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Quality safe at a very good price
Pros
Easy to use, secure, very reasonably priced
Cons
My only issue is with the optional removable base plate
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I am very happy with my safe, it is well made, easy to use and secure. Great for daily use.
I was in the market for a small gun safe, one that could easily be opened, yet be secure. The big name sporting goods stores carry these, and they looked good too, except for the high prices. Most were well over $100, so when I found the DAC Sportssafe at Walmart.com for about 65 bucks it was too good to pass up. The nice thing about Walmart on line purchases is that they can be picked up at any local store when it arrives with no shipping costs, just sales tax.
I have owned my safe for about 6 months now with no problems. It gets opened and closed 5 or 6 times per week and operates smoothly and silently. It has an audible keypad beeping feature which is easily turned off, for me I prefer silent operation.
There are 2 ways to open the unit, one way uses a finger touch pad located on the safes top side. Its simple to set your own personal combination, and fast to use even in the dark with a little practice. The other way of opening is by using a conventional key lock, this by the way over rides the electronic feature meaning that the safe can always be opened in the unlikely event the electronic lock should malfunction. That is a nice fail safe feature.
Sentry also makes a small safe, which I also own, that is key operated only, no electronics whatsoever. I like the simplicity of a keyed only safe for use when it is mostly kept open, to me that eliminates any possible error in getting into it at night and is 100 percent foolproof. That said, there is also a lot in favor of a keypad unit when fast operation is more of a convenience rather than a necessity. While each lock type has its own purpose, I must say that having owned both if I had to choose only one, it would be the DAC with the electronic keypad.
My safe came with 3 numbered keys and instructions to program the electronic keypad. Batteries need to be installed, and have a claimed life of about 1 year. If the batteries fail, the safe can be opened with the key while the batteries are being replaced.
Its a sturdy little unit made from 14 ga steel with a spring loaded door that opens quickly when either combination or key releases the lock. The inside is foam padded and has a removable shelf and small interior light. More than room enough for a couple of handguns. The keypad is located on top and has finger indents. It is easiest to open in a lighted area, but with some practice one can learn the feel and place the fingers in the correct indents in darkness though a little light makes it so much easier, at least for me.
The safe is advertised as having a quick detachable mount. This is a handy feature that, theoretically, enables the safe to be removed from its base plate (once opened) and transported. Additional base plates can be purchased separately. While a good idea, I felt more secure discarding the detachable base plate and simply bolting the unit directly down, which of course makes it more or less a permanent installation. The way that the safe mounts to the detachable base uses small toggle bolts, not overly impressive to me, and since I have no need to transport the unit, I chose to just bolt it directly down.
Overall It is a very good unit, works every time and I feel secure using it. My only fault is with the removable base, but thats just my personal take on that feature.
I have owned my safe for about 6 months now with no problems. It gets opened and closed 5 or 6 times per week and operates smoothly and silently. It has an audible keypad beeping feature which is easily turned off, for me I prefer silent operation.
There are 2 ways to open the unit, one way uses a finger touch pad located on the safes top side. Its simple to set your own personal combination, and fast to use even in the dark with a little practice. The other way of opening is by using a conventional key lock, this by the way over rides the electronic feature meaning that the safe can always be opened in the unlikely event the electronic lock should malfunction. That is a nice fail safe feature.
Sentry also makes a small safe, which I also own, that is key operated only, no electronics whatsoever. I like the simplicity of a keyed only safe for use when it is mostly kept open, to me that eliminates any possible error in getting into it at night and is 100 percent foolproof. That said, there is also a lot in favor of a keypad unit when fast operation is more of a convenience rather than a necessity. While each lock type has its own purpose, I must say that having owned both if I had to choose only one, it would be the DAC with the electronic keypad.
My safe came with 3 numbered keys and instructions to program the electronic keypad. Batteries need to be installed, and have a claimed life of about 1 year. If the batteries fail, the safe can be opened with the key while the batteries are being replaced.
Its a sturdy little unit made from 14 ga steel with a spring loaded door that opens quickly when either combination or key releases the lock. The inside is foam padded and has a removable shelf and small interior light. More than room enough for a couple of handguns. The keypad is located on top and has finger indents. It is easiest to open in a lighted area, but with some practice one can learn the feel and place the fingers in the correct indents in darkness though a little light makes it so much easier, at least for me.
The safe is advertised as having a quick detachable mount. This is a handy feature that, theoretically, enables the safe to be removed from its base plate (once opened) and transported. Additional base plates can be purchased separately. While a good idea, I felt more secure discarding the detachable base plate and simply bolting the unit directly down, which of course makes it more or less a permanent installation. The way that the safe mounts to the detachable base uses small toggle bolts, not overly impressive to me, and since I have no need to transport the unit, I chose to just bolt it directly down.
Overall It is a very good unit, works every time and I feel secure using it. My only fault is with the removable base, but thats just my personal take on that feature.
