Bedside Biometric (fingerprint) safe suggestions

I am looking into purchasing a Biometric (fingerprint) bedside handgun safe. Do you guys have any recommendations? Are there any that you would stay away from? Thanks for any info you can provide.

I have the vaultek slider. Works excellent. Thin enough that I have it bolder to the back fo my nightstand and the kids are nine the wiser. Just program your thumb, index and middle
Finger from each had a few times to make sure you have all possible options. Very happy with mine.

I'm a retired electronic engineer and I would never trust my life or my family's life to an electronic safe.

Agreed. The vaultek has key backup and I keep it very close as well

I would never trust a consumer grade finger print scanner from anyone but Apple level R&D. I my opinion the simplex locks are the best and just as fast as anything electronic. Yet they are mechanical and will never fail. Look into Fort Knox. They are epxensive ($200ish) yet they are made in the USA and insanely heavy duty.

I’ve had good luck with Barska. I’ve had 2 of them for years with no problems. They have a key backup but I’ve never had to use it.

I get the anti-electronic sentiment and all finger scanners get flaky if you have any grease or dirt on your prints but it’s a compromise for my needs and constraints.

I was told that the biometric safes aren't good because of the lack of reliability in reading a fingerprint. Maybe some of the newer safes are better? I have a little bedside safe with a keypad, and then I have a backup key hidden nearby just in case that fails.

I have a combo lock one with key backup...no batteries required.

I bought it years ago and never had issues. It does have small batteries to turn on a red light to see combination, but I’ve got it set up so I can open it up without worrying about light. However these days it’s almost impossible to find something that’s not electronic or biometric.

There is no way I could work a combo at night after just waking up and fumbling around in the dark. That would be hard even with younger eyes. We all make compromises for our own situation.

IMO there are legitimate concerns about electronics failing but there is also a lot of FUD. I can only speak from experience in that I’ve never had issues with any of my electronic locks. I also change the batteries every year whether or not they need it.

While I understand folks reluctance to trust fingerprint scanners, I fully understand the desire to have one. That said, make sure there is a manual backup to open it and make sure that you scan each and every one of your fingers into its memory.

I had an issue with one when I burned my hand and had it wrapped. I had no way to access the thing except with the manual combo until my bandages where off. Just something to think about

Flash said:

I'm a retired electronic engineer and I would never trust my life or my family's life to an electronic safe.

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Plus the fact that electronic locks can be locked down in case of a government raid. I have my two grand kids and my girlfriends two kids and they know they wont sit for a month if they enter the bedroom or touch a firearm except at the range or if someone is breaking in.

I have a Liberty "two gun" bedside biometric safe that I bought at one of the big box outdoor stores on a black Friday sale years ago. It has a cylinder key backup. It worked very well when I bought it. After setting the print it would open repeatedly and easily. So I mounted it, and over the first few months I'd test it periodically - reach down, swipe a finger, confirm that the door snapped open, and close the door. Well - shame on me - I stopped doing that - and it just sat there for quite a while (at least a year). One evening I says to myself: "self - you should make sure that thing still works..." so I swipe my finger and nothing happens. It's plugged in to the wall and the power LED is lit - so not that... Long story short, it took about 15 minutes of cleaning the sensor (not visibly dirty other than a bit of dust) and then swiping my finger over the sensor at different angles before it popped (OK - probably 5 minutes of that was tying to swipe the sensor - the other 10 minutes was looking unsuccessfully for the key). I did eventually get it to open. I'm VERY glad that I didn't figure out that this was not working in a moment when I urgently needed the firearm.

So - lesson learned... Once I find the key I'll use the little safe for something else - but I'll not be depending on a finger swipe for access to a defensive firearm. Now - I'm looking at those spring loaded, long-gun holding, headboards. Unfortunately my wife does not think they are nearly as cool as I do....