So, how does it works? Just like any other regular safes, the biometric safe has a lock that forbids entry and protects its contents. The only thing that makes it different than the regular safe is the way how the lock is opened.

For starters, you will have to key in a pass code once first before you let the safe verify your fingerprint to allow entry. People often think that a biometrics safe only works for fingerprint identification to allow access, but that is wrong, as biometrics can mean voice recognitions, DNA tests or retinal scans. The reason behind this is due to the fact that the fingerprint recognition safes are the only product currently affordable by consumers.

Though the biometric safe offers many advantages for storing important items, it has its own flaws as well. For instance, most of them are not fireproof, and most people think that the biometric gun safe is fire resistant. It may protect the firearms or contents for a little while, but if the house is on fire, they are as good as gone.

However, some manufacturers do sell fire safes that have specially designed walls and doors to withstand heat, but they are very pricy. Hence, you should check its label before you make a purchase. In addition, they are not waterproof as well like most safes are, as they are not built to endure lots of water. They might withstand small amounts of water, but it does not safeguard the contents during a bad flood or tsunami.

Unlike regular combination safe or the electronic lock safe, the biometric fingerprint safes are considered more expensive, due to the extra technological features that make up its biometric lock. If the biometrics on the safe is more sophisticated, the price of the safe will be higher as well by a few hundred dollars.  But isn’t that protection worth the extra cost?

You can also access most biometrics safes in the complete dark.  The Gunvault models have a unique hand print on the top to improve your ability to find the proper button orientation even in the dark.  These fingerprint gun safes have a patent on that design.

They are the right thing for you to store your valuables. Regardless which model you intend to buy, getting a biometrics safe is certainly worth the money.

Vehicle Pistol Safes

A common request for users that carry a pistol either for their profession (law enforcement) or personal protection is that they have a place to secure their gun inside their vehicle.  This requirement can be driven by entering a location that prohibits weapons or at a time that the user chooses to not carry their handgun.

Some pistol and handgun safes are generic, some are vehicle specific. Console Vault sell pistols safes for the larger center consoles of some SUV models such as the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Tahoe, and Suburban to name a few.  They even make one for a Harley!  These can be fantastic additions to your vehicle that are discreet, but very secure as they mound directly inside the arm rest console.

Other pistols safes are smaller versions that can fit under seats or possibly mounted to the trunk or rear floor of the vehicle.  Many of these can come with combination or can even be Biometric safes.

Size of Pistols Safes

Most Pistol and Handgun safes can accommodate at least 2 pistols with little effort.  They can easily become a drawer safe because of their thin profile.  Most are have padded interiors to keep scratches of both the safe and gun to a minimum.  This padding also cuts down on noise if a quiet retrieval is required or if it is mounted in a vehicle it prevents it from being that nagging sound you hear as you drive down the road (as the gun clanks against the metal box)!

Pricing of Pistol Safes

Prices for pistol safes can range from $99 for products from GunVault to as much as $340 for the BioMTRX BioVault 2.0.

The best pistol safe is really dependent upon the application that you are going to use it for.  Check out our sponsors and links for more information.

Biometrics are any methods for uniquely identifying a human based upon one or more unique physical or behavioral traits that can not be reproduced easily or at all.  This unique trait forms the basis for identifying that particular person and is store in the computer as the foundation for identity access management and access control.  These are fancy words that say  “the computer stores something that only you posses (like your fingerprint) and then uses that to validate that you are you”.  Most often the biometrics software has a three step process which includes an interface from the computer to the human (possibly a touch screen called a biometric reader), a pre-processing algorithm to normalize the image from the interface, enhance the image, and remove any background noise, and third a process that takes the normalized image and breaks it down into data points and stores it in the computer’s database while discarding any other non-relevant information.

Safes are essentially hardened and strengthen metal boxes with doors.  Those doors are secured by large metal bolts that extend out from the door and into the frame of the door, again hardening the opening.  They are meant to keep people out.  Although many new improvements in the securing of the box have been made over the last 100 years, that part of device remains mostly unchanged.  The bulk of the improvements/enhancements or maybe call it modernization in safes are in how you gain access to it.  Originally it was a key, then it became a dial lock, then more sophisticated dial locks, then electronic locks, and eventually biometric safes, where the owner is the only one that can possess the combo (a fingerprint).  It can’t be stolen and is difficult to reproduce.  Many safes also have multiple access systems for either additional security or alternative entry in case of a failure.

To use a biometric safe, you first must go through a process called enrollment.  During this process, your biometric information (fingerprint) is stored in the memory inside the tiny circuitry in the safe.  This enrollment process is much like choosing your password the first time you sign up for a new website or something and it called registering a user.  It uniquely identifies you as you.  Most biometric safes allow you to store multiple fingerprints to allow multiple people to open the safe.

When you want to open the safe, you simply hold your finger over the biometric reader and the the safe will open.  It is that simple.  If the fingerprint does not match any on file, the safe does not open.  Some models will shut down for 10 minutes if there have been too many failed attempts.  Most biometric gun safes do NOT have this feature as it can a life or death situation if you can’t get the safe open.  Many models have simple AA batteries to change from the exterior of the unit to keep the safe running.  Plus, for added peace of mind, many manufactures offer a secondary way to open the safe such as a keypad or a key (which should be store away when not needed).

Biometrics are considered good systems of security. Keep in mind that the technology, like any, is not perfect. It suffers from what is called False Acceptances or False Rejections. A False Acceptance is when an person is allowed into the safe, although they are not a registered user. This could occur when a person is similar to a user or has copied the user’s biological or behavioral information (which is difficult, but not impossible to do).  Most biometric safes carry have a False Accept Rates that vary from 0.0001% to 0.1%, which makes them very secure.  Alternatively, a False Rejection occurs when a registered user is falsely rejected and not allowed access. This occurs when a user’s criteria does not match their stored information.  The failure rate for this varies from 0.00066% to 1.0%.  This will often occur from human error if a person uses the wrong finger to access the safe.

Manufactures of these safes include:  Honeywell, Barska, Gunvault, Biovault, and LockSAF to name a few.