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Thread: Recommendations for a home safe

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    Senior Member AGTDenton's Avatar
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    Recommendations for a home safe

    I'm thinking of buying a safe for the home but when I started looking I wasn't expecting such a vast choice in both brand & type. Just wondering if any of you have experience with home style safes.

    I've come to the conclusion that this type of chest safe is pointless for me, as I live in a studio flat and have no place to conceal it to the point where someone couldn't just grab it once found. So the moment they see it, it basically advertises itself to be taken and broken into at a later date.
    https://www.safe.co.uk/products/cfw2...ire-chest.html

    What I do know is I won't be bolting it to anything.
    I'd quite like the ability to store A4 documents but realise this adds to the cost.
    Can't quite decide on what lock type to go for: digital, key, dial, fingerprint... battery operated seems to be quite a weak point unless they are known to actually last a very long time. It could be months to over a year before I might use it again, so I may not realise the battery has run down. There are some with reset buttons, but to me defeats the purpose of a safe so I'd prefer one without a reset option.

    Looking for around the 30KG weight, which I'm guesstimating to be similar to my built computer weight, and that's heavy enough for me and a lot less likely that someone would decide to take it with them if found.

    This is the strongest contender so far based on price and size for A4 - but it is a touch overweight (that said harder to steal) and not sold on keypad lock yet.
    https://www.safe.co.uk/products/mast...lfw082ftc.html

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    RIP Peterb ik9000's Avatar
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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Unless it needs specialist fitting see if you can buy in cash and not give your home address.

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Good point, ik9000.

    IMHO, most safes at that sort of level probably aren't worth the effort, especially if you cant bolt it down. I wonder how long it'd take to have the hinges or hinge bolts off with an angle grinder? Or cut a big hole in the top? I only scanned the spec quickly but they mentioned 1" door bolts (seems ipressive") but I couldn't see the thickness of the steel (presumably) top? Quarter inch? Eighth inch? (in metric, probably).

    Of course, that's for a burglary safe. If it's primarily a fire (or flood) safe, different criteria apply.

    Bea in mind that if someone does break in, a safe is going to be a red rag to a bull. One option is TWO safes. One, entry level and relatively easy to find. That's the distraction. Put a few quid in it and expect to lose it. But the other one is FAR heavier and more secure, and extremely hard to find. That's where you keep your gold and diamonds.

    In other words, I suspect its only worth doing at all if done properly. unless it's a distraction.
    A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".

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    Big, Mean and Ugly! circuitmonkey's Avatar
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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    It's worth considering if your are trying to secure valuable items, protect important documents or both?

    I came to the realisation I only want to protect important documents, as such I bought a water/fire proof (resistant?!?) safe, didn't even bother securing it and I leave the keys hanging next to it.

    My reasoning being I'd rather someone look in the safe, realise there isn't anything worth taking (in my eyes anyway, all replaceable but a hassle) and leave it in alone instead of trying to open or remove the safe from it's mounting

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Quote Originally Posted by circuitmonkey View Post
    ...

    My reasoning being I'd rather someone look in the safe, realise there isn't anything worth taking (in my eyes anyway, all replaceable but a hassle) and leave it in alone instead of trying to open or remove the safe from it's mounting
    Agreed. Horses for courses. Depending on what the documents are. Don't forget ID theft.
    A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen999 View Post
    Agreed. Horses for courses. Depending on what the documents are. Don't forget ID theft.
    They'd have to get passed the Doberman first, and when she's done licking them the attach cats would get them

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Quote Originally Posted by circuitmonkey View Post
    They'd have to get passed the Doberman first, and when she's done licking them the attach cats would get them
    attach cats like these?

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Go bigger than you think you need. Over time you'll end up with more stuff that you think should probably be in a safe! Mine is not small.

    Safes are heavy. Make a plan if you have to install it yourself. And yes, bolt it down!

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Quote Originally Posted by circuitmonkey View Post
    They'd have to get passed the Doberman first, and when she's done licking them the attach cats would get them
    I remember reading a story in the papers a few years (well, about 40) ago. I don't know how true it was, and I have my doubts, but I sure hope.

    According to the story, Mr Dumbass McBurglar broke into this house, and carefully, quietly, crept his way around, making his way into the front room. All seemed fine, in the dark with just a small flashlight for illumination but then .... he got a sense he wasn't alone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he .... felt, as much as heard, a very low-pitched breathing. Turning round slowly, he noticed a pair of widely spaced bright yellow eyes that appeared to be floating about two feet off the ground, watching him intently, with a strange intensity. That was when the "attack cat" growled. Allegedly, having broken in through the back door, he broke out through the front room window. Head first.

    The attack cat was, allegedly, purchased as a cute little kitten and grew, supposedly unexpectedly, into a black panther. For anyone that doesn't know them, think leopard, but almost jet black. They can be (adult male) over two feet tall at the shouders and 6.5 feet in length, though some records have them at over 8.5 feet long. The head can be 11" long at about 8" wide, and adult males can reach (total weight, not just head) from 175lb to nearly 200lb.

    Now that is an attack cat.

    And yeah, for the purists, panthers are small .... compared to lions or tigers. But personally, even so, I'm not keen to make the close acquaitance of something that looks at me and thinks "snack time."
    Last edited by Saracen999; 13-02-2023 at 12:42 AM. Reason: Tpyo
    A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Quote Originally Posted by Saracen999 View Post
    According to the story, Mr Dumbass McBurglar ...
    I wondered why we hadn't seen so much of him these days.

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    I wasn't being funny, most people who know my pets are more scared of the fluffy white rag doll cat then the big Doberman.

    We went on holiday leaving our pets with my parents (was just the cats at the time). My parents couldn't go into their living room for a week
    For us he is a sweat boy who doesn't stop purring and head bumping us whenever he gets a chance. For people that aren't us he turns into a daemon attach cat who has and will draw blood

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    Is attach cat a real thing? I assumed just a typo before, but enough people are saying it now that I'm wondering if it's a new word like hangry that has emerged.

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    Re: Recommendations for a home safe

    FFS, I really should stop scan reading

    I did of course mean "attack" cat

    But given he will be attached via teeth and claws.... same same

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