A Light Safe?

As in, a safe in which one could store their flashlights for protection/safety, not a safe that is lacking in the weight department. Seriously though, has anyone considered storing their more expensive lights in a safe or safety deposit box? Does anyone do this? I just realized that many people store firearms and/or jewelry in a safe, how about those lights that we have acquired that are practically irreplaceable if lost, stolen, etc.? Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks.

I own a rather large Ft.Knox gun safe and a smaller Sentry gun safe...and yes I keep many of my lights in them! They don't take up that much space and since the torches could be quick "grab" type items to a theif (especially if you have them in a brief case or other type of portable carry)...it certainly doesn't hurt to have them secured!

My users are "around" & accessible for their intended uses. That reminds me...I need to decrease a few numbers in the ARC LS department! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Look at what one can spend on a couple or more of the higher end lights. SureFires aren't "inexpensive" to most, McLuxes, Vips, Baby Pins, Alephs, etc...add up the price on a few of these and tell me why it's hard to spend $300 on a safe? Besides, you can keep your watches, coin collections, cameras, and other high dollar items in there as well.

If you don't want to spend $1K on a safe, look at the "Sentry" line. They make some nice smaller safes! Though their MSRP prices are $500 plus on the ones linked here, I've seen them for $200-$300 at Lowes Hardware, Home Depot, Sport's Authority (that's where we picked up the 10 gun safe for $225). It isn't made from cheap, lightweight metal either (weighs 270lbs). It can be bolted to the floor as well.

I'm sure there are other comparable brands out there to chose from. Be a wise consumer and do your research.

Stack-On is perfect. I have both a rifle and a pistol one. They can be bolted to each other or to a floor/wall.

My grandfather took an old safe out of a building that was being torn down. Needed to have 7 guys to move it, even that was at a crawl. It's on wheels but they don't work to well. Its got 2 combination and 2 key locks on it for multi level thick walls and doors. He took a Cytaline (spelling???) torch to one part of the inside of it and could barely melt through even one of the thinnest layers it. It is TOUGH!!!!! I doubt anyone could get into it. Must have been from a bank or something because their is no way that would be for consumer use. Just a little thought post to the thread. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


I'd try to put it in my room but I think it would brake the floor /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Couldn't even imagine getting up stairs with it.

Will documents be safe inside a safe in case of a fire?

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greenLED said:
Will documents be safe inside a safe in case of a fire?

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It depends on the safe's rating. Obviously, not all safes are created equal. There are ones made purely for security and ones made purely for fire resistance. And some that combine both of those. Even amongst the fire safes, they may get up to several hundred degrees inside, so there is another rating, called media safe. This is what you need if you are storing something that is heat sensitive. Anything else is risking your valuables.

Mark

I sometimes wonder why more people don't have Safe Deposit Boxes. 5x10x22 for $30/year. No I wouldn't keep my watches in there because who wants to go to the bank to get ready to go out, but important docs and media belong nowhere else.

-F

Great, thanks for the info., guys.

A bank that I used to use was located in a flood plain and during a bad storm, the water came up and flooded some of the safe deposit boxes. They later closed the safe deposit box service at that branch and moved them to another branch. I hate to think what was damaged in that event.

Just a warning that even bank boxes have vulnerabilities.

Deposit boxes are great for things that you don't need on a frequent basis. .

Does anyone know if safe deposit box contents are insured under homeowners policies, because I believe they are NOT insured by the bank.

I have so much to say, and so little time to say it....

A safe is not a bad idea, but you should keep in mind a few things.

1) A small safe will be the first thing a thief breaks open or loads on their truck. Any safe weighing less than 1000 pounds should be securely bolted to the floor or encased in a large concrete block. A 100 lb safe can be easily carried away. So can a 500 lb safe.

If you were a thief, wouldn't the presence of a safe just yell "good stuff here!" at the top of it's lungs? A couple of motivated theives can easily drag a large safe out of your house. They don't care about the damage to the floor or walls.

Hide the safe if you can. If they don't know it's there they are not likely to rip it off.

2) A fire safe will keep paper below its flash point (safe from fire) for a short time. Usually it's as little as 1 hour. To keep the temperatures below 450 degrees they impregnate the walls with moisture that is released as steam in a fire. It is also released over time, building up inside the safe. It will rust your guns and cause mildew on your papers unless you take appropriate action.

Replace fire safes every 5 to 10 years. The water in the walls eventually will evaporate.

3) Safes are rated to stop a burgler for a certain number of minutes. A fire rated safe is not usually rated to slow down a burgler at all. Safes are rated by the number of sides that are hardened, the type of attack (explosives or not) and the number of minutes it will slow down the burglers. The safe in the jewelry store is a rated against burglers. It will probably withstand a 30 minute attack with tools commonly available.

Amazingly, most safes are only hardened in the front or the front and sides. This means that they can be easily drilled open by going through the back, sides or bottom. Look for a rating like "TL6x15" for a burglary safe that will resist attacks for 15 minutes on all 6 sides.

It's a "dirty little secret" of the trade that ALL commercial safes have a built in weakness that will let a professional open it with little damage if the lock gets stuck. Many also have several unintentional weaknesses.

The sentry brand safe will last several minutes if the burgler does not care about making noise or damaging it.

