I hope this helps you and anyone else who is considering the purchase of one of these devices.

 

[Goffman]

I agree with all of the cautions mentioned here regarding biometric readers. It seems to me that advanced technologies are most likely to fail when you need them most. My laptop has one of these biometric print readers, and I coded six digits, three on each hand, and then entered a override security code as well because a failed laptop is the last thing I need on some business trip. I could just imagine the print reader dying on me while I was standing in front of a room full of people, all waiting for me to say something relevant...something other than "son of a biscuit, my laptop is dead".

Cautions about failure aside, though, I can't imagine a better method than a print reader for getting a gunsafe open in the dark in the middle of the night.

 

[Gun-Safe-Guru]

APS - No, you don't need a lot of light for these to operate. In fact, some brands like GunVault have a "no eyes" keypad so you can easily find the biometric reader even when it's completely dark. We show a good picture (it's zoomable) of that safe on our site, here.

Like Dave and Goffman were saying, the biometric reader can be a great method of opening a safe in the middle of the night.

Also wanted to say "good points Dave Nash."

 

[APS]

APS - No, you don't need a lot of light for these to operate. In fact, some brands like GunVault have a "no eyes" keypad so you can easily find the biometric reader even when it's completely dark.

Thanks, I'll definitely have to try one of those out. I asked b/c I had a laptop with a fingerprint reader that logged you into it. If I got a page in the middle of the night the fingerprint reader wouldn't work unless I turned on the bedside light.
Adam

 

[moxie]

I have a lot of personal experience with biometric security devices and do not consider the technology sufficiently mature or secure to entrust my life to it. There are a lot of very expensive fingerprint and retinal scanners gathering dust in government building hallways across the country because they were taken out of service for unreliabilty.

You would be better served with a touch-pad model. They are cheaper as well.

And, for clarity, Barska optics are definitely not high-end. They are OK Chinese stuff, but distinctly inexpensive.

 

[Gun-Safe-Guru]

Moxie - That comment about Barska was "IMO" (in my opinion). The products that I've seen were from their finest line of scopes and binoculars, but after doing some searching online I do see that they also have "value" products that you can find at most sporting goods stores for a low dollar amount.

As for the Biometrics - I feel like the general tone for this thread is that the idea of a fingerprint scan is hard to beat when it comes to convenience, but the technology is not quite there yet if you're looking for something to rely heavily on. As with any electronic device, you need to have a "plan B" and in this case you'd want to have that backup key handy in case the safe doesn't open.