Safe Owners: Key Pad or Combination and Why?

Key Pad or Combination Lock

  • Key Pad

    Votes: 67 38.7%

  • Combination

    Votes: 106 61.3%
  • Total voters
    173
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6

648E

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
271
I will be getting a safe soon and I'd rather not have to pay a premium for a keypad type lock.

However, I have no idea how I would get a combination lock open in the dark, if the need arose. I would leave a long gun and handgun out for home defense when I'm home of course but a situation where I would need to access something from the safe in the dark isn't far fetched. I'm not at all good with combination padlocks either.

My girlfriend brought up the point of a keypad wearing down after use to the point of someone being able to see which buttons you push. That's not good. And also if you have no batteries, you have no way in I suppose.

I think it's a tossup
 
Having owned both, I much prefer the keypad (my current safe). The keypad advantages (IMHO) are as follows:
1. Fast and easy entry.
2. The ability to have multiple combinations. The advantage of this is that you can enter a combination that a guest can use and then delete it.
3. The ability to instantly change the combination.

My safe (Fort Knox) is about 3 years old, and I am still using the same 9 volt battery that came with it.

I cannot speak to the long term durability of the keypad, but no problems so far. My suggestion there would be to ask the manufacturer. It would seem that the better manufacturers would use longer lasting components.

Personally, I am sold on Fort Knox and would own no other.

Best of luck in your decision making process.

Steve W.
 
what about keyed entry? My safe is low-end w/key entry only. just two keys, one is on my keychain, the other hidden.
 
Keep in mind we're not talking about a cheap Master lock on your gym locker. This is from the Cannon owners manual. I think it is fairly typical of safe instructions.

Turning dial left (counter-clockwise) stop on first number the 4th time you come to it. Turning dial right (clockwise) stop on second number the 3rd time you come to it. Turning dial to the left stop on third number the 2nd time you come to it. Turn dial slowly to the right, you should feel resistance around zero and the lock should stop turning at about 88-90.
Turn handle left or counter-clockwise until safe opens.

Try doing that in the dark with a bad guy kicking your front door.
 
Mine's a mechanical/combination lock with a keyed combo-wheel lock. Not sure about the differences in reliability or buttons wearing out and all that; I just like the old-fashioned combination safe thing.
 
In the event of a fire the circuts in the keypad would melt
Click to expand...
By the time it gets this hot in the house you aren't going to be in any situation to be accessing your safe. If it's found in the rubble post fire the safe is junk anyway and it can be opened in other ways.

If it's dark and you need in fast it's easier to find 12 buttons in a famaliar configuration(telephone keypad) than numbers on a dial.
 
This is the 21st Century, not 7th Grade.

Key pad all the way.

And the ones I've seen will give plenty of warning (extra beeps) when the battery starts to run low.
 
My girlfriend brought up the point of a keypad wearing down after use to the point of someone being able to see which buttons you push. That's not good. And also if you have no batteries, you have no way in I suppose.
Click to expand...

My keypad hasn't shown wear yet after heavy use over a year. Well, I can't see the wear anyway, and i've tried pretty good, but one of my buddies claimed to see the wear and named 4 of the 6 digits correctly. That still won't help him put it in the correct order though. Also, my keypad gives a warning beep long before the battery dies completly, i've never been locked out.

can get into it in about 15 sec
Click to expand...

I just had to add that the keypad allows access in less than 2 seconds for me.
 
I'v got a treadlok that I bought in '87. S&G never fails. A couple times it got jammed while moving, but a rubber mallet straightened the dial nicely. Joe
 
Excellent points on the keypads using temp codes.

You could keep a flashlight in top of the safe or next to your bed. My safe is mainly to keep Bad Guys from getting guns if I'm not home. I did have a keypad/circuit board failure on a small safe but it also had a key. They're aren't any guarantees a combination won't fail either.

Safes usually have an easy to find fire rating. They also have a theft rating that is not so readily quoted. I forget the exact number but I think anything under 750 lbs is considered portable. I'm not a safe mover.

You also may not get your 14 guns in a 14 gun safe.

Any safe is better than no safe. I know of 2 people who lost guns because they left the safe open. So convenience may be the way to go.

WNTFW
 
Well, for the big safe mine has dual keys, but if I were buying a newer and larger model I'd probably go with a combo dial. Just to be contrary though, the single gun "safe box" on the other hand has a BIG keypad that I can "touch type" on with my eyes closed. Regular practice has demonstrated that I can can access my HD pistol in 5 seconds or less.
 
The EMP issue is a biggy I guess, if an EMP were to occur and I lost access to my guns...well...:mad:

Thanks for the thoughts folks, keep them coming
 
Electronic locks are faster to open, and can have combos changed by the owner. They are subject to greater rates of failure, and require batteries.

Mechanical locks are slower to open, and need the combos changed by a locksmith. They tend to last a lot longer than electronic locks, and have no batteries to go dead.

What most people don't know is the following: Mechanical locks can be set in ways that allow lower security, but faster access. You can open a mechanical lock by turning the dial to one number, one time, if it's set to operate in that fashion.

Also, safes require preventative maintenance, especially on the locks. You should have a locksmith come out every few years (depending on use) and go over your safe. It will last longer this way. You can not do any maintenance on an electronic lock.

Want the best of both worlds? You can install a "Lagard redundant" lock on your safe. It will open using a mechanical dial or an electronic keypad. Depending on how you have it outfitted, it would run around $400.
 
"Try doing that in the dark with a bad guy kicking your front door."

Doing what? I'd be holding a loaded gun, not messing around with the safe. Wait, you don't mean you keep ALL your guns in the safe, do you? Sort of defeats the purpose of having a gun.

John
 
I have one with key, one with keypad, and two with dial.

The one with the keypad was the latest addition. The other three were made before the electronic keypads were available so was not an option.

I would vote for keypad these days.
 
Curiosity got the better of me, and I took my combo lock apart.

Not being a locksmith, my manual skills failed me, and while I could get it back together, I could not determine the combination with which it had been assembled.

So, with my tail 'tween my legs, off to the locksmith's shop I went, to confess my dumbery, and to pay the price of being a dilletante, which is to have to buy a new lock.

I had a choice of replacement combo lock A, for about $80, and keypad lock B, for about twice that. After a lengthy discussion on the merits of each, and realizing that there was simply no way in heck to quickly access the safe with a dial lock, I plunked down the extra money for the upgrade.

Incidentally, a quality keypad lock will have a provision for a dead battery. Typically, it's external contacts so you can fire the thing up from a 9 volt, which I keep taped to the side of the safe.
 
Combination.

The Professional Locksmith and Safe folks are some really really nice folks. :)
My experience stems from using safes, and walk in vaults with all sorts of features not normally seen / used by everyone, and for sure not on guns safes.

I had "day keys", and all sorts of features, even dual combos.
I have had BGs attempt to get into a safe with ~ $3million in good inside, and they "locked down" the safe. Nice Professional Safe/ Locksmiths with Special tools and skills were able to get into the safe ( takes some time mind you) it is not cheap to have them do this, but the mdse is secure. Nice
Armed Body/ Security and other measures taken [ loaner safe] and our safe door all back better than new, and safe itself better that new.

Did I mention Professional Safe and Lock folks are really nice folks?
:)
 
I voted keypad because I can not see my combo lock anymore. Combo may be more secure and does not run low on battery etc.
 
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