One of the most important issues for a gun owner is to choose the right kind of gun safe. Although these safes come with various kinds of locking options, such as a traditional lock and key type, a wheel, and a pin combination-type or the most modern type- a bio-metric gun safe.
As the name suggests, a biometric gun safe uses finger or palm impressions to unlock the vault. This saves you from the complications that you might have to go through in case of an emergency. But do you really need a biometric gun safe for yourself is a question think upon.
Let us have a thorough look at all the pros and cons of a biometric gun safe before reaching a conclusion. Further, selecting the right kind of gun safe depends on a number of factors. These factors will help you to decide whether to choose a gunsafe or not and the factors to look for when buying one.
Benefits Of Having A Biometric Gun Safe
1. Faster Speed Than Other Gun Safes
One of the most notable advantages of a biometric gun safe is that there are no combinations that you need to remember. It is a well-known fact that in cases of emergency, we might end up getting panicking, which can delay our response time by a considerably large number. But with a biometric gun safe, there are no combinations or keys that you need to take care of, as a result, it hardly takes 1-2 seconds to respond.
2. Can Store More Than One Fingerprint
Most biometric gun safes can store more than one fingerprint. This means that you can provide access to any other adult of the family in case of your absence. This alternative is safer than having to provide keys or passwords to the gun safe to various people. It also ensures that only you get to decide who is responsible enough to have authorized access to the gun safe.
3. No Amounts Of Permutations And Combinations Can Unlock The Vault
Many a time it only takes a few hours for a child to guess the combination to your lock safe by doing simple math. But biometric gun safes operate on the finger or palm-print of an individual. Hence, it is almost next to impossible to open the gun safe by applying any number of permutations or combinations.
4. Biometric Gun Safes Come With Fire And Water Protection
Biometric gun safes are more tamper-resistant than other types of gun safes. The most modern models of these safes come with fire and water protection. Thus when a disaster strikes, you can trust your biometric gun safe with not only your firearm but also with other valuables.
5. Come With Additional Methods Of Opening The Lock
Most biometric safes come with additional methods such as a combination or a pattern to open the safe. Thus, in case your biometric gun safe gives you a false reading, i.e., if it refuses to identify your fingerprint, you can also use a conventional method to open it.
6. A Worthy Investment
A good biometric gun safe can turn out to be very expensive, but if you look at it as an investment, it can be a completely worthy choice. It is important to remember that there are cheaper biometric gun safes too that are available in the market. But an expensive gun safe would be more reliable, and thus a better investment.
Cons Of A Biometric Gun Safe
1. Operate On Batteries
Biometric gun safes scan fingerprints using electronic scanners. Thus they are battery operated and require power to work. Although most of them have battery monitors that will warn you when the batteries need to be changed or charged, but if the battery still runs down, the scanner will stop working.
2. Gun Safes Aren’t Mature Enough
Biometric gun safes are still evolving. Due to this, UL does not have a standard for the performance of these safes. However, the FBI is still working on standards for fingerprint biometric systems, but still, these aren’t as widespread and mature as the other locks that are rated under UL listings.
3. May Fail To Identify Our Fingerprint
Biometric safes can give false readings in a number of situations. Cuts, burns, abrasions, moisture, dirt, oil, and stains can all cause your biometric gun safe to fail to identify your fingerprint.
4. May Have A Loose Tolerance
If the biometric gun safe is very cheap, it might end up having loose tolerance which can prove to be quite harmful. Many manufacturers tend to ignore this to avoid any kind of frustration from locked-out customers. Hence, while buying a biometric gun safe, you should always keep this in mind.
5. The Best Ones Are Very Expensive
This is implied by all the above-mentioned points that in the case of a biometric gun safe, it is always better to avoid the cheaper ones. But if you look for expensive safes, they can prove to dig a bigger hole in your pocket. Listed below are some basic price levels of various types of biometric gun safes:
a) Military Quality Biometric Systems
They cost almost 5,000 bucks or even more only for sensors and electronics, excluding the lock. They mostly have eye biometrics instead of fingerprint biometrics. Very high-security military biometrics generally have both numeric combinations and biometrics to identify someone.
b) Commercial Quality Biometric Systems
The cost of only the biometric keypad lies somewhere between 750-1000 dollars. But they provide reasonable security and good accuracy. Even then, the lock and deadbolt system have to be bought separately.
c) Economy Quality Biometrics
These are found on the biometric safes that cost not more than 100 dollars. They are of lower quality and have cheaper capacitive sensors.
Final Talk
Conventional gun safes are widely used even today, and there’s no harm in it. Although a biometric gun safe is more convenient and provides a faster access to your firearm, false readings and the price can be problematic as well. Considering all the pros and cons of getting a biometric gun safe, it depends on the key factors that you are looking for in your gun safe. Always make sure to learn as much as possible about the model before going for it. But in the end, long-term investment is always a better option if you’re ready for it.
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