4) The bank safe deposit box is only as safe as the bank employees are honest. The boxes are secured due to the fact that they reside in a vault that is controlled by the bank. The contents are only protected by the bank tellers. The boxes themselves yeild easily to a crowbar and the locks are designed to be easily broken out and replaced. The keys can be (and sometimes are) duplicated by the bank just in case they need them.


Now as for protecting lights....

Anything collected in a easily carried case is attractive to robbers. If you display the lights as part of a wall display, the chances are that a robber will not figure out which ones are valuable. They are as likely to rip off a cheap clone as they are to grab a drab green Surefire. The VIP, for instance is not too imposing in a dark room, as long as it's not turned on.


The other upside to displaying them? There's always the chance that the burgler will be caught hours later sitting there in the dark doing beam comparisons.


Daniel

hahaha, wow, thats alot of advice, thanks gadjet lover!
You must be a lock smith or something. So with all this info, is there a safe within reasonable price that you would recommend?

ACMarina: Agreed.

Malpaso: I do not have a safe deposit box, so I do not know.

The whole point of asking though was that many lights that some of us might have are a limited production run, or are "limited edition". Hence, my focus on keeping them safe to begin with, because I am sure that no one wants to lose their VIP or Beast.

moephiues; yes, I'm sort of an apprentice locksmith. I can't recommend a specific safe off the top of my head. You should check with a local locksmith to see what they can provide in your area. The general rule is to figure out exactly what you want to protect, then what will protect it, then decide if insurance is cheaper than protection.

A safe has three purposes;

1 It should discourage less motivated thieves, causing them to bother someone else.
2 It should slow down a thief enough that they are caught due to an alarm or patrol.
3 Provide proof to the insurance company that a theft took place.

If you live in a low crime area and just want to keep kids from selling your lights at school, just about any safe (including Sentry) will do the job if solidly bolted to the floor. Put it somewhere that makes it difficult to work on. Hidden in corners or embedded in concrete, for instance.

If you live in a medium crime area and want to store small items, a floor safe hidden under something is a good choice. They generally hold about a half gallon of valuables. Larger models are available. Get a good alarm to go with it. That's what will stop the thief before he breaks through it.

Good safes that are burglar rated are very expensive, and you can buy a lot of lights for the price of the safe. They also don't make very good furniture. Your wife might balk at a 500 lb box in the bedroom.

For much less money, a hidden compartment is fairly effective... until you show it to someone else.

Daniel

Hmmm.. my secret to securing the lights?

The whole place is a gigantic mess. The lights are buried amidst the papers, tools, equipment, junk and all that sits on both desks, nobody but a flashaholic would know what to look for /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Of course I can never find the lights either but that's besides the point anyway /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I have a military surplus rocket box, all steel with some strong latches bolted to the floor in my closet, and I welded a lock hook onto it. Not quite as strong as a real safe, but by the time anyone gets in there they will have lost alot of blood thanks to my big mean dog. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

We've been thinking about this all week, a small safe for important papers, to get knives away from kids, maybe for a few lights (where the heck did I put my Lionheart?).

The goal is partly to slow down a burglar, partly to get that 2 hours of fire protection. We got the Sentry A3810, which is on sale at Staples right now. It's $239 with a $35 instant rebate and $40 mail-in rebate, comes out to about $165 and fifteen bucks tax.



It's not light, but two men can easily carry it out of the house in seconds. We have no basement, so it's going in the bedroom closet, and I guess there are lag bolts in the box. I'd like to bolt it to the wall and floor. While I guess it would be optimal to open up the ceiling below the safe and install a metal plate to really bolt it to, but that a lot more trouble and probably overkill.

Also, it's much more susceptible to prying installed over carpet, rather than right on the floor, so there's another thing to think about. The safe is on sale at Staples all week.

daloosh

sentry safe on sale at Staples

SENTRY® Fire-Safe® home and office Fire-Safe®
SAVE $75. SPECIAL BUY. Protect your documents.
$164.94
after easy rebate & instant savings
Valid Feb 20 - 26 In-Store Savings

• 1.2 cubic feet
• $239.98 - $35 instant savings - $40 easy rebate = $164.94
#913865

Talk about co-incidence... I happen to have the same safe, primarily for storing papers and other things that I would not want destroyed in a fire or picked up by a neighborhood kid looking for fun money.

Note that it's not burglar rated. It's just a fire safe. It is suitable for protecting goods in an area that is populated, such as in an office where cash and other valuable contents are removed every night. It would intimidate a burglar who was not sophisticated.

Make sure you change the combination before using it.

It sheds a lot of water vapor, so make sure you use dessicant packets and open it frequently. The dessicant needs refreshing periodically. I put all valuable papers in zip lock bags and put those in a second bag. If you don't use baking bags they may melt in a fire.

Daniel

Most of the thieves in my area are more of the smash & grab style, so anything that would prevent them from removing an item in under 3 minutes or so will work. A small, properly secured Stack-On would work really well, it keeps grabby hands off of things for the most part. Not fire rated, though, I don't think.

I guess it depends on why you're securing things. Personally, I'm concerned most with my irreplaceable lights. Anything with an extremely limited serial number, for example. The only lights I have in this category are the Lionheart & McGizmo; if my Aleph disappeared tomorrow, I can get another one.

Ohh, and it should probably be a good idea to take the batteries out of your lights before putting them in the safe, in case you decide to leave them there for an extended amount of time. You wouldn't want anything bad to happen. .